Gearing up for performances and a busy festival weekend, singers, Monica and Letoya Luckett took to the Coca-Cola stage to engage in an intimate conversation centered around friendship, motherhood, and daily life experiences for the “Refreshing Voices” moment, hosted by Fonzworth Bentley.
Monica shared advice to mothers, saying the journey in motherhood will sometimes be lonely and may not be easy, but emphasized that keeping your kids at the forefront will help to develop better decisions because ultimately, the kids have to come first.
She gives credit to her own childhood, sharing with the audience, “I tell people all of the time, I knew two men in my life and that was my daddy and my stepdaddy. I didn’t see anybody else, and I was protected in a way that a lot of women don’t feel protected, and I want to give my kids that same thing.”
With the conversation transitioning to friendship, Monica and Letoya shared laughs and their personal relationship with the audience. When Fonzworth posed the question,”What is authenticity? Monica was ready with a great response. “Just keeping it real, always be real,” she said. Letoya agreed, adding, “Never ignore your intuition about friendships and people’s intentions towards you.”
Both ladies spoke on the essence of friendship being an equal effort and a two way street, while also touching on the importance of always being there to uplift one another in not just good times, but also during hardships. As a last piece of advice, Letoya shared, “Watch people and how they handle other people. You have to stay open and keep your eyes open to them”, referencing to the song “Redbone” and telling the audience, “Stay woke.”
Wrapping up, the singers shared what they’ve been working on. Monica is still touring for her “Code Red” tour, and has been recently been featured on recent projects with 2Chainz, Gucci Mane, and Dave East. Letoya recently dropped a new album titled, “Back 2 Life”, which was accompanied by a three-part video series. She also stars on the OWN drama series “GreenLeaf”, makes an appearance on episode of ‘Unsolved’, and will be starring as Dionne Wick an upcoming biopic.
Monica will be taking to the Superdome’s Mainstage on July 1st as part of Mary J. Blige’s “Strength of a Woman” night at ESSENCE Festival.