Monaleo chatted with Billboard on the red carpet of the 2023 Give Her FlowHERS Awards Gala.
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00:00 Hey y'all, it's Bel-wear with Mona Leo, the Texas legend.
00:03 - Yes ma'am, in the building.
00:05 - And you're being honored tonight, how do you feel?
00:07 - It feels good, it feels so surreal.
00:08 I can't believe they picked little old me
00:10 from Texas to be honored.
00:12 It feels good, I always appreciate the recognition
00:15 and the love and support.
00:16 It feels like a big old warm hug, so I appreciate it.
00:19 - Yeah, and you've had a big year, a debut album, a baby.
00:23 How does all of those things feel?
00:24 How have you been navigating that?
00:26 - It feels good, sometimes it can get a little overwhelming,
00:29 but ultimately I'm just glad that I stayed the course.
00:32 And it feels really fulfilling,
00:34 'cause it was a journey,
00:36 each of those were different journeys,
00:38 and I was able to see all of those until the end,
00:41 like until birth and until I put out the project.
00:44 So I'm proud of myself for being able
00:46 to follow through with that,
00:47 and like I said, it just feels so rewarding sometimes.
00:50 - 100%, and what does it feel like being a mom?
00:53 And like, being a mama, someone calls you mom now,
00:55 how does that feel?
00:56 - It feels so good, oh I love my chicken nugget,
00:58 I wish I would've brought him,
00:59 but he would've been so overwhelmed.
01:01 He's only six months,
01:02 so he would've been in here just overwhelmed,
01:04 but I would've been an ugly crying mess
01:07 on this red carpet if I had him,
01:09 'cause I just kept looking at him
01:11 and just like thinking about my younger self,
01:13 and like the younger me,
01:15 and like not being able to believe
01:17 that this is like my life now,
01:18 so I would've been boohoo crying,
01:19 so it's good that I didn't bring him,
01:20 but I love being a mom.
01:22 - And what is something that you've learned this year?
01:27 - Patience, patience is virtue,
01:30 and that's something I always heard people repeat,
01:32 and it never really resonated with me,
01:35 but when I realized how much great things take time,
01:38 it made me realize that patience is really important.
01:42 - No, it definitely is, I'm learning that every day.
01:44 You are very big with anxiety and depression,
01:47 that's very important to you,
01:48 talking about that and just kind of being healthy
01:50 in your mental health is very important.
01:52 What is some advice for black women
01:54 coming up in the industry that you could give?
01:57 That might suffer from depression and anxiety.
01:59 - I would say continue to honor yourself.
02:02 A lot of people say be yourself,
02:03 I wanna get specific and say honor yourself,
02:06 honor your truest thoughts, your truest feelings.
02:09 If you feel a way about a certain outfit,
02:11 you love it, wear it, who cares what other people think.
02:13 If you feel a way about a certain song or art piece,
02:16 whatever creates it, whatever you do art-wise,
02:20 if you feel good about it, I think you should pursue it,
02:23 and not let anybody deter you
02:25 from fulfilling your purpose, that's what I would say.
02:28 - That's some really good advice, thank you for that.
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