We recently connected with Monet Allen and have shared our conversation below.
Monet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?
Most of my life I have been misunderstood. I guess I’ve always been a bit strange in the eyes of society.
I can truly see why one would misunderstand me , because I have misunderstood myself as well. Much of my childhood was filled with a plethora of creative outlets and escapes , but my favorite was always books and movies. I loved to dive deep into a good book or movie. I longed to escape to the fantasy worlds where you could be anything , or anyone that you wanted. No one my age was ever as interested in the things that I was so I always found myself attracted to older people. They were always so interesting and had great life stories to tell. You can imagine that this lead to me being regarded as quite the teachers pet.. Eventually I got tired of this label and began to tailor myself to be more similar to the people around me. I misunderstood just how much of a blessing it is to be different. To have your own direction in life completely separate from the expectations everyone has for you. These days I am misunderstanding myself a whole lot less, but I am thankful for the understanding it has given me of the society I live in.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I tripped and fell into my industries. Modeling came about as a surprise to be honest. I’ve always wanted to act.. I still do , however modeling has taken over a large part of my creative expression. I started modeling because I was a bit of a delinquent . I would skip school to meet with my friends in center city Philadelphia to smoke weed and take pictures… Eventually I wanted to look better in my photos so I started thrifting for better clothes. Then I wanted better poses and fiercer faces, so I started studying America’s Next Top Model funnily enough. I grew up watching the show with my family , It was Wednesday night special. Way back when before streaming even existed and Block Buster was still the go to movie shop. I never would have imagined that I would be watching it for actual tips for myself. People started telling me that I was very androgynous and so I started tagging my photos with androgynous model , shortly after that I was contacted to do my first legitimate shoot that was picked up by a publication. The rest is history. As far as my administrative services it came about very much so in the same round a bout way. I’ve always had a passion for helping and a brain for business. After working with many different small businesses and brands over the course of a few years I started to realize that a lot more businesses needed logistical and structural help, eventually I realized that I could actually make a difference by offering consulting and management services to help small businesses implement sufficient systems to streamline their internal processes and help lift some of the heavy load.
I consider myself a creative entrepreneur and am capable of many skills . However currently I am focused on intentionally growing my acting career and offering top notch consulting and management services. I currently offer consulting services , marketing and social media management services, as well as video sequencing services for portfolio reels, music videos, bloggers etc.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding thing to me about being an artist is the plethora of mediums to express yourself and the freedom of expression itself. Art is not meant for consumption but for the catharsis of creating.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think that the hardest thing for them to understand is the need for freedom, and the need to follow the inspiration when it strikes.. I have no clue what im doing most of the time.. I just know that I need to do… If that makes sense to anyone else but me haha
Contact Info:
- Website: Monetallen.me
- Instagram: @monetallen_
Image Credits
Kenneth Turner and Josh Pears