Meet Monique Les, Hard of Hearing Mommy

Today, I’m delighted to introduce you to a mom blogger whom I met at my mom’s group in Victoria. Monique Les began coming with her adorable daughter Rachel about a year before we moved away. Ironically, we moved to her former stomping grounds, so she gave us tons of tips via Facebook while we were house hunting and settling in over here.

When I heard about the Love Rebel project, I invited Monique to contribute as well and I’m so honoured to be part of this book with her. Without further ado, here’s more about Monique.

TKM: First, tell us a bit about Monique Les.

Monique: I’m a first generation Canadian (my parents immigrated from Hong Kong). I was born and raised in Greater Vancouver. My parents brought me up Catholic. It wasn’t until my University years (MA, Criminology) when I became involved with Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) that I really started to research, study and fall in love with the Catholic Faith. Since then, I’ve never looked back.

An avid traveler, I have been fortunate enough to travel to all the continents, except for Antarctica. As a hard of hearing (HoH) person, having a sense of humor and a positive attitude has contributed to my happy life.

TKM: When and why did you start blogging?

Monique Les: Would you believe it? I started in July of 2014—my 1-year blogging anniversary is near here! I started it for a number of reasons, the primary being that I needed a way to channel all the frustrations, joys, challenges, and whatever you can name on paper. I chose to share all of these stories with the public because somewhere, someone might be going through the same experiences. My goal was to create a community of understanding, support, and a diary of sorts for my daughter (and future children) to read when she’s older. Call it my online memoir in the works!

TKM: How did you come up with your blog name?

Monique: That’s easy! I’ve got a hearing loss. I prefer being called a hard of hearing (HoH) person rather than ‘hearing impaired’ or ‘deaf’. Plus, just saying I’m a HoH can get some laughs.

I’m also a first-time mommy, and thought it would be appropriate to include that. Being a HoH and a mommy is my identity as I belong to two cultures: the culture of hearing loss and the culture of mommy-hood. My Catholic faith has had an impact in both cultures.

TKM: Do you have a blog schedule or do you post when you feel like it?

Monique Les: Normally I try to write a decent article once a week. In the beginning, I was like: Holy! How am I going to find enough stuff to write about? Then as each week goes by, I think of something that could be of help to those who are experiencing hearing loss, parenthood, or know of someone who has a hearing loss (or going through the same parenthood experiences). There have been times when life takes over and the blog gets ‘forgotten’ for a few weeks.

TKM: What is your favourite part of blogging? Your least favourite part?

Monique: I love just hitting the publish button! It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I’m still working at improving my writing skills, while having something to show for it.

Least favorite part – second guessing myself. That’s sort of going away now as I’ve entered a ‘Just Do It’ mode.

TKM: What advice would you offer to other bloggers?

Monique Les: Write about what you love and know. Don’t let others tell you what you should write. Let the words flow, because that’s what makes for a special, unique blogging character.

TKM: What is your favourite social media channel and why?

Monique: Facebook. It’s the only one I go on (for now) because most of my friends/families/connections are there. I tried Twitter and it just didn’t click with me.

If you enjoyed this interview, you may also enjoy my interview with Janna Denton-Howes from Growing Marriage.