A founding board member of the Black Arts Alliance, Inc., Rhonda Bellamy serves as president and chairs the organization's North Carolina Black Film Festival, formerly Cine Noir Festival of Black Film. She co-chaired the Mayor's Task Force on Arts and Cultural Affairs and currently serves on the board of Cameron Art Museum and a member of a North Carolina Arts Council Advisory Committee.
Rhonda is regularly commissioned to craft one-woman stage performances from an extensive repertoire of African-American and women's literature. Her signature shows, including "Ain't I A Woman?, Somebody Hold My Muse, The Golden Age of Harlem, and Reckoning Forces: Women of Color Find Their Voices, have been sponsored by the City of Atlantic City, St. John's Museum of Art, Barnes & Noble, J.C. Penney, et al. Other acting credits include the lead role of Billie Holliday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill and the lead in The Dance on Widows' Row, written and directed by Samm Art Williams. Her voice is featured in television and radio promotions for the General Motors exhibition A Slave Ship Speaks, the Japanese animation film Blue 6, and numerous spoken word productions for public radio. She is also a sought after speaker at local, statewide and national events.
Rhonda presently serves on the board of directors of Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity, Cameron Art Museum, Full Belly Project, and Wilmington Downtown Inc. She is a founding instructor at the Dreams Center for Arts Education, where she has taught Reader's Theater, voice, and creative writing. Most recently Rhonda served as lead teacher for its federally-funded Harlem Renaissance program. She is a past board member of Domestic Violence Shelter and Services board, the Wilmington Children's Museum, the City of Wilmington's African-American Heritage Commission, the Azalea Festival Multicultural Committee, a Mayor's Convention Center Task Force and a Mayor's Task Force on Arts and Cultural Affairs. In November, 2008, she released the book "Moving Forward Together: A Community Remembers 1898," on the centennial commemoration of the 1898 coup.
By day, Rhonda is news director for Cumulus Broadcasting, where she is heard daily on WGNI (102.7), WMNX (97.3), WKXS (94.5), WWQQ (101.3)and "On the Waveline with Rhonda Bellamy," a daily talk show on politics and current events on WAAV (980 AM). She has garnered numerous commendations for her work from the Associated Press, including Best Newscast and Best Consumer Reporting. Other accolades include the Woman of Achievement Award in Arts from the YWCA, Woman of the Year by the New Hanover County Human Relations Commission, Community Hero by the New Hanover Community Health Center, Citizen of the Year from the Wilmington chapter of the Winston-Salem State University Alumni Association and official Mistress of Ceremonies for the 59th Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival.
A native of New York, Rhonda graduated from Wilmington's E.A. Laney High School and is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, where she holds a B.A. in English with a concentration in Media/Journalism and graduate credits in Instructional Media.
She is the daughter of Ann and the late James McLaurin of Wilmington, mom to two young adults, and grandmother of one.
