Liberating the web
Chynna Monforte (she/they) is an artist, revolutionary, founder and web designer.
Chynna is a force. Everything she stands for, all she is striving for, is crystal clear. Chynna represents—her queer and Latinx communities, her co-collaborators, her clients, her values. She represents the future of business. And to Chynna, business is absolutely personal.
“I was working four or five jobs and had a part-time job doing gallery work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I was doing artist assistant work, freelance graphic design—whatever was out there, your girl did it. Then the pandemic happened, and I pretty much lost half of my income. I ended up thinking, ‘What if I just lean into the work that I can do from home?’ which was web design, graphic design. I left my part-time job in communications for a nonprofit, and basically went full-time [design] in 2020.”
Chynna’s path to founding Monforte Studio wasn’t tidy or planned. But her path and her personhood are what make her business shine.
Monforte Studio self-describes as a place “where aesthetics, advocacy and audacity meet.” Monforte’s values—bold and to the point—pin down what decolonization means in the context of work (say it with us: balance), and stand up for Black and trans lives, for starters. Monforte’s website acknowledges the studio’s presence on the stolen land of the Tongva. Plenty of individuals show up online this way. Most web design studios do not.
When we asked how her values influence her business Chynna dove right in.
“I love this question—we focus on this a lot at Monforte Studio. We’ve done mentorships around how you can incorporate your personal values into your business. I personally think that there’s no other way to run a business. Business is very personal, even though folks like to say that it’s not, it’s personal in the sense that for me—coming from a first generation experience and as a queer, femme of color—what’s here in the world, right here, right now, there are challenges that I face in business that, basically if I wasn’t myself in my business, if I didn’t stand for the values that I have, I would be struggling.”
Chynna’s genuine presence is real and refreshing. And her perspective is fiercely wise.
“When someone is tied to a 9 to 5, or they’re afraid to stand on their values, it becomes a mental health issue. For me, business is about tying in your personal values. From a strategy perspective it also makes sense, because people are very careful with how they spend their money now. They want to spend their money with someone whose values align with theirs, and in that sense, we have the greatest clients. Because we’re aligned in every way possible.”
Chynna has been creative, as in actively making things, since she was little. But she didn’t always believe she could make a living this way.
“Every photo of me [as a child] I’m drawing, painting, doing some kind of activity. I come from a creative family. In high school I was taking photography classes, learning how to develop film, and there was this fear—that I think comes with being a first generation child—this fear of, ‘Is my creativity going to sustain me?’ And so, end of high school, I started working as a pharmacy tech. That was my first job and I was there for five years. And I really thought, ‘Okay, this is the move for me because it’s stable. I’ll always have a job. I can get into nursing.’ And I was so depressed. I was so depressed. While it fueled some part of me, my creativity was totally lost.”
Lucky for the world, Chynna found her creativity again.
On moving toward community
Chynna followed her creative spirit back to herself. She quit her pharmacy job and enrolled in community college.
“After leaving that job, it was my mission to find spaces to be more creative in. That’s when I started doing photography again, screen printing, learning graphic design, and leaning into web design.”
Clearly born with her creative spirit, we asked Chynna where her entrepreneurial spirit comes from—if it comes to her naturally.
“I’m a Virgo stellium, and for those that don’t follow astrology, that basically means I have a very analytical spirit, sometimes overly critical. That helps me stay organized, but I also feel like the entrepreneurial spirit comes from a sense of existing in capitalism and having to make a living. So no, I don’t think it was always there. In an ideal world I would be living on a farm or something.”
Suddenly working alone can be strange to anyone who has only ever experienced teamwork and structure. Chynna shared how she started networking and building up the community around her.
“Instagram has been a great tool. Just making friends online, seeing what they’re doing in their business, and having that mutual respect and vulnerability. And just seeing each other. That helps start to bridge community, because I feel like unless you’re going outside and participating in many activities all the time, it can be hard. So being online, and making connections that way. And then forming a stronger community within where I live, all of that is important.”
When launching her business, Chynna’s identity with the queer community added a layer of belonging and a layer of discomfort.
“Coming in as a queer person in any space can feel daunting. I think there’s a lot of trauma for queer folk in terms of just being alive, being present. There’s a saying, ‘My existence is resistance,’ and that’s because we’ve been oppressed. And so, intersectionality is really important for us in the sense that yes, coming in as a queer person into any community, you’re starting to bridge those gaps. And for us [Monforte], it’s not just the queer community—it’s the BIPOC community, it’s first-generation communities, it is business communities. And it’s just making sure that we’re also being really cognizant of what we’re doing, and very intentional.”
On moving with community
Any solopreneur will tell you: Community is everything. And by community, they mean people.
When people like Chynna stand firm in their values and grow their own community, this creates a natural momentum fueled by word-of-mouth—still one of the most powerful marketing tools.
“We are very much a community-based business. Even from a financial perspective, 90% of our clients have come from direct referrals. So it’s very community based in that sense. Just having really solid, multiple groups of people advocating for [my] business, is something that I am eternally grateful for and would not trade for anything. And part of that is, again, not being afraid to speak up about [your] values.”
Community is powerful, not perfect. Because communities are made of people and we are flawed. That said, communities can teach and learn. We asked Chynna how she believes communities outside of her own can grow and improve.
“Other communities can definitely learn intersectionality. That is still…I’ll say, yeah, it’s an issue. By not having more intersectional spaces, and intentionally intersectional spaces, what happens is you are basically outcasting folks. So intentionality with [intersectionality] can be learned. And making sure that it’s not just about representation. I like to tell folks that, ‘We become complicit with representation, and we don’t actually claim ownership.’ That can also be learned, over time.”
Because Chynna belongs to many deeply-rooted communities, and is quick to acknowledge that each of those identities is not always easy to carry, we asked her advice for anyone else in the queer, BIPOC, and/or first-generation space(s), who may want to start their own business but who struggles with identity-related fears.
“One piece of advice that I would give for someone struggling to start their business is, one, know it’s okay. It’s okay to struggle. As humans, we only want to see the tops of the mountains. And in reality, there’s going to be waves. And so when there’s a low point, ride that wave, but also have audacity. Like, fuck it. That has been the biggest driver for me, in starting my business, is just being audacious. And kind of thinking like, ‘Okay, if I don’t try this, what happens? What are the repercussions if I don’t strive for my own dreams? Because no one else is going to do it for me. And that’s my advice for anyone. Think about that.’”
We will think about that. For a long time, probably forever.
Community teaching community
Pride month is a time to celebrate the queer community—as is every other day and month of every year. Chynna was quick to remind us that while Pride is now a celebration, its roots are deeper. Her wish for its future is too.
“My take on Pride Month is that it’s been co-opted a lot. Pride Month started as advocacy, and as protest, and so I feel like Pride Month will be especially impactful when we can all rest. Right now our rights are at stake, and it’s difficult for the nervous system to exist in that. And so for me, Pride Month is amazing in the sense that we get to celebrate being queer and being in the queer community. But I think the real Pride Month will be when we can all just rest.”
Chynna’s ideas for supporting the queer community outside of Pride month include little and big actions everyone can take. From adding pronouns to your email signature, to minding how you, and your energy show up in every room, and in support of queer friends and colleagues.
“There’s just a lot of oppression, period. And that wears on the nervous system. The more we can be, not only celebrated, but really cared for, that will have an impact. Any day of the year.”
We were curious how Chynna defines success. What makes her feel like she’s made it.
“I feel like I made it right now. For me, success is not really tied to financial gain. There is a big privilege in that, in feeling financially comfortable. But I get to travel for work, do a shoot like this one. I get to be myself, unapologetically. I get to work with amazing clients. I get to make an impact in my clients’ lives, so I do feel like I made it already. Hello? A little collar pop. Honestly, I want to say too, I get a lot of really, really kind messages from folks that are just like, ‘I’m so proud of what you’ve done for the community.’ Oh my God, I’m going to tear up. And they’re proud for me, and of me, and that’s so strong. It’s so strong, and it’s needed. I want everyone to feel like they can do it too.”
Chynna’s closing thought is as audacious as you might expect. We would leave you with nothing less:
“I hope that in some ways, the business we have can support the liberation of all peoples.”