Monique Idlett-Mosley grew up in poverty. Nonetheless, she managed to see herself through college despite having her first child at age 18. Her private life got more complicated when she went through a public divorce from music producer Tim “Timbaland” Mosley.
Since then, she has weathered the storm to achieve financial success for herself, including employing others. Idlett-Mosley is known for her multiple businesses, generating millions for brands, and launching a venture capital firm to support small businesses.
She first started her career as an advertising executive with USA Today, making her the youngest and the first African American to serve in a senior role at the publication. She created a marketing agency where she represented celebrated brands like Kanye West, Verizon, TI, and her ex-husband Mosley.
What is more, she also served as the CEO of her ex-husband’s brands she helped create. They include Mosley Brands and the Mosley Music Group (MMG) record label. As CEO, she managed giant artists like Nelly Furtado, Chris Cornell, Kery Hilson, and One Republic. She was also the executive producer and fashion designer for the Empire movie series for three seasons.
Idlett-Mosley wasn’t done with her entrepreneurial exploits. She partnered with the co-founder of Reign Ventures, Erica Duignan Minnihan, to create a $25 million early-stage investment fund to support women-led and minority-owned small businesses.
The serial entrepreneur recently competed in the popular “Undercover Billionaire” series and achieved big. The series airs on The Discovery Channel and among other things, challenges participants to build a business with just $100 in 90 days, under a disguised name.
She was taken to Tacoma, a mid-sized urban port city in Washington, 32 miles southwest of Seattle. She could not reveal her identity or use her personal network nor have access to her money. Through the people she recruited for the role, she built a juice firm known as Rooted.
According to her, she took up the challenge because she wanted women of color to know that their ideas were valuable and viable. “I wanted to take one for the team as a woman,” she told King5 in an interview, “and in particular as a black woman. I want to show that we are up for the challenge, which we can navigate through businesses and communities in a positive way. “And so for me, I was representing the underdog.”
While in Tacoma in episode one of the show, Idlett-Mosley meets a Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Gregory Christopher, who assists her with accommodation. In return, she volunteers at the church and begins networking. She eventually gets a job, a business idea to start a juice product, and builds friendships with both State Senator T’wana Nobles and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, according to King5.
According to the entrepreneur, the secret to success is always leading with kindness. She explained that humans have more in common than their differences. “We want to take care of our families. We want to be good human beings. We want to be good to our neighbors. We want to be safe and we want our families to prosper,” she said.
The exact value of the business she built out of the show is yet to be disclosed.
