Meet Monia Ashibi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monia Ashibi.

Hi Monia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where I grew up watching my father create music and listened to my mother’s beautiful singing voice on the regular. Naturally, I fell in love with music and became a singer very early on in life. Although music took up a good chunk of space in my heart right from the beginning, I quickly felt the urge to dabble in other art forms. My cousin Allana, my favorite dancer, inspired me to dance.

From there, I picked up violin, then acting, modeling, writing, styling, and cosplaying. Before I knew it, my dabbling transformed into genuinely expressing and exuberantly living in my purpose through numerous forms of art. My favorite definition of art comes from my friend, Ty Glascoe, and it’s “the act of exercising your demons.” I never expected to have had to face so many demons by the age of 26, but I’m grateful that I’ve had art to make the hard times a little easier to get through and simply just for the sake of being able to create and feel. In the end, I hope to be able to say that I’ve made a positive difference in the world on my artistic journey and that I encouraged others to do the same.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been smooth by any means. Just like everyone else, I’ve faced obstacles along my journey. There have been plenty of moments where I felt like giving up, but the one that stands out the most is losing my father. At the end of 2016, I decided that I needed to “do something with my life.” Up until that point, I’d been doing small dance jobs here and there, struggling to pay my bills, and living on my mom’s couch. I had no drive, but I wanted my dreams to magically find me. My attitude/laziness eventually caught up to me, and suddenly, I felt I had no purpose. I cried for weeks over this feeling and swore that I was doing absolutely all that I could. Then, I stopped and really had to ask myself, “Am I really doing all that I can, or have I just been telling myself that? Have I even really tried yet?” Life needed more meaning, I needed to live more intentionally, and I needed to place myself in a position to receive a blessing. I decided to move across the country to Los Angeles to really pursue a career in dance. When it was time to tell my dad, he said that he had some news for me too. I told him that I was moving to LA, then he told me that a tumor was found in his colon.

Fast forward to me being in LA by January 2017, my dad tells me that he’s got stage 4 liver cancer. By my 7th month of living in Los Angeles, my dad was gone just after my birthday. After his funeral, I returned to LA from St. Louis to find out that I was losing my job as a dance instructor. I was so ready to give up on everything. Then, thanks to my dad, I booked my first job on a reality show. Before he passed away, my dad asked me to email him my resume and headshots. He sent them to every artistic job he thought I’d be good at. This show was a competitive fashion styling show, mind you, I was not a fashion stylist. He said, “Booka, fake it ’til you make it. You never know where it can take you.” My dad believed in me so much that he helped me to see that I am capable of anything I put my mind to as long as I do my best. Anytime things get hard now, I think back to this moment and how much he believed in me during such a hard time. I think about how you can always make a way from no way. Struggle is inevitable, pain is temporary; if you work towards walking in your purpose and eliminating tendencies that don’t align, you can do anything. You should never give up no matter what comes your way; if you want it, go get it and expect difficulties, but navigate with ease.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a model, writer, singer/songwriter, dancer/choreographer, fashion stylist, and cosplayer. My newest creative endeavors are styling and cosplaying, but I would say that I specialize in modeling, writing, dancing, and music. I’m extremely proud of all my work because it’s all purposeful, genuine, and the fruit of my hard labor. However, I am most proud of two works of art in particular. The first is my anime/comic book series titled “Ashe Rose” and the second is my upcoming album titled “Esoteric.” Both are art pieces birthed from the heart in order to set a stage for growth to take place and more love to be born. Be on the lookout for both! One thing that sets me apart from others is my love for anime/cosplay. When I tell people that I’m an artist, they think I’m going to be cool like Rihanna or SZA. Little do they know, I also thoroughly enjoy dressing up with my friends and doing the Naruto run in the ballrooms at anime conventions. I suppose that’s just my duality, but more importantly, it helps me to think outside the box when I’m creating. For example, I’m creating an anime series that sheds light on the stigma behind depression and mental illness. The protagonist is a black woman by the way!

How do you think about happiness?
Creating makes me very happy; it’s basically the epitome of being present. It’s like tapping into a secret realm where you get to feel life as it’s happening in real-time versus life just happening around you.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/moniaashibi/slowly
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moniaashibi/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/monia0ashibi
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/moniaashibi

Image Credits
Marc See Kathleen Carig Steez Media Chris Coates Jaira Noelani Jamillah McWhorter Abbey Raynor