An Inspired Chat with Monika Willis

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Monika Willis. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Monika, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
ENERGY is most important to me.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Monika Willis, but you can call me Mo.
(THE BIG ONE NOT THE LITTLE ONE 😂)

I’m a celebrity hairstylist, hair wellness specialist, award-winning business leader, and founder of Moments with Mo, a luxury brand dedicated to helping women revive, restore, and reclaim their crowns and their confidence physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

I’ve spent over 20 years behind the chair and behind the scenes of numerous projects. From working with clients in the salon, community events, mentoring or group discussions to styling for BET, acting with HBO, and other award-winning film sets.
But my story isn’t just about hair, it’s about legacy and my ability to use my gifts, talents and experiences to impact and empower others. After closing my salon to care for my mother before she passed, surviving a car accident and losing my memory, and losing nearly everything else. I had to rebuild my life and business from the ground up. That silent rebuild taught me resilience, faith, and how to redefine success beyond titles or spaces. And realizing you could have money and not have peace. But once you gain peace you stop chasing money and money starts chasing you.

Today, Moments with Mo empowers women to embrace beauty from the inside out. And dedicated to show them how to turn their gifts into high-ticket income, and build businesses that changes their family’s financial future. I’m currently working on “The 15K Blueprint,” a digital guide teaching hairstylists how to earn $15K in 15 days without burnout, while also mentoring others to elevate their brand with clarity, confidence, and cash flow. As well as credit repair and business funding.

At the end of the day, I’m a purpose mover, pusher, shaker, faith walker, and creative strategist who believes your gift will make room for you. And you don’t have to shrink to fit into spaces you were meant to lead.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The truth? Most of us have been conditioned to believe things we do not agree with, accepting limitations as reality just to fit in.

I did it too.

Losing my mom as an only child… losing my memory, my business, my home, my car, the life I thought I needed. All without the safety net of understanding or support. It really broke me real bad. And it built me at the same time.

Because what I thought I wanted to have or thought I needed, I no longer wanted or needed And what I thought was happening to me, was really happening for me.

We often see ourselves through the lens of how others treat us. And when you’re chosen by God, it can feel like a double-edged sword. And cut both ways. Being handpicked by Him is an honor, but the resistance of others can feel like a hindrance.

But now?
The part of me that felt I needed to shrink, dim my light, overexplain, or overextend just to be seen, has expired. That version is no longer needed or necessary. I release survival mode. I flow gracefully into thriving, fully, boldly, and unapologetically.

The walls I built to protect myself also became the walls that kept me imprisoned. . Because freedom is not free. It cost you comfort, vulnerability, truth and commitment to one self.

I release the version of me that felt responsible for everyone else’s comfort at the expense of my own calling and how much it all cost me. But I honor her, because she kept me alive when I needed her most. The truth is she cannot come with me into this next season. I no longer have the capacity to hold on to her so I healed.

I am stepping into a season of success, overflow, alignment, abundance, boundaries and deep healing.. Now support is a standard, ease is the atmosphere, and divine guidance is non-negotiable.

It’s time for me to do all the things I know I’m created to do, And if you’re reading this, maybe it’s your time too.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I stopped hiding my pain the moment I realized it wasn’t meant to keep me small. But pain has purpose and it is meant to reveal what’s in me that needs to be healed.

I stopped hiding when I understood that pain wasn’t punishment; it was preparation. That every loss, every betrayal, every tear was building a version of me I couldn’t pray my way around, only through. And acknowledging growing through has the word rough hidden in it. So getting to the other side of through may get rough. So as long as we don’t give up we get where we belong

In my season of consecutive loss of many things spiritually and naturally. I also lost the version of me that thought I needed to be strong for everyone else and showing for them as well. Not that I didn’t want to but it was time to give to myself the love and support I freely gave to others.

When I lost everything I built, I gained the unshakable faith to rebuild it bigger, better, and bolder. God is my CEO, not just my emergency contact.

The day I stopped hiding was the day I decided I would not let pain define me but refine me. It was the day I realized the same pain that tried to break me was the same power God would use to bless me yes, but only to bless others.

Because your power doesn’t come from what you keep together; it comes from what you survive, what you heal, and what you teach from your scars. Cause perspective shows that it may seem like life is falling apart in moments and times of pain. But my perspective shifted understanding it was really coming together with what matters the most.

That’s when I stopped hiding.
That’s when I started using it as power.
Thata when my mind and heart changed.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
We don’t really know who we are.
And even the “us” we think we’re being is only a half-truth.

Why?
Because who we believe we are is often just the sum total of the choices we’ve made—
choices shaped by trauma, fear, survival, cultural conditioning, family patterns, silent agreements, and moments we never fully healed from.

We are a patchwork of who we had to become to be loved, to be safe, to be accepted, to be strong. We are often performing a version of ourselves we think will hurt the least, lose the least, or disappoint the least.

We think we’re choosing how we show up in relationships, business, and our calling,
but most of us are reacting to who abandoned us, who betrayed us, who doubted us, who didn’t protect us, or who expected too much from us.
We think our “strength” is our identity, but it’s often our unprocessed pain in designer clothes, high-achievement, or fake smiles.

Even when we choose not to show up, it is often not alignment but fear or exhaustion that is speaking.
We’re not showing up as our highest selves; we’re showing up as our safest selves.

The truth that many can’t accept is this:
We don’t know who we truly are until we unlearn who we became to survive.
Until we ask ourselves:

✨ Who am I when I’m not performing strength?
✨ Who am I when I am not seeking validation?
✨ Who am I when I no longer fear being alone?
✨ Who am I when I let go of the need to be understood by people who are committed to misunderstanding me?

We don’t find ourselves in what we achieve or prove to others. We find ourselves in the quiet courage to become, not just perform.
To heal, not just hustle.
To love, not just manage connections.
To choose, not just react.

That’s when the real you emerges,
the one God always intended, beyond the masks you had to wear just to make it this far.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Absolutely.

There was a season I thought getting what I wanted—a thriving salon, celebrity clients, awards, press, the applause—would fill the emptiness I was carrying. I thought hitting the numbers, stacking the accolades, and being “booked, blessed, and banked” would quiet the ache inside.

And for a moment, it did. But when the doors closed, when the lights went off and I was left alone with myself, I realized it wasn’t the things I was truly seeking. It was peace. Purpose. A sense of divine alignment that no trophy or title could give.

What I’ve learned is that external success means nothing if your spirit is bankrupt and your soul is exhausted.

Now, everything I build—every dollar, every room I walk into, every digital product, every moment behind the chair or the camera—has to align with God, my purpose, and the real me I fought to rediscover.

Because real satisfaction is when your external wins align with your internal wholeness.

That’s the overflow I live in now.

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