Kym Whitley talks about how Mo’Nique’s early success helped her own grind
The star talks about how she used a friend’s huge break as the ultimate motivation to work harder on her own business.
That time when someone you started working with gets even better is something we all go through, and it can be difficult to process.
Recently, Kym Whitley shared her experience of feeling envious when Mo’Nique achieved success. When Kym saw Mo’Nique land the hit show The Parkers, she experienced a wave of envy. Both of them were born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. But she didn’t let that make her frustrated. Instead, she used it as the ultimate wake-up call to rise in her job.
Kym said that she didn’t feel that way because she hated or wanted to hurt another lady. They were on the same road, so that was what it was all about. At the same time, both women were killing it as stand-up comedians and making jokes on Def Comedy Jam. When she saw Mo’Nique obtain a big TV part, it made her realize how hard she had to work, and it changed the way she did everything.
“It wasn’t a negative thing,” she said as she thought back on that time. It inspired me to take action. Because I’m from Baltimore, Maryland, too. She’s from Baltimore and has a show called “The Parkers.”
She went on to talk about how seeing Mo’Nique succeed changed the way she saw her own path. And I said, “Wait a minute.” I felt good for her, but it made me work harder. It pushed me even more. I wasn’t mean to her out of jealousy; I was more like, “Okay, if she can do it, I can do it too.”
The fact that they both started out in the same place made the business achievement feel even more personal. “Because we got there around the same time,” I did stand-up, and so did she. I was on Def Comedy Jam and so was she. Her success ignited a fire within me. It pushed me even more.
In a field where competition and ego are common, it is rare to hear someone be so honest. Kym says it was a mental shift when she learned that just because someone else won didn’t mean she couldn’t win too. She changed her mind when she realized there was a way to get from Baltimore to a network show. Kym went from wondering why she hadn’t reached her goal yet to realizing that if Mo’Nique could achieve it, she could too; in doing so, she discovered the pattern. She knew that this realization would make her work harder and stay focused on her own path to the top.
