Born and raised in Sarnia, a small town in Ontario, Monica grew up without the constant hum of the internet or a smartphone. Creativity became her natural outlet, and her mother made sure it stayed that way. As the youngest of three with two older brothers, Monica was quietly handed what she now recognizes as feminist tools long before she had a word for them: have your own money, do what you love instead of what you’re told, and you’re allowed to say no.

Her mother and Nana, who moved in when Monica was six, also shared unfiltered stories about the way male co-workers, bosses, and strangers had treated them: near-abductions, violence at work, and everyday violations that still exist for women today. They did their best to prepare her, but Monica, like so many women, still encountered her own versions of those stories through co-workers, strangers, and partners.

In 2019, at 26, she left an abusive relationship and the life that came with it. Starting again felt like beginning a second life inside the same body. During that time, Monica found herself in daily conversations with women, and a pattern became painfully clear: the facts of each story were different, but the themes were the same. Through the adversity of simply existing as a woman, she found a community of women who were tired, resilient, and still choosing to rise.

FeministArt.ca was born in 2022 out of that season of healing and re-rooting. Art became the place where Monica relearned her own voice, through layered colour, emotional honesty, and the freedom to get messy (literally and emotionally). Her sobriety deepened that process even further, trading old coping mechanisms for hours lost in her sketchbook, letting imagination become the escape that helped her heal instead of the habits that once numbed her.