Monica is a cultural thought leader in museums, public history, the creative economy, and arts administration.

She is a doctoral candidate at Point Park University, pursuing her Ph.D. in Community Engagement and exploring the intersection of festivals, storytelling, and community power. Over the last 20 years, she has consulted with organizations, municipalities, and civic entities, leading public engagement and partnerships toward ecologies of promise.

As an independent curator, she has produced social change exhibits and participatory experiences with institutions such as the Formerly Incarcerated Renaissance Museum, Smithsonian Institution Arts & Industries Building, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, South African Embassy, T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, Weeksville Heritage Center, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.

She is a sought-after keynote speaker and has rocked stages at TEDx, SXSW, the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Curators, the Themed Entertainment Association, the Visitor Experience Conference, Museum Next, and more, sharing bold ideas and insights on topics such as diaspora storytelling, shared authority, and engagement strategies. Notably, she has shared stages with FLOTUS Jill Biden and artist Theaster Gates.

She has appeared on major networks, including CBS, NBC, Fox, C-Span, PBS Newshour, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Humans of New York, Watch The Yard, Hyperallergic, and Radio One. She stewards the Montgomery Collection, an archive of global majority diasporic history, ephemera, photos, antiquarian books, family papers, and art, and is transforming it into the DiasporaDNA Story Center. It is becoming the DiasporaDNA Story Center.