Mona Scott-Young ( Scott; born February 15, 1967) is an American television producer and entrepreneur. She is the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the multi-media entertainment company Monami Productions, best known for producing the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

reality television franchise ''

Love & Hip Hop ''Love & Hip Hop'' is a media franchise that consists of several reality television series broadcast on VH1. The shows document the personal and professional lives of several hip hop and R&B musicians, performers, managers, and record producers ...

''.

Life and career

Scott was born and raised in New York City to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an parents. In 2005, she married Shawn Young. They have two children.

Violator

While working at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

, Scott-Young was approached by the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

group

TrackMasters The Trackmasters, also known as Poke & Tone, is an American hip hop production outfit composed of Poke (Jean-Claude Olivier born January 21, 1970; Brooklyn, New York ) and Tone (Samuel Barnes born January 20, 1969; Brooklyn, New York). Active fro ...

to come on board as their manager. Through them, she met music executive

Chris Lighty Darrel Steven "Chris" Lighty (May 8, 1968 – August 30, 2012) was an American music manager and record producer. He co-founded Violator, a record label, management and marketing company, which represented hip hop and R&B artists such as Busta ...

and, in 1996, the two co-founded the management company Violator. Over the course of twenty years, Violator helped launch and revamp the careers of artists such as

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

Q-Tip Cotton swabs (American English) or cotton buds (British English), also Q-tips ( proprietary eponym), are wads of cotton wrapped around a short rod made of wood, rolled paper, or plastic. They are most commonly used for ear cleaning, although th ...

, Foxy Brown,

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known for blending gangsta rap with pop rap, pop and contempo ...

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo formed in Queens, New York (state), New York in 1990. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy (rapper), Prodigy and Havoc (musician), Havoc, they are considered to be among the pr ...

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

Fantasia Fantasia may refer to: Film and television * ''Fantasia'' (1940 film), an animated musical film produced by Walt Disney ** '' Fantasia 2000'', a sequel to the 1940 film * ''Fantasia'' (2004 film), a Hong Kong comedy film * ''Fantasia'' (201 ...

and

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

, who she still manages today.

Television

Scott-Young transitioned into television in 2005, producing '' The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott'' on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

and creating her own television production company, Monami Productions. In 2006, Jim Ackerman, a director at

at the time, approached her to help develop a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series which centered on rapper

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American cult leader, preacher and mass murderer who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. Jones and the members of his inner circle planned and orchestrat ...

. Inspired by female ensemble-driven shows that were popular at the time, Scott-Young shifted the concept to focus on Jim's girlfriend Chrissy Lampkin and her circle of friends. The series, now known as ''

'', went on to become a huge success. Scott-Young sees the Love & Hip Hop brand as an opportunity maker. "To have a franchise that represents our culture, our people and to have that kind of staying power and the ability to invent and reinvent as we expand into different cities to me that's probably what I'm proudest of. t'sthe ability to provide the jobs both in front of and behind the scenes... to women and people of color as well.". The show spawned a media franchise that included the spin-offs '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'', '' Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood'', '' Love & Hip Hop: Miami'', '' Chrissy & Mr. Jones'', '' K. Michelle: My Life'', '' Stevie J & Joseline: Go Hollywood'' and '' Leave It to Stevie''. In addition to the ''

'' franchise, Monami Productions has produced '' Donald Trump Presents: The Ultimate Merger'' for TV One, ''Cocaine: History Between the Lines'' for the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

, '' The Gossip Game'' and ''

This Is Hot 97 ''This Is Hot 97'' is a reality-based docu-comedy television series that debuted on VH1 on March 31, 2014. The series is executive produced by Mona Scott-Young for Monami Entertainment, Toby Barraud, Stefan Springman, Mala Chapple and Ian Gelfand ...

'' for

, '' The New Atlanta'' for

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

and ''Money. Power. Respect.'' for WE tv. In addition to television, Scott-Young is part owner and chief marketing officer of the moscato brand MYX Fusions with rapper

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

, and serves on the board of The Haitian Roundtable, The RSQ Foundation and The GrassROOTS Foundation.

Awards and accolades

Scott-Young has been honored at

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

's "Woman Behind the Music" event in 2011. She has been honored with awards from the National Association of Black Female Executives in Music Entertainment, named "Marketer of the Year" by ''

Ad Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

'', and recognized by the National Congress and Convention of Haitian-Americans. Scott-Young was awarded at the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Movie & TV Awards for "

Reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

Royalty". She received the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization’s Entertainment Pioneer Award at the United Nations in 2022, celebrating her as a trailblazer and innovator in her field. The prestigious award, also recognized by the US Congress, highlights women entrepreneurs and the meaningful impact they are having on the world.Congressional Record. Vol 167, No.201. (2023, February 10). https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-167/issue-201/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1257-1

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Young, Mona 1967 births Living people American women chief executives American chief executives American music industry executives American people of Haitian descent 20th-century Haitian people 21st-century American women