We were lucky to catch up with Monti The Artist recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Monti thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Since I have been doing this for over 2 decades now, I have to say there have been many meaningful projects I have worked on throughout the years and all for different reasons. One that sticks out to me in more recent years, would have to be the one of my records titled “Echo” off my last EP titled “This Is For You.” It is one closest to my heart.
For that EP project, I wanted to create something deeper with my music. I really wanted to tell my own story and the stories of the youth that I was around daily and mentored throughout the years with a nonprofit I founded called Hope Generations. Before and with Hope Generations, I have had the honor of working with homeless/foster youth and survivors of human trafficking and helped them in creating a different path for their lives despite where they came from. I wanted to tell their stories as well as mine of struggles and victories which I also had growing up and continue to till this day. Growing up I suffered and dealt with the various unfortunate circumstances that many of these youth and young adults deal with including homelessness, being in foster care, growing up on group homes, abuse, addictions etc., I wanted to speak out to them and for them and to the next generation in general, to let them know that I’ve been there, and I made it out and so can they.
The song title itself “Echo” summons it up as it refers to our voices and the next generation’s voices to be heard. I found that I not only wanted the voices and message to be “heard” but to be a heard loudly as a declaration and “echo” so it may continue to be heard by the next person as well so they can hopefully be inspired and so on. I partnered with the incredible Josh Stevens who’s credits, and experience are beyond as he’s worked with some of my musical inspirations and also could relate with his own personal experiences growing up. In the writing process, I also brought in one of my mentees at the time, Josh Elizondo who joined us in writing on this song as part of his first-time experiences in a recording studio and with songwriting. We also had the Hope Generations youth choir at the time come into the studio to sing on the choruses on the record. This was also a first-time experience for them which was amazing to watch as they were all aspiring singers, artist, and musicians.
For the music video, I wanted to do something a little different where I wouldn’t be in the video but instead, I would tell someone else’s story. I met Reggie Snowden at an event with Josh Stevens and after hanging out with him, and exchanging stories, I ended up giving him a ride home that night where I discovered he lived in Compton and was an aspiring fashion designer at the time, working his way up and out where he came from to make his dreams come true. At that moment, it all came together, I felt an immediate connection with him as his story and background related to mine and to some of my other youth I mentored. Later when the team and I were coming up with concept for the Echo video, I really wanted it to tell a raw story of my past but without being in it. I wanted to reveal myself to the viewers and tell a much bigger story by telling it through the eyes of someone else’s story that would represent just one of many. That’s when Reggie’s name came up and the idea of having a camera to capture a day in his life which would indirectly tell my story vicariously through his. And that’s what we did and amazingly enough, Reggie is now a successful fashion designer with his own company, fashion line, and studio.
Monti, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
It all started out in Southern CA where I built a successful career in the entertainment industry as a child performer starting at the age of 4 years old. Throughout navigating through my childhood building this career as a dancer, singer, actress, and model, I also was trying to survive my rough childhood growing up with parents who were addicts and abusive. I landed my first record deal as a teenager where I put out my first album of original music. From there, I grew into an independent R&B/Soul/ Pop artist expanding into songwriting for myself and other major artists, alongside several American and international teams with Sony and Universal. That turned into over a decade of recording and touring internationally as an award-winning full-time artist, opening for major acts from small venues to arenas and festivals, gaining radio play, and song placements into independent TV shows and films. This would later lead to a collaboration with the Grammy award-winning Carrie Underwood and singing along side of her in the opening scene of the major motion picture “Soul Surfer;” the life story of Bethany Hamilton. I always had a heart for the pains and struggles of humanity as I had gone through my own trauma and struggles throughout my life. I was committed to helping others however I was not whole and complete with myself. I knew there was more than just music and needed to find my own healing. I poured myself into spending many years advocating for foster youth, the homeless, veterans, and those struggling with mental health, and creating change in various spaces including combating human trafficking.
Even after all that and “living my dream,” I could not handle all of it and still had a major void inside and was unstable. I took some time off of music to become a full time missionary where I received so much more than I think I gave with my volunteer service. I found God and began my inner healing and recreation of self-journey. In addition, I became more troubled by the more in depth struggles of humanity I was exposed to with not only American problems but also in other cultures and countries around the world. This experience led to me discovering my true purpose and mission for why I was given the gift of making music and why I went through all the trauma in my own life; To inspire and change the world, with the hopes of leaving it better somehow using music to empower, unite, and. I suffered through many struggles and traumatic experiences in my life with a dark past that I went from surviving to living. However as much as I’ve struggled, I have also overcome and experienced transformation and THIS was my true mission for my time on this earth.
As a result, from this transformation, I recreated myself as “Monti the Artist” in 2016. In addition, I founded my own nonprofit, “Hope Generations” that focuses on empowering and creating experiences for foster youth, homeless youth, and survivors of human trafficking. I created “Monti” which means mountain, that represents power and transformation to be used to empower others, especially the next generation, with the message that you do not have to be a victim to your circumstances.
Throughout this journey, I went through many tragedies, trauma, and loss at the highest level that started at an early age for me in and outside my home. I dealt with severe mental health issue including multiple suicide attempts with substance issues, gang influence, and more.
I escaped my abusive broken home filled with drugs and alcoholism that I was born into, I ran away from home at a young age and dodged foster care systems. I lived off and, on the streets, escaped and transformed my life from once living a life of gangs, mental hospitals, group homes, and drug and alcohol abuse to becoming a full-time independent recording and performing artist on a mission to tell my story in hopes to help others in doing the same. I always poured out everything I was going through into my music and performing. I was able to create a different life for myself by the grace of God, through inner strength, and the guardian angels.
I am very proud and excited about so much I have had the honor and privilege of experiencing and creating throughout my career. I am proud of all of the accomplishments not only in my music career but in my philanthropy career as well. I am honored to have been a part of extraordinary worldwide advocacy groups where we have changed and created laws to combat against human trafficking in multiple states throughout the nation. I am blessed and privileged to be the founder of “Hope Generations” and proud of all the work and success we have had in advocating for foster youth, homeless youth, and human trafficking survivors. I recently am super excited and proud to have music on Lizzo’s reality show “Watch Out For the Big Girls” ranking #1 on Amazon Prime and has won my team and I 3 Emmy’s, a Critic’s Choice Award. I am also proud of winning a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best R&B/Soul Song of the Year for one of my original songs I wrote especially since I used to say that I could never write songs.
Above all, I am proud to be an example of a little lost and broken girl who came from abuse, trauma, and nothing and transformed my life, growing up to be a woman who is a self-made entrepreneur with being able to build my career as an independent artist where I have been able to make a full-time living and have full control over my art. I hope this can be an encouragement to anyone else out there who might have a similar story and to hopefully empower them in making their impossible, possible.
I now offer many services I offer in addition to being an artist myself. I work on many different projects as a songwriter, and vocal producer. I also work as a coach/mentor in artist development and vocal technique. Additionally, I am a producer for tv/film and events. I also am an advocate for human rights.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
For artists, there is very much a more natural way of being which is as a creative, someone who creates art. With that, I, like so many other artists, was only interested in just creating and putting my art of music out there in the world. I never had any business sense and didn’t realize how much of that was necessary in order for me to make a career out of my art. Art is like any other product in any other business where it needs to have some kind of a business plan and strategy around it in order for it to become successful. A marketing strategy and campaign is very necessary to get any product out there. When I first started, I wasn’t even aware of marketing or that I had a certain market that would gravitate to me and my style of music. When I learned the world of branding and how crucial that was to my music as well, it helped me expand and see myself even beyond being just the artist. Having a “brand perspective” enabled me to connect the other parts of me that are very important when it comes to why I even do music and what for. It also has allowed me to branch out into other areas that are of interest to me and to be able to implement that into my built-in target audience.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
That I get to have some part in maybe influencing or helping someone or creating some kind of positive impact on this world. The business I’m in creates memories with and for others. Music is a universal language, so I get to connect with anyone anywhere through the power of music.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.montitheartist.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montitheartist/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/MONTItheartist/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/montitheartist/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/montitheartist
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MontiTheArtist
Image Credits
John Nasteff; Chez Canite