The Rise of Monique Webber: Mastering Fashion PR, Building Wealth, and Staying True to Values

Monique Webber is the visionary founder of MLWPR Fashion and Beauty PR Agency. Her story isn't just about the sparkle of dressing celebrities in Herve Leger's iconic ensembles; it's a story about ambition, resilience, and a commitment to lifting up minority, local, and women-owned brands.

Monique started out as a teen model and progressed to publicity. She worked with A-listers and learned a lot during her two decade plus career. In 2020 she stepped out on her own and she talks about all the things that gave her courage to strike out and pursue a dream she visualized during an encounter with Oprah Winfrey....

In our conversation, we discuss the relentless drive it takes to flourish in public relations as well as the importance of diversifying your income streams to run a successful agency. We get into the merits of mentorship and how applying for grants can support you in your entrepreneurial journey. Monique also recently underwent treatment for cancer and she talks about how keeping a positive attitude got her through this difficult period.

Finally, Monique shares the best advise she has ever received, it was from her late father and it simply says: "Believe In Yourself."

LINKS AND MENTIONS

MLWPR Agency IG Profile and Website
Contact Monique: Monique@mlwpr.com
BeyGOOD Foundation
Unsun Cosmetics
Shea Radiance

Transcript

Kutloano Skosana: 0:03

Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers. I'm your host, kutluanus Kosanarichi. Today, my guest is award-winning beauty and fashion publicist, monique Weber. Her agency, mlwpr, represents brands such as Melanin Haircare, shea Radiance and Unsun Cosmetics. The latter two have both been featured here on this very podcast. Monique started her agency during the final quarter of 2020 and hasn't looked back since. She shares her ups and downs since then, including a recent cancer diagnosis and a round of treatment, and you find out how that changed, how she defines success in the long run, and if you've ever wanted to know anything about the publicity industry, raising funding in that field, identifying and serving a niche, and how to create something that's bigger than yourself, then this is the episode for you, and so I invite you to enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with Monique Weber, founder of MLWPR agency.

Monique Webber: 1:10

My name is Monique Weber and I am the owner of MLWPR. We are a full-service public relations agency that is based in Las Vegas, nevada, and we specialize in fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands and, in particular, I love to champion minority-owned brands, locally-owned brands and women-owned brands.

Kutloano Skosana: 1:33

And why did you choose this particular niche to go after?

Monique Webber: 1:37

Well, I started PR over 23 years ago. This has been half my life that I've been in PR and I started with BCBG Max Azria Group, and I was with them for 12 years. And starting in fashion, you grow a love for fashion and it just became something that I was just highly interested in and I wanted to stick with. I loved doing the fashion shows that we used to do and I did a lot of celebrity dressing. I don't know if you are familiar with the brand Herve Leje, but Herve Leje was also under BCBG's umbrella, so in the early 2000s I was dressing everyone under the sun in.

Monique Webber: 2:24

Herve Leje. So you saw Beyonce, britney Spears, kim Kardashian, paris Hilton, mariah Carey I mean you name in all the A-list celebrities. I was dressing and those dresses. So having had that experience is like something that you want to continue. And it's fun and I just always loved it. I actually fell into PR. I was actually Max and Luba Azrias, who was the owner of BCBG at the time. I was their fit model. Oh yeah, yeah, so.

Monique Webber: 3:04

I started off as their fit model and I used to sing and model. And just one day, out of the blue, mrs Azria just asked me like Monique, would you ever consider like dressing some of like your model or musician friends in our clothes? And like maybe you should do PR for us? And I was, like you know, I've never done PR. That's not even what I do, like I'm on the other side of things, I'm the model.

Kutloano Skosana: 3:36

Right, right.

Monique Webber: 3:36

I didn't know. I didn't know anything about PR. So when she offered me that opportunity I really took time to consider it and just thought how hard can it be?

Kutloano Skosana: 3:50

Right being young is the best thing ever, right, right.

Speaker 3: 3:56

You don't know what you don't know.

Monique Webber: 3:57

Yeah, you're like you don't know what you don't know right, but I'm like sure, yeah, just people in their clothes, fine, and yeah, I was just bold and courageous and not afraid of a no. So, I went after like everyone, and it was successful and so I ended up coming there. Senior VIP relations manager.

Kutloano Skosana: 4:25

Right, right. So I mean, what is it that made you want to carry on with PR?

Monique Webber: 4:33

It's just been a really exciting journey for me and it's opened up a lot of doors. Like I've met so many people in PR, yeah, and you know you have to have a love for networking and building relationships and I feel like I'm really good at that, yeah. So this has given me an outlet to meet new people and to try new things, and it's just always been fun. Like I haven't lost that aspect of fun.

Speaker 3: 5:02

Right yeah, and.

Monique Webber: 5:03

I still get excited when one of our brands gets a placement Like. I still get happy about that. So the joy in PR hasn't left me yet.

Kutloano Skosana: 5:15

Great, and is there a deeper meaning you attached to your day to day activities as a PR person?

Monique Webber: 5:21

Well, you know now that I have children I have two kids. I have a 15 year old son and a 14 year old daughter you start thinking about your next generation and building generational wealth, and what does that mean? And so my why has kind of changed. Yeah, so we're now. My why has become more about what's next for my children.

Monique Webber: 5:48

What can I build for them? How can PR, how can I leverage PR to open up doors for them in the future? So that has become really what's important to me and what's been driving me recently.

Kutloano Skosana: 6:02

Right, right. And then, in terms of the actual work itself, we just mentioned that you work with locally owned businesses. You work with people of color founded businesses, and you know there's a lot of talk about diversity and inclusion, especially when it comes to the industries that you work with, that's fashion and beauty, and you know what's your feeling in this, I would say, post George Floyd world, of how things are going.

Monique Webber: 6:31

No, I started my own agency during that George Floyd movement. So I was with an agency and during COVID we were, they were furloughing a lot of people and I was one of the lucky ones that still kept their jobs. But I was also given like 15 accounts to oversee. I know it's a lot of accounts and so I'm overseeing all of these accounts and also, at the same time, the George Floyd movement is going on and being one of the only people of color at the agency. It's it turns into. Well, what does Monique think?

Monique Webber: 7:05

Yeah, let's see how should we phrase this? What will be the best way to go about? You know the brand messaging around these topics and I was actually more concerned with. Well, what do you think?

Speaker 3: 7:22

Yeah, because.

Monique Webber: 7:23

I mean, it really doesn't matter what I think because, of course, I'm going to be on the side of the minorities, because they represent me.

Kutloano Skosana: 7:32

Right.

Monique Webber: 7:32

And I see myself in this movement. So what do you think being a, not being a, minority like what's your stance Exactly? And though I was, you know they had a. Really, they were more open and more diverse than some of the other places that I have worked. I was still concerned with the idea that, oh okay, we haven't really been thinking about diversity. Sure. Yeah we weren't really actively pursuing founders of color and it wasn't really something that was on their minds really.

Monique Webber: 8:05

So for the most part, when you have these agencies, a lot of the founders, they're reaching out for brands with founders that look like them or you know they get their friends and then their friends are referring their friends, and a lot of their friends are the same.

Kutloano Skosana: 8:21

Right.

Monique Webber: 8:22

And so you don't get any diversity. And so, when all of that was happening, I just decided like, hey, I need to do something about this. I've now been doing PR for over 20 years. I obviously can do this on my own, since I'm already at home working on 15 accounts, Of course yes. So now would be the time for me to just step out on faith and go for it. Perfect.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Though.

Monique Webber: 8:45

I did, and I know a lot of publicists. When they're leaving an agency, they take their clients with them. I didn't that, so I started from zero. Wow I was just hustling. Really. I was reaching out to brands that resonated with me, that I was actually using and really loved or that I had read about and I really liked their story and I thought, oh, I can really do something with them. So I reached out to them, sent them like really heartfelt messages Right.

Monique Webber: 9:18

And they respond it. And so in my 20 plus career I had represented maybe five Black-owned brands over the 20 years.

Kutloano Skosana: 9:28

Wow, that's a lot.

Monique Webber: 9:31

Yes, so when I started, when I officially launched in August of 2020, I launched with seven Black-owned brands.

Kutloano Skosana: 9:39

Wonderful, wow, wow. And how did you go to market with this idea?

Monique Webber: 9:44

You know, at the time everyone was on the whole. Let's support Black-owned go-front businesses, Of course. It was that whole trend and that whole bandwagon, which I knew was going to just be a trend. Because, nothing lasts forever in fashion and beauty. And especially, I don't know if you ever had the chance to see the documentary on Beth Ann Hardison.

Kutloano Skosana: 10:13

No, I haven't yet. Oh my gosh, I really need to get onto that. You know you're the second person I'm interviewing who's asked me if I've seen the documentary. No, not yet Getting onto it.

Monique Webber: 10:24

Amazing. So, what she's been able to do in fashion is pretty much like what I would love to do with PR. Sure, so you know, there is a complete lack of diversity in PR, not just with the brands that people represent, but even amongst publicists. Like, there's only 11% of publicists that are African-American and a lot of that 11% is in, like, the entertainment side of PR. I mean, there's other aspects of PR that we can do.

Kutloano Skosana: 10:59

There's hospitality, you're knowing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can see, though it's very, very obvious, yeah.

Monique Webber: 11:06

Healthcare. There's all kinds of other things that we can do as publicists, aside from just representing talent. So I would love to see us start to move into these other segments of PR and not just be an account executive. We should be in higher levels. We should be senior executives or vice presidents or the president or the CEO of the company, and a lot of women of color do not hold those positions.

Kutloano Skosana: 11:40

Award-winning beauty and fashion publicist and founder of MLW PR agency, monique Weber, is my guest on Shades and Layers Today. Monique is on a mission to change the status quo in her industry by contributing meaningfully to diversity and inclusion efforts. Up next, we discuss scaling APR business and what it would take for women of color to have more of an impact in the public relations industry. For Monique, entrepreneurship was the pathway, but for those who don't choose that route, what are their options? Let's find out.

Monique Webber: 12:18

What's really about community. I think we all have to help each other. So as soon as one person makes it out and becomes successful, you have to look behind you and look below you and reach down and pull those people up. So I am very happy to mentor other women of color who are trying to get into PR. I've actually been involved with a few PR mentoring groups. So I would encourage them to get involved with like find a PR group and form other relations with other publicists and then find other successful women of color who are in the niche that you want to be in. Ask them would you mentor me? Can you help me? Can you be mine introducing me to XYZ? And a lot of times you will find that people will say yes.

Monique Webber: 13:15

It's just a lot of times people don't ask.

Kutloano Skosana: 13:17

It's a difficult thing, right to ask. Yeah, no one wants to ask for help, For sure. So how did you know you had a viable business and that you could scale?

Monique Webber: 13:28

You know that first, my first year of business, I did over $250,000.

Kutloano Skosana: 13:34

Oh, well done Gosh.

Monique Webber: 13:36

Wow.

Speaker 3: 13:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Monique Webber: 13:41

So, yeah, first year. I mean, that wasn't my first year, that was my second year. My second year I did 250. My first year I started out at 150.

Monique Webber: 13:52

Yeah, but still, I mean that's it and then the next year I doubled it and then I just noticed that you know founders of color, they're also looking for people of color to represent them and you have to show up and you know, a lot of times people don't want to do business with other like black people get we really get a lot of bad press and people speaking poorly about how we make, manage our businesses. So everyone's like you know you have to show up and you have to be good at what you do. You have to deliver. You can't just talk the talk. You actually have to put action behind what you do and you know like we are delivering results. We're not just taking your money and that's that. Like you're just sitting on my roster, like no, I'm actually working for you, as if your brand is my brand, because I understand how hard it is to make a dollar.

Monique Webber: 14:48

And I don't want to waste people's money, so I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to waste my money either. So I know PR is a long term game, though it's not something that you can. You start and then in two weeks you'll start to see a whole bunch of placements in like these top tier magazines. It still takes time to get there, so it is an investment. But if you have someone that you, that believes in you, that understands your mission, knows your story like they know their own story, I would say that will be the right publicist for you.

Kutloano Skosana: 15:22

Alright.

Monique Webber: 15:24

So scaling has just been like people have referred other clients to me, like clients that I was working with have referred other people to me. So that has helped me scale. And then last year actually had a really tough year, so I was really disappointed in my client's situation. Oh yeah, Because a lot of my clients to have to rethink their PR budgets because their manufacturing costs skyrocketed.

Monique Webber: 15:50

So, they weren't able to maintain their PR budgets. We lost a lot of clients there. I also was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I had a lot going on emotionally, physically and then financially, but I still, you know, was pushing forward and of course I had my moments where I was like you know, I don't know, Of course it's part of the journey, isn't it?

Kutloano Skosana: 16:16

Yeah?

Monique Webber: 16:18

This is a lot, especially since it's pretty much just me. I do have one employee who I love to death, so it's just the two. It was just the two of us, basically. So, like it's tough to run a business and have all these other and to have life happening, around you.

Monique Webber: 16:42

So, like I said, I was part of these PR mentoring groups and they really helped me really start thinking about other ways of finding like clients, other ways to promote myself. How else can I build revenue without going the retainer out, because a lot of PR agencies yeah, I was actually going to ask, like, what's the common business model in PR?

Monique Webber: 17:07

Yeah, the common business model is retainers Right, so you sign clients on anywhere from three to six months and then you know that keeps your your monthly revenue going. But if you don't have that, then like what else can you do? So then you can start doing like projects, or you can do PR consultations, or you can start making products yourself like your ebooks, or there's even like one publicist that was actually making like real products. She was making like t-shirts.

Monique Webber: 17:42

Oh yeah, cool, cool yeah, of course so you know it's thinking out the box and like what are other ways for us to generate income?

Speaker 3: 17:50

Yeah.

Monique Webber: 17:51

So I had to think about that, and then also my mentor encouraged me to start applying for grants, which I never thought of Right I'm like I'm a service, I'm a publicist. They're not gonna like want to give me a grant. Yeah, but I was wrong. I start. I mean, I was applying for them and lo and behold, in August I won one.

Monique Webber: 18:15

I won $10,000 from Beyonce's Baygood Foundation, which, yeah, was very cool, yeah, so. And then maybe, like two months later, I want to skip career, wow. And then at the end of December, I won another grant from our Village United. I won $20,000.

Kutloano Skosana: 18:36

Sheesh lady, You're on a roll.

Speaker 3: 18:39

I need to consult you.

Kutloano Skosana: 18:43

Oh, that's lovely.

Monique Webber: 18:45

Yeah, I was part of the. So from the Beyonce Baygood grant, they enroll you in these other programs and one of the programs was in our Village United cohort. It's a business cohort and I didn't even know that that was going to turn into a grant. But after going through the 12 week sessions, like the business sessions, they had a pitch competition for our graduation and they selected five of the students from the cohort to pitch for the pitch competition and I was one of the five and then I ended up winning second place and got the $20,000. Awesome, Awesome.

Kutloano Skosana: 19:24

And that's how it happens. So awesome. Yeah, so put yourself out there basically. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely yeah. So we spoke about business models briefly, yeah, and that was the other thing I wanted to ask you about. You know funding. So there's the grants, there's also also the route of retainers. So do you think you would want a loan or some other kind of funding, or you are just fine growing things organically?

Monique Webber: 19:52

So far I've been just fine, growing things organically. I, you know, I realized that that's a blessing. I've been mainly cash based and I've been able to have like a consistent flow of clients and because I don't have a super large overhead, it all just works out for me. Yeah, I guess that is only two of us, so it's myself and one other employee. So it's just the two of us and I basically work out of my house.

Speaker 3: 20:23

So I don't have to pay for an office.

Monique Webber: 20:29

And a lot of the shipping and things like that. Like our clients take care of their own shipping Right. So the only real thing that I'm paying for are, like the programs that we use to do our day to day tasks. So, if we're pitching to journalists, there's like you use Cision or a muck rack and those types of programs are expensive but like I, only have those types of operation costs.

Kutloano Skosana: 20:54

Yeah, and speaking of retainers, you said you know a lot of clients refer to to you, get referred to you by other clients, etc. But you know how do you? What's the art of choosing the right client for you.

Monique Webber: 21:08

For me. I really especially now that I have I've gone through all of my cancer treatments like I really really focus now on what's in your product, especially since I'm in the beauty industry- Absolutely yeah, so.

Speaker 3: 21:23

I want to know what's in your product?

Monique Webber: 21:27

Are you using natural ingredients? Is it good for people to use? Because I just don't want to promote just anything at this point. So if I don't feel comfortable using your product, then I probably will not be the one to represent you.

Kutloano Skosana: 21:42

Right, so there's an ethical and. Yeah so yeah.

Monique Webber: 21:46

And, like I said, I also look for founders of color. I love emerging brands.

Kutloano Skosana: 21:53

Yeah, at what stage of business should they come to you?

Monique Webber: 21:56

I would say I mean of course they should have their website built. They should know who their ideal customer is. I would say, if they're making anywhere, if they're making over 150K a year, they should start looking for PR. Great, great. And how do?

Kutloano Skosana: 22:17

you? How do you judge?

Monique Webber: 22:17

success in your business. I know you've got bottom line considerations, clearly.

Kutloano Skosana: 22:27

But you know what? How do you judge success? Well, I look at like numbers.

Monique Webber: 22:32

So we're all about like the number of impressions we're able to get, how many. What's the engagement that we we receive done on a campaign? How many placements did we get within a year? So I look at stuff like that as far as what's successful for me. I know, for, like individual owners that we work with, sometimes what they view as success is completely different. I might have a founder that thinks that success is oh, I got on Tracy Ellis Ross, so like that was successful for me Like that's a major deal to me.

Monique Webber: 23:05

Or it could be like last year, we had one client and we had over 115 earned media placements for them. Oh, wow, so that's a way of measuring success. And then for me also, aside from those types of like numbers, is my quality of life. Yeah, and my happy doing this still. Yeah, and especially I'll go back to the whole cancer thing, because it really opens up your eyes. No, absolutely Realize yeah like what's important in life. Yeah, so do I have the time now to spend with my kids, or am I always stressed?

Monique Webber: 23:50

Yeah, so success for me also takes into account my health and how am I spending my time? Absolutely time is so important, and I think a lot of people don't value time as much as they should. I agree, because it's something that we can't buy.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it doesn't come back. There are no do-overs, you know.

Monique Webber: 24:11

Yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:11

Yeah, no, I agree. So quality of life, I'm totally with you there. This is Shades and Layers, and my guest today is award-winning publicist and founder of MLWPR agency, monique Weber. We're about to get into her background story, but before we do that, let's find out about what you can expect from a publicist as a client and how brands can stand out in a crowded market. What are the biggest misconceptions about what you can achieve for a client and what miracles can you not perform?

Monique Webber: 24:51

Oh, that's a loaded question.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:54

Because I know PR. You know you appear in nice magazines and you see all these brands and celebrities and whatever you're like. Okay, yeah, that's good PR working. But what are the misconceptions about what your PR can do for you and what it can't do for you?

Monique Webber: 25:10

I think the main misconception is that publicists are salespeople. We are not salespeople, we're storytellers. So, though we can get you placements a lot of, sometimes those placements don't convert to sales. So our job isn't necessarily to get you sales. Our job is to tell your story and to get your story out to as many people as possible, and what people don't understand is that how that helps them. Is that people? I read this article where it said that people have to see your brand or your product at least seven times before they make a decision on whether they're going to buy you or not. So if there aren't all these various touchpoints of your brand, then you're missing out, and that's what having a publicist helps you with. It helps get you in digital publications. You're now on a broadcast network, You're now in magazine, so there's all these places where people are seeing you, and then it's like, oh okay, I've seen them so many times, let me check them out. Let me check them out, yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 26:19

Yeah, it's exactly how it works. Yes, yeah, that's how it works.

Monique Webber: 26:23

Yeah, but a lot of people are like, oh my God, okay, you were in L, but we didn't sell anything. So PR isn't working and it's like no, you're in L.

Kutloano Skosana: 26:33

Exactly. That's huge in and of itself.

Monique Webber: 26:36

Yeah, but you were in L, it worked. We did our job.

Kutloano Skosana: 26:41

Great.

Monique Webber: 26:42

And the other thing that I would say that people think is that, especially in fashion and beauty, a lot of people think they look at these, they compare themselves with these other brands and they see, especially if it's a well established brand, and you see how well that brand is doing and maybe you're in this, maybe you're you're doing black hair care and you see, like a Miele or something, and you see how many celebrities they have and how many placements they get, and you're like, oh, you know, I'm in the same category, I should be getting the same thing.

Monique Webber: 27:16

Right and it's like no, it doesn't even. It doesn't quite work that way either. They have a completely different budget. Like you don't even know what their budget is.

Kutloano Skosana: 27:27

Right.

Monique Webber: 27:27

Marketing or for celebrity endorsements. Like you know there's a budget that's allocated towards that. So I mean, if you don't have the same budget, you're not going to get the same types of placements.

Kutloano Skosana: 27:41

Yeah.

Monique Webber: 27:42

Yeah, that those brands get, and also they've been around for however many years.

Speaker 3: 27:47

Exactly.

Monique Webber: 27:47

If you're just starting, yeah, okay, like give it some time.

Kutloano Skosana: 27:51

Yeah, but then how do you advise people to cut through the noise, because there's so much out there, especially in beauty and fashion?

Monique Webber: 28:00

Nowadays people are really like customers, are really in tune with the founders. So how you cut through the noise is by being upfront and personable and showing your face and telling your story. And I know a lot of founders don't want to be on IG and TikTok and they don't want to be the front person. But it's so needed because, like, why did you start the brand?

Speaker 3: 28:25

Right.

Monique Webber: 28:26

People want to know why now, and they want to know what's your story? Because your story touches and inspires your consumers and if they can relate to you, they'll buy from you. Even for me, people have been saying Monique, you got to get yourself out of here. You got to start doing more videos.

Kutloano Skosana: 28:48

Yeah, yeah, what did you do?

Monique Webber: 28:50

Oh, my God, I am a background person, I'm a publicist, I just it's not about me at all. Right, but yeah even now for me in order to like lend new clients that have never heard of me or you know that's not through word of mouth like they have to see me and be able to relate to me and my story and what we're doing here at MLWPR.

Speaker 3: 29:14

Yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 29:15

All right, so let's get into the story of how you got to where you are. So and it involves either a time when you were growing up or you know college, or whatever you know your fondest memories of. Yeah, okay, you know it makes sense that I would land up where I did, because this and this and that happened.

Monique Webber: 29:38

I always wanted to be a singer, actually.

Kutloano Skosana: 29:41

I wanted to be a musician.

Monique Webber: 29:44

So I used to sing and and I started modeling too when I was in like the 11th grade. Okay, I'm very tall and 5 foot 10. Wow, that's impressive. So I have always been in fashion and in the entertainment industry in some kind of way. Yeah, so I guess it was meant to be for me to find some other avenue to go into that still supports those those dreams or, you know, still gives me access into that environment, yeah so. Yeah, I mean I was with Elite Model Agency as a teenager and like they were my first agency and then from there I was like with LA models and Q models and I got to do like really huge ad campaigns as a model. So I've been in like Paxson, I've done Macy's, I've done a Prada ad, I have done all. I did some ads for Carl Canai, I've done runway shows in LA and I actually did a Miami Fashion Week runway show.

Monique Webber: 30:57

So like that whole world was always really exciting for me. Yeah, yeah, and fun, I like to have fun and I didn't want to do anything. That was going to be boring.

Kutloano Skosana: 31:11

Yeah, who are some of the people who encouraged you in that direction and who did you look to in terms of mentors, role models, etc.

Monique Webber: 31:22

Because I just would always hear it all the time because I was tall and really thin. So I would have like friends in my high school or like family members that would say like, oh, you guys got to get. They would tell my parents, you guys got to get money into modeling. And then when I became like old enough to actually start looking up the information myself, because I'm actually the youngest of 11.

Monique Webber: 31:49

So my parents were like let me research and try to find out how to find out how to model and they're trying to. They're trying to feed 11 kids. They're trying to be a model was not at the top of their priorities.

Kutloano Skosana: 32:04

Right, exactly.

Monique Webber: 32:07

But they were supportive. So I had to go out and figure it out myself Like how?

Speaker 3: 32:14

how do I?

Monique Webber: 32:14

find an agency Like what, how, like, how do you even go about becoming a model?

Kutloano Skosana: 32:19

Right, right so.

Monique Webber: 32:20

I would just like do research and like I think it was like Tyra Banks, I like read an article once on Tyra Banks and, like her mom was like her manager, and I read their story of how they got Tyra started and I was like, okay, well, maybe I should try that.

Kutloano Skosana: 32:38

Brilliant.

Monique Webber: 32:38

So yeah. So I was like, let's see what happens and let me just start calling agencies that I see, that are in these magazines that I love, so I will just start calling them. And then I found out that they have like open calls. Oh, you can just show up and then, if we like you, we'll sign you. So it's like, okay, okay, all I have to do is show up. I needed to take some pictures which my my father is really funny. My father could not afford to hire a professional photographer, which I completely understand, so he was like I'll take.

Kutloano Skosana: 33:22

Yes, dad hey problem solver okay.

Monique Webber: 33:27

That's the time, you know they had those disposable cameras, oh my goodness, oh dad he literally took me to the park and to watch towers. He's like do your thing, Excellent. So those were my first modeling pictures.

Kutloano Skosana: 33:51

I love it. I hope you still have them, brilliant.

Monique Webber: 33:55

You know, I don't know, I don't think I do. I have to look. I have a box that's filled with photos. I have to look to see if I have still have those Brilliant. It's a great story, that's how that started, and I was so upset though I was like this is not how you do it, daddy, this is not what we're supposed to do.

Speaker 3: 34:20

I can just imagine, I can just imagine, I can just imagine you can't be in front of this building Like what are we doing here, Brilliant?

Kutloano Skosana: 34:34

And from that time or even later, what's the best advice you've ever received and that you live by to this day?

Monique Webber: 34:44

Best advice I've ever received. Wow, I would say this might make me cry. Actually, it probably came from my father. My father passed away from colon cancer a few years ago. The best advice I ever received probably came from him. He was like the ultimate entrepreneur, and it was just two words believe in yourself. You have what it takes. Believe in yourself, trust that you can do it.

Kutloano Skosana: 35:15

That's really great advice. Yeah, you say he was an entrepreneur. What did he do?

Monique Webber: 35:20

He did real estate. Actually, he did a little bit of everything he did real estate. He used to fill like Christmas trees. He also had like a little jean shop that was filled with these vintage jeans which I love that shop.

Kutloano Skosana: 35:37

I was like this is a.

Monique Webber: 35:39

I love this idea. Yeah, he did a little bit of everything.

Kutloano Skosana: 35:43

That's great. That's probably where I get like my hustlers. Yeah, it had to come from somewhere. Yeah.

Monique Webber: 35:52

And you have to, I guess, be some type of like. You have to be always pushing yourself and trying to generate income when you have 11 kids I'm going to be these kids. We're selling Christmas trees.

Kutloano Skosana: 36:12

So if you had to write your memoir, what would it be called and why? Oh, wow, oh that's my rapid fire. Sorry, I should have introduced it Like okay, now we're coming to the rapid fire. So if you had to write your memoir today, what would it be called and why?

Monique Webber: 36:31

What would it be called and why? Monique Weber, the model of resilience. I think that I have had to push through and overcome so many things, but I pride myself in the fact that I've remained positive and steadfast and I don't give up. That's one thing about me, like I'm not going to give up, so like a no to me isn't a no, it's like a not right now.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:00

You can circle back. We'll revisit that idea soon. Yeah, we'll revisit it.

Monique Webber: 37:08

So yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:09

Great. And if you had to turn it into a biopic, who would you pick for the lead actress?

Monique Webber: 37:16

Good question, who would I want to play me? Actually, the first person that came to my head was Zoe Saldana.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:23

Me too. If you had to have dinner tonight you're the hostess which famous black woman would you invite to dinner, living or dead?

Monique Webber: 37:35

Oh, without a question.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:37

Oprah Winfrey.

Monique Webber: 37:40

Who doesn't want to be Oprah? I don't even know if I would even speak. That would probably be in such awe of her. It would just be great just to breathe the same air.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:57

That's amazing.

Monique Webber: 37:58

Yeah, I went to see her. She was in Los Angeles when she was doing that tour.

Monique Webber: 38:04

I went to see her when she was in LA. In the journal because I gave you journals in the journal I wrote in that journal because the whole thing was talking about building your future and what do you want for your life and what is your true dreams, and all of that In that journal I wrote that I wanted to start my own PR agency and I wrote out what I wanted it to look like. It was a year later that I ended up leaving the agency that I was with and starting my own agency.

Monique Webber: 38:37

Speak it and do it, man, I looked at that journal and I was like man. This came to pass. See Oprah, the power of Oprah.

Kutloano Skosana: 38:48

Yes, you need to focus on those dreams and speak them into being.

Monique Webber: 38:52

Focus on those dreams.

Speaker 3: 38:53

You need to write them down.

Monique Webber: 38:55

You need to be clear about what you want.

Kutloano Skosana: 38:58

She's huge, huge, huge proponent you can read that in the Bible too.

Monique Webber: 39:01

It's like in Habakkuk write down the vision and make it so clear, and you want others to see it too, so they can hold you accountable for it.

Speaker 3: 39:09

Absolutely.

Monique Webber: 39:10

It wasn't just me. I was there with my friend. I even showed it to her. This is what I want to do Fantastic.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:17

Well, I'm glad it came true. Yes, me too. Congratulations, I'm glad that was probably the best.

Monique Webber: 39:23

Starting my own thing was probably the best thing I've ever done.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:25

I love that, I love to hear that.

Monique Webber: 39:28

That's great, yeah, I mean it's tough being an entrepreneur.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:31

Oh, I know.

Monique Webber: 39:35

But it was the best thing I've ever done. I don't regret it at all. Great.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:40

Thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else that you'd like to touch on that maybe we didn't speak about?

Monique Webber: 39:46

No, I don't think so. I would just encourage listeners to do as my father said trust yourself. So if you are building a business or building a brand, believe in your business, believe in what you're doing and move forward. A lot of times you are going to hear no and you are going to be met with resistance, but if it's really in your heart and in your spirit to do this business, then do it, and don't even listen to the may sayers. Like you have to put on invisible earmuffs.

Kutloano Skosana: 40:22

Just keep pushing forward Absolutely. And where can people find you if they want to work with you or just see the work that you do?

Monique Webber: 40:29

Oh yes, on IG at mlwpr, or you can visit our website at wwwmlwfashionprcom, or you can always email me. I am always available. I love getting questions or people asking me about like what should they do. I don't mind answering your questions, great.

Speaker 3: 40:53

Yeah.

Monique Webber: 40:55

So you can email me at monique at mlwprcom.

Kutloano Skosana: 40:59

And that is all from me today. Thanks to Monique for sharing his story and thanks to you also for listening. If you liked this episode and think it would be useful to someone else, please do go ahead and share it. I am Gullonus Kosanaritchi and until next time, please do take good care.