Meet Our CEO

message from our founder & ceo:

I am a queer black woman. I graduated from Howard University with a degree in Media, Journalism and Film in 2017. I thought I was going to be delivering hard hitting news and making strides as an investigative journalist, however, that did not happen. I felt discouraged after the 2016 election and believed that the media had failed the public. Instead of being a checks and balances on the government, I felt that the media was being used as a tool by the very people it was supposed to be monitoring. No worries, eager to create social change (and not just report on it) I decided to enter graduate school in the Fall of 2019, and am currently obtaining my Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Right now I am learning how to be an effective advocate for my community but I still want to empower those around me. Hence, Monarch Noir Industries. It started with my book Dear Child, People May Hate You… I know it’s not the most comforting title for a children’s book, but I felt as if it was so necessary.

In August 2017, I sat glued to my television watching the devastation happening in Charlottesville. I watched as an emboldened people with tiki torches tried to instill fear in a community trying to right a historic wrong. I saw men and women who I knew hated me and people who looked like me without even knowing who I really was. Don’t get me wrong, I knew bigotry, prejudice, racism and all of the Earth’s most palpable sins existed but for some reason something clicked that day. I wanted to prepare the kids in my life for this unfortunate norm. Thus, Dear Child was born.

It is my love letter to marginalized children everywhere. I want them to know that even though hateful people exist, they can still thrive and accomplish anything they want. The book is only meant to present common stereotypes and combat them through encouragement and art.

That is the essence of Monarch Noir Industries. Encouragement and art, no matter what medium. We want to be the much needed platform for those who often don’t see themselves reflected in mainstream media. In doing so, we will create our own monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, power is unlimited.