About Us

As painful as a heartbreak is, it can also act as a catapult of the resilient, brave and focused person you’ve always been but never knew. Heartbreak breaks you open, refines your priorities and shows you what really matters to you. For Monique Bentley, heartbreak led to the creation of her first book, The Diamond Ball which sold over 800 copies. It also led to the launch of her design business GlitzGalore and the publishing of her latest book, A Damsel in Diamonds which is #8 in Romance worldwide on the Amazon Best Selling List.

Hailing from the Bronx, New York, Bentley always aspired to ownership and being successful from a young age. “Since I was young, my step father would always school me about hustling and having my own. I used to sell icy’s in my building complex. In the winter I opened ‘Moe’s chicken kitchen because everyone loved my mom’s chicken so I used to sell that with fries,” she said. A lot of unfortunate events happened in Bentley’s life to a point where she ended up sleeping at her cousin’s apartment on the floor.

Heartbreak and depression drove her to start writing. The Heartbreak was not necessarily from a romantic relationship. “A situation took place and my feelings were not considered, which made me think about what I used to accept from my peers growing up,” she said. Instead of bombarding her friends with all her thoughts and feelings, Bentley decided to journal her thoughts and play with a scenario she had always had in her mind: “Me being successful, owning a body shop, and at the same time falling in love”. Just like that, her first book, The Diamond Ball was created.

 

The Diamond Ball is about a young black woman in her late 20s named Camille. Camille is getting ready to open up her body shop. She is a boss but she is also a lover and she has her faults when it comes to that. In the midst of opening her body shop, she meets Jacob, a multi-millionaire. He spoils her with love, affection, luxury, you name it. While in a relationship with Jacob, her childhood best friend then makes a return and all the feelings she had for him awakened. Camille was now in love with two men at the same time. She tried to balance the situation but couldn’t and ended up sleeping with the wrong guy. On the day of the Diamond Ball, which is Camille’s mother’s charity event for brain aneurysm survivors (A tribute to Bentley’s real-life mom who is also a brain aneurysm survivor), a series of unfortunate events occurred. Camille gets attacked and ends up in the hospital where she finds out some really bad news.

 

Her latest book, A Damsel in Diamonds is a sequel to The Diamond Ball.

 

“I just want women, even men, to be inspired by my story and I’m not even who I am yet, but I know I’m on the road to success,” said Bentley. “I love making my people proud and showing them that we don’t have to settle nor do we have to live mediocre or subject ourselves to one niche. Be a serial entrepreneur. Do it and don’t look back! Everything we go through is a part of our blueprint,” she continued.

 

Written by: Vonani