How Comedian Ashley Monique Became a Diabetes Ally
Key takeaways:
- Bay Area stand-up comedian Ashley Monique has joined diaTribe’s Spoonful of Laughter campaign, a comedy movement aimed at using humor to address diabetes stigma.
- While not personally affected by diabetes, Monique is a comedy master at connecting frankly with people over difficult topics, which makes her an ideal fit for a project about diabetes stigma awareness.
- See more of Monique’s work at @trashleymonique on social media and in diaTribe’s Spoonful of Laughter campaign.
As a Bay Area-based stand-up comedian, Ashley Monique has a gift for rousing crowds with relatable personal stories that poke fun at everything from her dating history to her family to her day job as a substitute teacher.
Since she doesn’t live with diabetes, Monique’s involvement in Spoonful of Laughter – a recently launched campaign from diaTribe aimed at using humor to educate about diabetes and reduce stigma – may seem a bit unexpected. But it was her unique outsider perspective, and her belief that comedy has the ability to create connections and have a positive impact, that made her the right addition.
Like many people who aren’t personally affected by diabetes, Monique had limited knowledge of the condition. Although a few of her family members live with type 2 diabetes, it was never a topic that took up much space in her life. Most of her limited exposure to diabetes came from pop culture. “I would hear about [diabetes] sometimes as a punchline to a joke, or when you hear a big celebrity lives with it, like how Nick Jonas has type 1. But otherwise, I didn’t really encounter a lot of information about diabetes out in the wild,” she said.
But when diaTribe approached her with an invite to be a part of the workshop to create the Spoonful of Laughter campaign, despite not having that personal connection to diabetes, she saw the opportunity as a chance to push herself creatively.
“At first, I thought, ‘I’m not qualified for this.’ I didn’t have diabetes, and I had never done anything like this before,” said Monique. But after getting the chance to hear more about the vision for the campaign and the unique perspective she could offer, she accepted the invite.
"I knew how to work with other comedians. Being in a group setting, producing content, writing sketches and jokes, that was something that I felt comfortable enough with to say, ‘Okay, let’s try this.’”
Comedy as a tool for connection
Monique didn’t necessarily set out with the goal to become a professional stand-up comedian. Her entry into comedy was an accident that started when her boyfriend at the time wanted to try stand-up. They had a plan to make it a date night.
“We would both write five minutes, we’d go to an open mic, bomb, make fools of ourselves, and have a laugh about it afterwards,” she said. “But he never wrote his five minutes, so I decided to just go for it myself.” Although terrified, she pushed through the discomfort and initial fear and ended up loving it.
“I always thought I was a shy person for comedy,” she said, “but I learned that I actually really like people and being social and making friends.”
Monique’s sets are filled with shrewd observations and honest personal experiences. She’s learned how powerful comedy is when it comes to connecting with people, even around difficult topics – and she’s learned a lot about herself in the writing process.
“I used to shy away from harder topics or things that were more sensitive because I didn’t want to overshare or put that much of myself out there,” said Monique. “But I’ve learned that opening up and being vulnerable about pain can be very powerful.”
It’s an idea that has a lot of similarities to Spoonful of Laughter. Though diabetes is very serious, and can be so challenging to manage, using humor to share experiences and talk about what it’s like to live with this chronic condition can really resonate with people. It’s this perspective that made Monqiue essential to the creative development of the campaign.
Learning about diabetes through laughter
Because the subject matter was foreign to her, before she even began writing jokes for the campaign, Monique first had to do a lot of learning at the week-long workshop that kicked off the campaign. There, a small group of comedians (including Sam Morrison, Kesha Carter, Justin Eastzer, and Kelsey Bascom), artists, and advocates came together to brainstorm ideas and script content.
It was there that Monique learned just how much effort and knowledge goes into managing diabetes.
“As one of the few people in the room who didn’t have diabetes, I was watching everybody relating to each other with common struggles I didn’t know anything about,” she said. From understanding glucose levels to navigating insulin pumps and meal planning, “What I really took away from [the workshop] was that diabetes affects so many people in very serious ways, even just the number of decisions they have to make every day to manage their condition.”
The experience really touched her. “It's so impressive to see people understand their own bodies, the technology that they need, and just how to manage everything,” she said. And the more she was able to learn, the more she realized the importance of what the campaign aims to accomplish and how she could contribute.
The role of the unlikely ally
“The whole reason [the campaign] is so important is because I do think diabetes is so stigmatized, in part, because people don’t understand how serious it is,” said Monique.
When the group began crafting the content for the campaign, Monique spent time first understanding the boundaries of where comedy and diabetes intersect. The goal was to balance the humor – being funny without being offensive; delivering a message without being patronizing – and she learned a lot from her co-creators on the campaign, Morrison and Carter, who are also stand-up comedians and who both live with type 1 diabetes.
And her role as the outsider was crucial to creating jokes that could reach the widest possible audience. “I was the person in the room saying, ‘I don’t know what that is,’ or ‘I don’t think other people will understand this,’” she said. And that allowed the group to make sure that the jokes resonated both with people living with the condition, and those who aren’t.
Now that Spoonful of Laughter is out in the world, Monique is excited to see how people will react to the unique combination of humor and diabetes education.
“I’m looking forward to people saying, ‘This is funny, but I’m also learning something,’” she says. Monique also hopes that the chemistry between the comedians shines in the campaign’s sketches.
Just like her entry into comedy, her role as an ally to the diabetes community may have happened accidentally. Monique is proof that you don’t need to have diabetes to be a part of the movement to end diabetes stigma.
“It’s pretty magical that comedy has the ability to make someone spontaneously, involuntarily feel joy,” said Monique. It’s even better, she concedes, when you can harness some of that joy to make a positive impact.
Catch more of Ashley Monique on social media @trashleymonique and check out her contributions to the Spoonful of Laughter campaign.
Learn more about diabetes stigma and Spoonful of Laughter:
- Diabetes Stigma Is Everywhere, But You Can Do Something About It
- Fighting Diabetes Stigma, One Joke at a Time
- 5 Minutes With Matthew Garza on Stigma and Pride
- Join the Spoonful of Laughter movement
Photo credit: Jim McCambridge