Nzinga Imani: That Girl Issue 12 | Bacon Magazine

There is something unmistakable about the way Nzinga Imani shows up—in a room, on a screen, in a conversation. It isn’t performative. It isn’t calculated. It’s simply presence. The kind that fills space with confidence, that commands attention naturally, that makes you stop scrolling and pay attention because you recognize something real.

We’ve watched her light up our screens as Angela on Tyler Perry’s Zatima as well as Sistas. We’ve seen her serve looks that make us screenshot and save for later inspiration. We’ve watched her build a fashion line that actually gets what we need. But what makes Nzinga compelling isn’t just her talent or her beauty or her business mindset — though she has all three in abundance.

It’s that she’s built her entire career on a foundation we can all learn from: unwavering belief in herself.

“I just believe and know I’m that girl,” she says, matter-of-factly. “I speak it. I speak life into myself. So if self-doubt does come, it doesn’t stay long.” 

Not “I’m trying to be that girl.” Not “I hope I’m that girl.” She knows she is. And that knowing has become the blueprint for everything she’s built— from Hollywood sets to her own fashion empire.

Building Confidence From Within

When we ask about navigating the world as a plus-size woman in an industry obsessed with appearance, Nzinga’s answer is refreshingly direct. 

“I’ve been able to excel as a plus-size model,” she says. “I was able to build a fan base that was centered around me being confident and showing up as my full self.  And then being able to grow as an actress, singer, and all the other things I do, I’ve been able to build that community as I explore and build myself.”

Women responded immediately. They didn’t just follow her work; they connected to her presence. They saw themselves reflected in the way she occupied space—confidently, completely, authentically. Her audience grew because they recognized something familiar in her, but also something aspirational. She was modeling more than clothes. She was modeling a possibility.

“Working with people who see me as a talent and a creative has pushed me forward,” she says.

But she’s honest about the reality, too. “I still encounter naysayers. I still experience discrimination. I still feel boxed in sometimes,” she shares openly. 

What stands out is how she moves through those moments—her sense of self doesn’t rely on external validation. It’s internally anchored.

When we ask about her self-talk in moments of doubt, her answer surprises us in the best way.

“I can’t say that I—I mean, we all have self-doubt in different ways, but it’s very rarely tied to my size or my appearance,” she explains. “When it comes to presenting and showing up as my full self, it’s very rare. I can’t even really think back to a time when I’m feeling less than or insecure about myself in that way. I have been blessed to kind of not even see it that way.”

She pauses, then adds something powerful: “I have to deal with outside pressures and people who feel that way about me. But one thing I do to encourage myself and stay positive within myself is definitely music. I just believe and know I’m that girl, and I speak it. I speak life into myself. So those self-doubt moments don’t come around often. If they do, they don’t last for long.”

This is what sets Nzinga apart. She’s not performing with confidence for the cameras. She’s living it. And when negativity does come her way, her response reveals even more about her character.

“When somebody comes at me with that kind of energy, it really makes me concerned for them,” she says. “Like, what happened to you? What’s going on with you to make you feel like you want to put someone down or want me to feel less about myself? I don’t internalize that at all. I’m more concerned about that person in that moment, like, I hope you feel better, whatever you’re going through.”

The Tyler Perry Studios Experience

Working at Tyler Perry Studios on Zatima has sharpened Nzinga’s craft in ways that only fast-paced, high-stakes production can.

“We do a lot of scenes in a very short amount of time,” she explains. “When it comes to learning 20 episodes, and we have around 2 weeks of filming, that’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of things to get into your brain.”

Her castmate Crystal Renee, who plays Fatima, became a lifesaver. “She gave me this line learner app that you can read your lines to and the other person’s lines, and it’ll play it back to you. And then it gives you the option to either cut out their lines or cut out your line so that you can speak to yourself in that moment. That has been a game-changer for me.”

The tool is essential when the only prep time between scenes is, however long it takes to change outfits. “Sometimes we have readers, but sometimes the readers are occupied. And sometimes you just want that alone time. So being able to get to my phone and just play the scene out or play the other person’s lines while I’m filling in the blanks has really, really helped me.”

But beyond the technical skills, Nzinga has learned something even more valuable from Tyler Perry himself: adaptability.

“Tyler’s so quick to shake things up,” she says with clear admiration. “You might get a whole new script. He might be like, ‘You know what, throw that out. Say this, say that.’ And sometimes those are the best scenes because they don’t feel stale. They don’t feel over-rehearsed. They don’t feel like you’re preemptively thinking about this or that. It’s just fun and what feels right in the moment.”

Her theater background prepared her perfectly for this approach. “That’s that theater training—that theater comes to the screen is what you feel in that moment. And I’m a theater kid, so I respond very well to those types of changes where you have to go with the flow in the moment. Those always feel the best to me.”

Angela: The Role and What’s Next

As Angela on Zatima, now in its fourth season, Nzinga has created a character audiences genuinely love. But she’s not content to stay in one lane.

When we ask about future roles, her eyes light up. “I definitely want to do more serious roles. I also want to dive even deeper into comedy. My dream would be to lead a musical series. That’s really what I want to do. I’m a musical head, a true musical theater person. I studied musical theater, so I would love to be able to bring something like that to the screen, whether that’s a series or a film. I really want to do a musical.”

Music is clearly more than a side interest—it’s a passion. “Music is such a passion for me, so to be able to bring those two loves of acting and music together on the screen would be a dream come true for sure.”

The Power of the Right Circle

Nzinga is thoughtful when we ask about the importance of surrounding herself with the right women. Her answer reveals the intentionality behind her success.

“It’s so important,” she says emphatically. “The people that you spend time with are like holding a mirror up to your life because those people are going to hold you accountable. They’re going to push you. They’re going to be able to open doors and put you in rooms as well. I can’t tell you how often people that I form friendships with have ended up being people I work with, whether that’s musical performances or referring me for jobs, or collaborating with me directly.”

She describes how her friends function as both a support system and accountability partners. “You need those people to hold you accountable because all of us can fall short every now and then. All of us might lose track or lose sight. And people who see you and can see when you’re falling off or see when you are distracted by something—when you have those women who are close to you and will hold you accountable, it makes all the difference.”

But there’s a crucial element that makes these friendships work: everyone has to be growing.

“You have to be around other women who also want to elevate and want to see you elevating,” she says. “If you’re the only one rising in the group, you get to a point where it just doesn’t fit. You won’t click on the same things. Or everyone’s kind of depending on you, and then you can’t move the same way. We can’t all go and fly somewhere together and have fun because everybody’s waiting on you to pay a tab. It changes the dynamic when those types of things happen.”

When everyone is elevating together, the energy shifts completely. “We can grow, and if we see somebody who’s not pushing or who’s falling, we can figure out ways to help elevate them and push them past that moment. I love being able to call up my friend groups, calling my sisters, and knowing that we are genuinely gonna be supporting each other and not backstabbing or tearing each other down behind each other’s backs. It’s all about love and elevation over here.”

 Nimani: Fashion That Finally Gets It

The name alone— Nimani—makes you smile when you realize it’s a play on her name. But the purpose behind it is deeply personal and necessary.

“There are so many options out there for people of other sizes, and then when it comes to plus sizes, like maybe 2 or 3 that you can think of off the top of your head,” Nzinga explains. “And a lot of times, when it comes to younger ages or people who like certain types of clothes that fit a certain way, we were just lacking.”

We know the journey of finding fashion that celebrates us. Nzinga wanted to create something different.

“I like bold colors. I like bold choices. I like bodycons. That was very difficult for me to find in stores when it came to plus-size clothes,” she says. “It was a lot of black and a lot of paisley and a lot of like the same kinds of cuts of clothes. It became frustrating.”

So she built the solution. “I started this as an opportunity to search for things that I knew I would like, but also be able to bring them to my community.”

Her vision extends far beyond curation. “My intention is to grow it to a point where I can really be drawing and designing and full-on manufacturing clothes that I visualize but don’t get to see in plus-size fashion right now. Right now, I’m curating the boutique to supply all the things that I feel like are missing, whether it’s bodycons, whether it’s midriff out, or whether it’s bold colors. We need those options as well.”

She’s designing for women like herself and the women she knows. “The thick, beautiful young girls I’m around don’t want to go to these old school brands that have the same kind of clothes that are baggy in all the wrong places, or have skulls and crossbones on them. This is not what we’re looking for.’ So I’m really glad that I was able to bring things to the community that are, to me, more in line with the girls that I’m around and what we want to see when we go into a store.”

Currently, she’s pivoting the business in an exciting direction. “Things slowed down a bit, especially as my career picked up. I am very hands-on with the store, so if I’m not doing it, it’s not getting done. Right now, we’re doing a refocus within Nimani, which is called Nzinga Imani’s Closet, where a lot of my pieces from the films that I’ve been in, from Friend Zone, Zatima, Sistas, and others, are actually being sold on the site. That is our current pivot. It is exciting to see these items get new life with fans and other aspiring fashionistas.”

But she’s clear about where she’s headed. “I definitely want to bring more new styles to the site, as well as the designs that I’m creating. I’m figuring out a way to bring those to life as well. All in good time.”

The Message for Us

When we ask Nzinga what she wants to say directly to our readers—Black women who are building businesses, chasing dreams, and looking to her for confidence, joy, and representation—her response was:

“Keep doing you. Keep striving for your dreams. Keep pushing past the naysayers. Because at the end of the day, we have one life to live, and you have to live it to the fullest. So live your best life, and don’t let anyone stop you or deter you. You are that girl. Period.”

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY

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