AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH MONICA 🎶
One woman. One life. Twelve songs. And a whole lot of stories between the notes.
Every life has a soundtrack.
For Monica, music has marked beginnings, carried her through unexpected turns, connected her to faith and family, and given her another way to tell her story.
In this very special An Intimate Evening, Monica invites us into that story.
And what an evening it became.
So many friends and members of our community showed up to cheer Monica on, listen to her story, laugh with her, and surround her with the kind of warmth that made this conversation feel less like an interview and much more like a room full of people getting to know someone they thought they already knew.
Monica is modest. She is funny. She is wonderfully spunky. And underneath all of that is a woman who knows herself remarkably well and who was willing to be vulnerable about the experiences that helped her become that woman.
We travel back to Monica’s childhood in New York City, where she grew up as the oldest of four children and the only blind person in her family. We talk about her Dominican heritage, growing up speaking Spanish and English, and beginning violin lessons at just six years old at the New York Lighthouse for the Blind.
And, yes, we make our way to Sesame Street. 💚
Monica shares memories of being that bright little girl appearing alongside Oscar the Grouch, teaching him about Braille, playing Vivaldi on her violin, spending time at Mr. Hooper’s store, and appearing with Aristotle, the blind Muppet.
Nearly fifty years later, those memories look a little different.
The little girl simply lived them.
The woman now gets to understand what they meant.
But this evening became about much more than childhood memories.
Monica speaks beautifully and openly about faith, including the journey that led her to really find her own footing spiritually while she was in college.
We talk about education, family, independence, career, love, and the people who arrive in our lives and quietly change their direction.
That includes the college roommate who introduced Monica to a man named Tom. ❤️
And Tom joined us.
Monica’s husband of 24 years came aboard to share some very funny memories, but also some deeply loving and touching reflections on the woman who is very clearly still his lady love.
Our Behind the Music cohost Tim was there as well, doing what Tim does so well, listening, reflecting, and adding his own perspective as Monica’s story unfolded.
We had planned to spend much more time getting inside Monica’s recording process and talking about how she selects songs, interprets them, and creates the performances we have come to enjoy through Behind the Music.
We barely got there.
There was simply too much life to talk about.
Instead, the music Monica personally selected became our roadmap through conversations about childhood, blindness, family, Sesame Street, college, faith, marriage, friendship, and discovering who you are along the way.
Barbra Streisand. Whitney Houston. Mariah Carey. INXS. CeCe Winans. Music from The Greatest Showman. And more.
Twelve songs serving as guideposts through one extraordinary life. 🎵
There is laughter here.
There is vulnerability.
There are memories that haven’t been visited in a very long time.
There are moments of faith, love, reflection, and the comfortable chaos that happens when a planned interview gives way to a genuine conversation.
And somewhere along the way, An Intimate Evening with Monica became exactly what this series was created to be.
Not a biography.
Not an interview.
A journey.
And then, because Monica is the generous, loving person she is, she decided to share the spotlight. 🎤
Monica and I recently experimented with one of those love songs almost everyone remembers.
Only we flipped the script.
Literally.
And we close out this very special evening with Monica’s generosity, a little surprise, and our duet of Always by Atlantic Starr. ❤️🎶
Come meet Monica between the notes.
An Intimate Evening is part of the Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services.
Hosted and produced by Anthony Corona.
pisode Notes
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