In the shoot, photographed by Oles Jamueller, art directed by Arina Gasanova, and styled by Jai Style, and Angel Johnson, Moniece ditches her self described ‘tomboy chic,‘ “sexy nerd,’ and ‘mom,‘ style in favor of lace, lingerie, frothy tulle, ruffles, and feminine dresses. She admits, “I’m not into lingerie, I’m not into ruffles or frills. I’m definitely not the girly type. I’m not comfortable being sexy, but I have learned how to turn the sex appeal up a notch without looking slutty or tasteless or classless.”
In our interview, she let us know more about the real Moniece–the one we don’t see on TV. Behold, 5 things you may not have known about the LA Native:
1. Her Dad has 10 Grammy’s. She comes from a musical family.
Moniece’s father, Dave Thomas, is a very accomplished musician. She says, “My Dad is a gospel singer, he sings with the group Take 6, a Grammy award winning group. Individually they do a lot. The bass in the group, my uncle Alvin [Chea], he does soundtracks and commercials, and movies, and he has a book out called Bassline. My uncle Mark, they say is a savant and he does most of the arrangements. My Dad also worked on the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. He’s done vocal training for some of the Jacksons, Britney Spears, Christina [Aguilera], Destiny’s Child, Brandy Norwood, the list goes on and on and on.”
2. She is a singer and sang the theme song for America’s Next Top Model.
She says, “I’ve written on records for Akon and Marques Houston. Akon actually found me and signed me, shelved me. My Dad got me the gig to sing America’s Next Top Model theme song, straight out of high school. I still make a cute little coin from that, now that it’s been syndicated in [several] countries. My godbrother actually revamped the soundtrack a few years back. I was the original singer from Cycle 1 until they started mixing guys and girls. For many years, I had that theme song.”
Hear Moniece sing below:
3. She is coming out with a clothing line, Plane Jane, this Fall.
“The name of my line is Plane Jane. From being on the show what I noticed was my demographic is not your average glamour puss, they’re not rich, they’re moms, they work jobs and go to school. And I’ve been told that they really admire how I make simple look so good. I’m coming out with a line based off of that. All original designs by me. I’m really excited. I’ve got some of my samples back, I’m gonna be tweaking that and adding a few pieces for my fall collection.”
4. She may not be returning next season.
She says, “I’ve been very vocal about it on social media and in interviews: I’m ready to go. Unfortunately they don’t want to release me. They block my opportunities any and everywhere else and trust me they come in by the boatload. Their reason is that they don’t want to give another network the advantage of having me. As much as I would like to show up and just be boring, this is my real life. In real life, I am a hothead, in real life, my son’s father and I go through a lot, in real life, my relationship is tested a lot, in real life, b*tches like to poke the bear. And oftentimes they know just what to say to incite a reaction or evoke a particular emotion in me. My reactions and responses are very real. Being boring is jut not an option. I’m the one that everyone loves to hate. I am ready to depart the show, I’m ready to take a leap of faith, and hope that what GOD has in store for me is way bigger than this. I appreciate the platform, but at the same time, I can’t lie about the havoc it does wreak in my real life.
5. Her real life doesn’t have as much drama.
“In my real life, I don’t have those kinds of problems,” she says, “ My friends and I don’t beef like that. My baby daddy and I don’t beef like that in real life. It causes problems for me that I normally wouldn’t have. I’ve been very open about my struggles with depression and anxiety. A lot of people don’t know that at the top of the year, I had a whole entire, just complete nervous breakdown. I didn’t shoot for about a month. It was my decision to go back on antidepressants to kind of manage getting through this season. I’m really not interested in playing this game.”
In conclusion, she says, “There are so many more layers to me that production seems to refuse to highlight. I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a business woman, and I am a mother first. Because the show has become such a soap opera, my music and my entrepreneurial business ventures get no shine. The few times that my music does get highlighted, they ruin it with something dramatic and by the end of the scene or the episode no-one even remembers that I sing. This is my 5th season, and in 5 seasons I constantly hear, I didn’t know she could sing, I didn’t know her dad has 10 Grammy’s, we didn’t know she grew up in the business, so we thought she was just a reality star trying to be a singer. Little does the world know or Ghetto USA (as I like to call them our demographic and our viewers) they don’t know that I’m a singer that just so happened to end up on reality TV.”
What do you think?
Photographer: @olesjamueller
Art Director: @arina_gasanova_
Style: @jaistyledit_ and @angeltailan
Mua: @beautybytayrivera
Hair: @hairby_hotsauce
