We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monia Ashibi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Monia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
My entire life has been built off of the concept of taking risks. Generally speaking, taking risks isn’t easy. To be honest, I learned how to do it by not knowing what to do. One of my first big risks was deciding to drop out of college and pursue a career in dance all the way across the country. It was hard to do initially because of everything going on with my dad’s health, and the simple fact that I knew I would be all alone in LA for something I wasn’t even sure I would be successful in. I had to become sure quick because it was really my last resort. I was living on my mom’s couch not making any money, so at the very least, I knew I had nothing to lose. After learning to navigate La La Land, I became successful in dance and eventually several other creative endeavors, but the thing about risks… once you take one, you may as well start preparing to take more. While in LA, I studied under an acting coach named Killian McHugh. “Leap, and the net will appear…” He would say that all the time. I didn’t realize the significance of what he was saying at first, but by the time I was cornered into taking my next huge risk, I had no other option than to operate from a place of unshakeable faith. And so, I leaped again, and again, and again. And here we are now.
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’m Monía Ashibi, a singer and comic book writer from St. Louis, Missouri. I’m in Atlanta now, where I’ve been able to explore the depth of my love for creating. My focus at the moment is on taking my music and my comic series to the next levels, but I also spent many of my years as a professional dancer/choreographer, wardrobe stylist, and model with Saint Agency in Los Angeles. I’ve been finding that it’s okay to shift your focus, and that’s pretty much where I’m at with my current endeavors. I got into music thanks by being around a family that loved to sing. My father was a music producer/rapper, an extremely talented one at that, RIP to the king. My mom has THE very best singing voice that I’ve ever heard in my life. Aside from them, I can’t picture any of my family gatherings from childhood without hearing my aunts harmonizing along to the radio. By nature, I fell in love with music. This August, I had the privilege of graduating from my dream school, 1500 Sound Academy, founded by legends, James Fauntleroy and Larrance Dopson.
As a 1500 graduate, I’ve been equipped with the know-how to drop my first EP, “Here’s What’s Left” and create a visual EP that consists of a music video for each song. I’m in the process of rebranding myself to be able to represent myself the way I wish to be perceived, it’s been a beautiful process stretching out into my authentic self. I also feel like I’ve been well-received walking in my truth. I also discovered this through the birth of my comic series, “Ashe Rose.” It’s a story that reminds to hone in on who we really are in order to push back against the forces in the world that condition us to be everything but ourselves. It’s also about fighting demons, both literally and figuratively.
By creating “Ashe Rose” and “Here’s What’s Left,” I’ve been able to connect with those near to me and also complete strangers. I’ve been able to show people that there’s always a light at the end of those long winded tunnels we find ourselves wandering. I’ve had the privilege of reminding many people that they are powerful and capable of anything they put their minds to. Feeling alone or stuck in one place is a problem that many of us experience. The good news is, a problem is nothing more than an opportunity to grow. Sharing my creations and hearing the way others relate to them has initiated endless growth in ways that I never even expected. What I’m most proud of is my inability to give up, because ironically, that’s exactly what I wanted to do so many times. It’s taken a while to grow into this understanding, but I realize I can make a difference by persevering. Everything that may have been painful to push through has pretty much been healed by exactly that, pushing through.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
There are lots of things non-creatives can understand on a human level. I think it’s also safe to say that there’s a lot they may not understand, but I can only speak from my experience. “Chasing dreams” is scary because it’s one big, lifelong freestyle. Sure, you can go to school for this and that to hopefully get hired in a creative field, but oftentimes, artists struggle. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve been looked at sideways by a family member for dropping out of school my final year to go pursue dance, crowdfund for a comic book series that may or may not lead to a career, post videos on IG and calling it working, not know how to pay my bills, yet still chasing after this dream life… yeah, the list goes on.
When it comes to the life we’re taught to live according to the status quo, that’s just it. It’s according to everyone else more often than not. No matter how you look at it, it is far more acceptable to conform with what society deems normal than choose a life that involves becoming the next Rihanna. That’s where people get it mixed up too. It isn’t about becoming the next anything, it’s about finally becoming YOU. I do understand the difficulty of taking risks. It can involve taking a bunch of L’s until you get a finally get a W, and you don’t really know when that’ll come. The beautiful part about it is that as long as you have breath in your body, you can keep pushing. You find what you care about, put it at the center of your imaginary, mental dart board, and shoot as many times until you get the bullseye. You may stray away, or completely miss, but you can always readjust, and keep your eyes on the prize. That narrows your scope of focus too because you really have to believe. Even if no one else believes, you have to before anyone else. That’s the harsh reality and it can be challenging, so again, I get when non-creatives view creatives a certain way. However, I bet that if they were handed their biggest creative dreams on a silver platter they’d reach for it in exchange for a job where they felt they couldn’t fully be themselves. I feel that we were all born to create and we all have the capabilities to do whatever we want. It takes a willingness to be brave and effort that can’t be stopped.
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
I believe that NFTs are the future. This question is pretty ironic to be honest. It’s the perfect segue to let you guys know that I’ll be one of the newest artists featured on Gala Music, a decentralized platform for musicians to distribute their music in the form of NFTs using blockchain technology. Personally, I believe this is the future because for as long as we’ve sold and purchased music, it’s been predominantly through a traditional record label (unless we’re talking Indie Artists). It takes about a million streams just for an artist to make a semi-descent chunk of change. Meanwhile, the labels make millions all the time. Gala Music is changing that and allowing artists to make passive, growing income from their music all while owning their masters. It’s every musician’s dream if you ask me. Also, Gala has already signed artists like Kings of Leon, Snoop Dogg, & Ice Cube, and they’ve been in talks with the same record labels I brought up before. You know how IG saw Snapchat’s stories, then BOOM! IG got stories too? I’m no psychic, but I know how to put two and two together. NFTs are leveling the playing field for artists and allowing them to be paid what they’re worth from what they create. I think it’s brilliant.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.moniaashibi.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/moniaashibi
- Twitter: twitter.com/moniaashibi
- Youtube: youtube.com/monia0ashibi
Image Credits
Chris Coates Marc See LeMar Hayes Davon Latrell Frankie Graves