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

MONNA, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

With Claws Out, we are mental health advo-cats and the organization exists to normalize mental health by spreading my personal mantra “Bad Bitches can be Sad Bitches”.

While there are different branches of operation with Claws Out under the umbrella LLC, we’re best known for producing live events with Claws Out Comedy and begin every show by letting people know that if they’ve ever been told they’re too much or not enough that with us, they are exactly where they are supposed to be.

I’ve struggled with depression and extreme mood swings most of my life. In fact, I was placed on Citalopram at 11 years old and having come from a Catholic upbringing where I was told within the church that any mental health struggles I experienced were either a punishment or made up, I went through phases of refusing to take medication. Religion deeply affected my sense of self and influenced my feelings about treatment. After choosing to not be confirmed, I was very involved in a missionary church where my mood swings were acknowledged but disguised beneath the narrative of either having a “spiritual high” or “suffering from demonic oppression”.

At 19 years old I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on lithium. At 24 I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. 26 I was diagnosed with a different form of bipolar disorder. I spent a lot of my adult life in and out of psych offices. I spent a lot of time and a lot of money on bloodwork, on prescriptions and on ER visits when the prescriptions didn’t work.

It’s a long story but at the end of 2019 I was let go from a job after disclosing my diagnoses and informing management that I had psych appointments to manage my medication as I switched from one mood stabilizer to another. In essence, I was told that if I didn’t cancel my doctor appointment I would be fired. I became violently ill during a training session and was instructed by my superior to leave the building. I was then fired the next day for not completing my shift.

This was all VERY shortly (less than two months) after producing the first ever Claws Out Comedy show. The combination of outrage in the face of discrimination matched with the opportunity to work on my craft full time helped me to build Claws Out to what it is today. Shortly after being freed from my day job, I was able to get Claws Out in theaters, bars and major comedy clubs in DFW as well as clubs in Houston and San Antonio. My resolution in 2020 was to record my first comedy album and the weekend I was slotted to perform my hour special, the entire world shut down.

I ended up recording my debut album “UNSTABLE” in October of 2020 and released it 1/1/21. In the weeks following its release, my entire life changed as my fiance proposed and then my father passed of cancer just a few days following my engagement. I also received a new diagnosis in 2021 (PMDD) which lead me to record my new full album “UNPRECEDENTED” in December of 2021 which will be released on 4/29/22. The single track “Miss Diagnosed” is now streaming on all platforms.

I carried heavy labels around my entire life. My mental health was swept under the rug by everyone around me and this lead me to feel deep shame about it as well. I felt broken and I felt alone. I always knew I wanted to be an artist and perform and when I was in high school I was determined to pursue stand up comedy. Yet even in an industry that notoriously attracts creative people who are a little “off their rocker”, I’d been instructed by multiple people on the business side to not talk about mental health. Even recently, I was told by a major television show that I would be restricted from discussing mental health in my act if I were to continue in the audition process.

Mental health is not just important, it’s inevitable. It is an issue that permeates our every day life and even in a society that virtue signals its acceptance and touts trending hashtags like #mentalhealthmatters it’s still considered a sensitive topic that many corporations are simply not willing to approach in practical, genuine ways.

Claws Out is.

It’s a lot of hard work but I intend to leave this industry better than how I found it. Claws Out creates safe spaces for audience members and for performers. I value purr-fessionlism above all else. I feel lucky to have a small team of people who work with me regularly to achieve our goals and a lot of paws-itive things are on the horizon for this little LLC.

What I’ve learned over the past few years is that when you find yourself begging for a seat- perhaps it’s best to take a step back and consider building your own table. Being dismissed, undervalued and underestimated has been my largest advantage as it has allowed me to become separate from others’ expectations and free to walk down my own path-sometimes you just have to get your claws out, create your own space and show everyone what you’re made of.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Claws Out Media and Entertainment provides digital marketing strategy, graphic design services and social media management for clients we feel are a good fit to work with us.

Claws Out Comedy Records, in collaboration with Smith Music, will also be working to produce and distribute more comedy specials for artists under the Claws Out brand. My purr-sonal projects UNSTABLE, Miss Diagnosed and UNPRECEDENTED are all under Claws Out Comedy Records and I’m very excited to say that we have quite a few more for artists outside of myself who have albums currently in the process of being created in 2022.

Claws Out Comedy produces live entertainment including open mics, Claws Out Comedy + Drag shows, Claws Out Comedy live stand up shows and Bad B*tch Bingo- which is an interactive comedy game I’ve designed that was regularly played at venues in DFW and in ATX in 2021.

Claws Out Media has produced the “Claws Out Comedy Podcast”, the “Claws Out Comedy CarCast” and is currently producing “The Scary Good Movie Podcast”- now streaming on all platforms.

The Claws Out Comedy Workshop is currently being converted to a format that will be available to purchase and consume digitally.

We also are in the process of switching over to custom handmade merchandise which is very exciting! We now offer some hand crafted items as well as 3D printed keychains.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of what I do is forming relationships and genuine connections with the people I get to work with. Whether it’s connecting with the audience from the stage or learning from other creatives, entrepreneurs and venue managers on the production side of things, I feel very lucky to be surrounded by intensely unique, talented and hardworking people.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I used to have a mentality that “I wasn’t ready”. For anything. For everything. I constantly struggled with the idea that I wasn’t good enough and that I wasn’t ready. I think I believed that by the time I was in my mid to late 20’s I would feel a certain kind of way. That some random sense of calm would wash over me along with some kind of anthology of knowledge for what it means to be an adult that would appear in my head over night.

Now I know that being an adult is just recognizing that everyone is also struggling to figure everything out in real time.

You’ll never feel fully ready-especially not if you judge yourself in comparison to other people. Just pursue what you’re passionate about, chase what lights you up and in the words of Phyllis Diller “brighten whatever corner you’re in.”

Contact Info:

• Website: monnacomedy.com, clawsoutmedia.com
• Instagram: @monnacomedy @clawsoutcomedy
• Facebook: MONNA, Claws Out Comedy
• Linkedin: MONNA
• Twitter: @monnacomedy @clawsoutcomedy
• Youtube: monnacomedy, clawsoutcomedy
• Other: I am personally incredibly on TikTok: @monnacomedy

Image Credits
Mark Mayr (@studio_trash_ on IG) , Dani B (lincandrey_photography on IG), Austin_ At (haus_of_muses on IG)