Kaye Hatfield

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Monica was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Arlington, VA. In 1997 Monica self-published a book entitled "On the Receiving End – A collection of Works for Realizing the Potential Within Ourselves." Monica wrote the book to help people realize their potential for overcoming adversity by looking at it from a positive angle.

As a result of the publication of the book, she was invited to appear on local cable news program as a guest and later on the panel of a local talk show a few times. While participating in this opportunity she became interested in the background of the show and the possibilities it could give her in getting the same ideas in her book out to people through a cable TV show. She learned the ropes – how to operate a camera, light a set and all the skills necessary for producing a show.

From childhood Monica always had a tendency to help others who were having problems in their life. In 1998 she decided to combine several of her skills and personality traits and put together a show that would highlight "everyday people accomplishing extraordinary feats". Monica’s mission is "Promote among people of diversity, a renewed vision, common unity and better living through positive media."

By late 1999 she started producing the show on Arlington Community Television, a local station in Arlington, Virginia. Monica started noticing the positive effect it was having on viewers and moved the show to larger cable network and broadcast it there for 2 years. In 2000, by the time Monica produced her 7^th episode, her show won a "Hometown Video Festival" award while in competition with other local cable shows.

After widening her viewer base in the Washington, D.C. area she felt the next step was to redevelop the show and make it into something that would attract a national audience. The process of revamping the concept took 2 years and the show is now poised to become a nationally produced show.

In addition to everyday people, Monica has interviewed celebrity guests. One of these guests was Kurtis Blow – who can be considered a true pioneer of the Hip-Hop music genre. He is a leader among the artists who helped bring Hip-Hop and Rap to where it is today. He has now created the Hip-Hop Church. Kurtis has taken the music and added a twist to it and made it into something positive as compared to how some musicians use and perform this genre.

Monica’s goal, when interviewing her guests, is to highlight how they have conquered adversity in their own life and changed it into something positive. She feels this allows the viewer to always believe that no matter what is happening in your life or what you observe in a day to day situation you can always do something to make the world a better place.

Monica feels that anytime we see a need, we have the opportunity to take it and run with it as opposed to passing it up. She feels it can and often does become a team effort. Making life better for others usually starts with an individual but the efforts each person exerts is contagious and eventually makes a huge dent in your neighbor’s pain as well as the pain of others.

Monica reminds us that it is important that we do "acts of kindness" because of the need – not the thanks and gratification which will eventually be returned.

She also believes we should try to fit the need or opportunity to do for others to our own gifts. Monica has been able to put her own words and thoughts into practice throughout her life by lending support to individuals when she saw the need. At one point in her life she lived in an apartment building where she encountered two older women whose family members rarely visited them or helped them when they were in need. She not only visited with them but often brought food and various items of need to them. She wanted them to know that someone cared for them no matter what their status was in life. Despite her extremely busy schedule, Monica has adopted three elderly individuals who are confined to a home and visits them weekly.

Monica has a full-time day job and yet manages to work on her show and continually improve the quality of her original product while also working on other entertainment projects. She has a Bachelors Degree and works as a software engineer in the Information Systems field. She also has several certifications in the field of computers and web development.

Her present goal is successfully broadcast her show nationally. Today television is losing viewers. Monica’s goal is energized by her belief in "Balance of TV" and would like to give viewers more choices for their viewing time and the opportunity to watch shows with a positive message.

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