Northside Ventures Group

Jonathan (Jonny) J Booth is an entrepreneur born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago in the city of Evanston Illinois. Jonny’s upbringing was not a typical upbringing for a young African American male. He was lucky enough to be born into a family of hard working, humble, and insightful parents that have always supported Jonny throughout his entire life in the best way they knew how. Jonny was no stranger to adversity though. Jonny was always bullied from a very young age all the way through high school. Being an African American boy in a predominantly caucasian area presented unique challenge. Jonny never wanted “stoop down” to others’ level and do the same thing that others did to him. At a young age he had a moral maturity far beyond his age. Jonny also started getting treatment for mental health conditions in his early adolescence. Unfortunately, he only was given about 30-40% of his true diagnosis in adolescence with generalized anxiety disorder and clinical depression. He was misdiagnosed through middle school and high school, which made his experience with day to day activities, even more challenging because of improper medication, continued bullying, negative self-talk with high expectations, and an overall sense of not belonging. Jonny grew up a competitive swimmer and started to qualify for regional swim meets and age group state swim meets around the age of 12 years old. He became VERY invested in the sport and was able to make his varsity swim team his freshman year of high school at Loyola Academy. Unfortunately, because of the demographics and social dynamics of a private Catholic school on the North Shore of Chicago combined with the severe negative side effects of medication that was improperly prescribed, Jonny lost determination to continue competing in the sport despite his high upside. Jonny also enjoyed playing basketball from a very young age and grew up starting to become a die-hard Chicago Bulls fan since the age of 11. His favorite player was Derrick Rose (and still is to this day). Jonny decided to change sports to basketball his sophomore year of high school and competed in AAU basketball his sophomore and junior year. Jonny dedicated himself to training and playing catch up to his peers and still plays and trains for basketball to the current day. Jonny always keeps fitness as a mandatory activity in his adult life including weightlifting/powerlifting, basketball training, and swimming for extra cardio. Being an athlete and being surrounded by parents who worked for everything they have instilled a work ethic that can be compared to those of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. These qualities of being an athlete shaped his outlook on life and work ethic. Jonny graduated from an alternative high school in 2017, where he found his love for music. Jonny did play the flute and clarinet in 6th grade and 10th grade respectively. Playing others’ music did not give him the determination to continue with it though. When he went to his alternative school, he found recording arts and being an artist. Jonny fell in love with the entire process of making hiphop music and he started his artist brand (and future general brand) NORTHSiDE. Jonny continued to pursue production, engineering, recording, and developing his artist brand into adulthood. NORTHSiDE can be listened to on all streaming platforms. In adulthood, Jonny moved to Atlanta, GA and graduated from Georgia State University in the class of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology minoring in entrepreneurship. As Jonny battled his mental health all throughout the remainder of his adolescence, a passion for learning about it to help others bloomed in his early adulthood. In his early 20s, Jonny got the full diagnosis he always was looking for in ADHD, Complex-PTSD, Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures, and OCD. With the full understanding of his mental health and neurodivergence, he was able to piece together why what happened in his adolescence happened. He started doing more casual research about ADHD and other neurodivergence to increase his general knowledge on the subject. Jonny also is able to manage it to a healthy and sustainable manner through his adult life.