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Monique, take us back to the beginning. What was the moment you decided to build a business?

Honestly, necessity was the mother of invention for me. I was passed over for a promotion I had clearly earned — given to a less-qualified white male colleague. Instead of filing a complaint and waiting, I decided to build something of my own. I had $2,000 in savings and a vision. That was enough to start.

What did those early years look like?

Hard, beautiful, and humbling in equal measure. I did everything myself for the first two years: sales, operations, accounting, client delivery. I worked from my spare bedroom until I literally ran out of space. There were months where I paid everyone else before I paid myself.

What was the inflection point — when did it become a real company?

When I hired my first senior leader. Up until that point, I was the business. The day I hired someone who was genuinely better than me in her area of expertise, I stopped being a freelancer and started being a CEO.

What does a Black woman CEO need that nobody is talking about?

Boardroom-level sponsors. Not mentors who advise you privately — sponsors who advocate for you publicly. Who put their name on the line for you. Who call you when an opportunity opens before they call anyone else. Every Black woman CEO who has broken through has one of those. We need more of them.

What is your word to the Black woman building right now?

Your timeline is your own. Stop comparing your chapter three to someone else's chapter fifteen. Build consistently, build with integrity, and trust that the compounding will show up.