• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • The State Of R&B
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Money & Career

"Why You Being Weird to Me?"—'Don’t Call Me White Girl’ Talks Being Imprisoned To Becoming An Internet Sensation

Mona, AKA "Don't Call Me White Girl" broke the internet with her viral quips, but she wants us to know she's much more than a social media star.
“Why You Being Weird to Me?”—’Don’t Call Me White Girl’ Talks Being Imprisoned to Becoming An Internet Sensation
By Jasmine Browley · Updated June 4, 2022

“This wasn’t supposed to happen for someone like me.”

Mona, or DontCallMeWhiteGirl, the Instagram handle that millions of us know her by, said she didn’t envision success for herself growing up. In fact, she said for years she didn’t see value in being on social media at all.

“I didn’t want to do anything,” she shared during a recent episode of her hit podcast. “I was a very negative thinker coming up and it’s something I still struggle with today, you know trying to keep it positive.”

The Philadelphia native said she didn’t see many examples of success in her childhood, and that deeply scarred her in adulthood.

“I wasn’t really pushed to do anything more than what my peers were doing, and that can be really depressing,” she shared with Essence. “I’d look out my window at 9-years-old and the view was an alleyway filled with prostitutes or people taking a sh-t —that was what I saw on a daily basis.”

Mona said that as a child, she would often daydream of stardom, but the effects of growing up in an underserved neighborhood wouldn’t allow her to take her dreams seriously. “I’d see flashing lights and red carpets for myself as a little girl, but instantly my mind would say ‘shut up, dummy’ — that’s never going to happen for you.'”

Despite the fear, she said she knew there was more for her out there. “Even back then, I really felt like I was supposed to be doing something big,” Mona said.

Although naturally bright, she shared in previous podcast episodes that she was misguided as a youth, didn’t care for school and eventually landed herself in jail in her late teens/early twenties for fraud.

After being released at 21, she said she was afraid to want a better life for herself. “The way society is set up, life is not supposed to be fruitful for a felon,” she said, pointing out the barriers in place for ex-cons including the inability to take out student loans, not being able to vote and even difficulty with obtaining proper identification.

She shared that her limited lifeview led her to become engaged to the father of her first child despite knowing that wasn’t the path she wanted to take. “I thought purchasing a home and having a father in the house for my child was it for me, but I felt so empty.”

While battling these feelings, she was still able to make people laugh and at the behest of one of her friends, she started a podcast in 2018. “I didn’t even know what a podcast was, but people kept telling me they enjoyed hearing my opinions on topics and that I was really funny.”

After continuing her podcast and posting videos here and there on Facebook, eventually, her online popularity led her to become a co-host on the hit show, Million Dollaz Worth Of Game in 2020. From there, she said she began to see value in consistently leveraging her voice on social media, and enjoyed viral moments that catapulted her platforms to the hundred thousands. But it wasn’t until she recounted a special sexual encounter on Instagram live did she officially become a household name.

“Why you being weird to me?,” is what she’s heard saying after explaining to her viewers that her former love interest didn’t understand why she was in love with him.

“That was a big moment,” she said.

To date, the audio from the clip has been used millions of times on TikTok and weaved through songs from artists like NLE Choppa and Fabolous to name a few.

It even led her to be featured on the deluxe version of Jazmine Sullivan’s Grammy-award-winning album, Heaux Tales.

“That was a really cool moment,” she said, sharing that Sullivan reached out to her to hang out, and wound up using clips from a conversation they had about relationships on the album, which centers women’s experiences with love & dating.

“I never thought I’d be here, but now that I am, I’m going to make sure that I become bigger than just a social media star. I’m really grateful, but I’m going to accomplish so much more.”

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now