Monica Sharma

Monica was born and raised in Chandigarh, a beautiful green city in North India. She came to the United States to acquire Bachelors in Social work. Subsequently, she worked with a South Asian domestic violence organization, where she had the opportunity to utilize therapy with survivors of domestic violence. She was an economic empowerment program coordinator at Sakhi for South Asian Women and had the opportunity of helping survivors in initiating an independent life. Monica is a survivor of sexual violence- therefore the work-hit home with her. The work was consuming and heartbreaking but being able to make a difference in the lives of these survivors and their stories of resilience inspired her to continue. This job enlightened Monica with the fact that she was assisting these survivors in taking that step towards safety, lending a hand and providing them with resources to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And that is what encouraged her to follow her own dreams. She was fond of performing on the stage since she was a child and when she moved to the States, she would stare at the performing arts center of her university. At times she would sneak in to breathe the air in that building- it gave her goose bumps each time. However, she never had the courage to tell her family that it is something she wanted to pursue until last year! After she had mentioned it to her family, things did not look well, but she had made up her mind to do what she had always wanted to. Ever since she has been on that adventure and is looking forward to learning the business and making some great art. Her motto is to affect people with her art and bring a change. Most recently, she performed in a play "The Uncounted" at the United Nations, which was based on the Iran Freedom Movement. Monica also has an extensive experience in modeling; she has posed for Nike, Jordan, Ratnani & Sahil Sachdeva- and is working on other projects simultaneously. In addition, she also has a background in commercial acting. She has worked with companies like JUS broadcasting. JUS broadcasting Corp. is a leader in the South Asian TV Entertainment industry in North America. Her commercials have been telecast in Australia, Canada, U.K., United States and New Zealand. Monica loves to sing, write poems, make people laugh and learn about the paradox of life. She was enrolled in an acting conservatory at The Barrow Group and is forever grateful to have had studied with Seth Barrish and Lee Brock, who are co- artistic directors of The Barrow Group.