We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monique Daniels. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monique below.

Monique, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was always into the arts but if I had to pick a defining moment, it would be when I was in second grade. My teacher was showing my mother a picture I created that was hanging on the classroom wall and I overheard the teacher mention that I was talented. That was the first time I was aware of any artistic talent. Art was always an interest of mine. I went to art camps, took private art classes, and was even in theatre for a time. My mother’s strategy was to observe my interests and then nurture them, and my interests were always creative. When it came time to choose a career it was only a matter of WHICH creative avenue I’d pursue,not IF. By Senior year of high school I spent most of my days in art class. Even skipping what I deemed the more boring subjects to create in the art studio. When I began looking at colleges to attend, it was always in pursuit of some creative career. I had been nurturing a growing interest in interiors and decided to pursue Interior Design after graduation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Creative. No other title can accurately describe who I am. I fluidly navigate the artistic world. I understand its language and I thoroughly enjoy it. I am an Interior Designer by trade and do practice when called. However, I have always been a fine artist that loves color, painting, and sculpting and acting (did I mention I have a theatre degree too). In 2020, while feeling the weight and stress of all that was going on, I began painting again. I needed to. Over the years painting had been very therapeutic for me. However, this time I wasn’t painting on canvases but on pegdolls.

I was just creating and having fun making brown dolls that had features like mine. I posted a few pictures of what I made on social media and began to get inquiries about them. After some thought I decided to share them and Afropegs was born. I made dolls and doll sets for people and their families and it was pure joy that I got to share with each customer. I was excited to send out their “happy mail” (what I began calling their orders) and hear their thoughts once the bundle arrived. There are in-stock dolls available on my site. They’re my way of spreading some much needed joy in the world. I want people to smile and be excited about something. Since it started as a therapeutic exercise for me, I guard that creative space very closely by not taking on too much and alotting enough time to work (and play). While I want to spread joy, I certainly don’t want to create stress for myself especially when the original goal was the opposite.

As I created more dolls, my imagination kicked into overdrive and I started to imagine conversations amongst the figures. I thought it was funny. So I made comedy sketches starring the dolls. I thought it could serve as a good marketing tool too. With that, Pegtales was born. Season 2 of Pegtales began in August of this year and runs through November on Afropegs YouTube channel.

The dolls are for adults and so are the sketches. I’m very adamant about that. I think there’s this idea that “adult” means always serious and some interests are foolish after a certain age. Afropegs completely rebels against that idea. It’s an adult play space to laugh, have fun, imagine and play.

The craziest part about this arena I’ve found myself in is, I have to draw on all my creative skills to do it. I paint the dolls, design the sets, write the scripts and voice most of the characters.
Another element, quite possibly the most important one, is that this creation is a contribution to Black Culture. The dolls will always be representative of my community. The storylines, though often innocuous, will always be culturally relevant as well.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being a Creative is seeing my ideas come to life. In the Interior Design space there is nothing better than having a vision in your head and seeing it birthed into a physical space. Second to that is having a client be in love with what I’ve created for them. It’s the best.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I think NFTs are really cool. I’m sure they’ll have so many more uses in the future. I find it reassuring that art is directly tied to digital assets and there’s enough respect for art that it’s being used as the pilot for this kind of digital platform.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.mdanielsstudio.com/shop
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropegs/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC6F5SG7hHy-RyAka6LpW-gg/videos
• Other: To view my Interior Design work use this link https://mdanielsstudio.com/pictures

Image Credits
Photo 1: Photograper Brielle Daniels