I won Miss Manchester 2025 and I'm a single mum who loves to help other families

Monica has been dreaming of pageantry and helping others from a young age, she said: “So, growing up, I have Nigerian heritage and my mum used to call me Miss World when I was like two, so I’ve always been a fan of pageantry.”

Adding: “But growing up, I also saw a lot of relationship dynamics between men and women in terms of abusive relationships and chaotic relationships. So, at the age of 7 I remember saying ‘when I grow up I want to have a safe house for mothers and children so that they always have a place to go’.”

A couple of years ago, Monica experienced a relationship break up herself and decided to become a single parent and move out on her own with her son, she said: “Once I had my baby in October, I left him two weeks postpartum. I came back home, started again and began experiencing all the struggles like affording formula and all those things.”

Adding: “Then I founded Motherhood Unbound from talking to other single mums and they resonated. I then realised that I wanted to revive that life’s work that I had when I was 7 of creating that space for women.”

Motherhood Unbound now offers a community for single mums that provides, connection, advice and giveaways with nappies and baby formula.

I also asked Monica whether she believes the argument that pageants are outdated, she said: “In the past I think that pageants have been mainly physically focused in terms of how you look. Pageants nowadays, especially Miss Great Britain is very inclusive and you know, for the first time in a long time, mothers are allowed to compete, which I think should speak to it’s inclusivity.”

Monica will be competing in Miss Great Britain in October and hopes to continue uplifting women in the work she does.