Meisha Amia
- Jan 20, 2020
- 3 min read

Meet Melony, Mental Illness survivor who started first black mental health tour in 4 cities

Updated: Jan 27, 2020

It takes a lot of courage to live in your truth, especially when mental illness and childhood trauma is discussed but what we love about Melony is her strength over her struggles and how she found her purpose through every negative life experience, including incest survival. Here's what she had to tell us:

1.Who are you? What do you do and How long have you been in business?

I'm Safe Space Curator, Award Wining Author and Life Transition Coach, Melony Hill. I'm the CEO of Melony Hill Enterprise & Founder of Stronger Than My Struggles. I've been a solopreneur since 2007.

2. How did you end up there?

When My job suddenly went out of business in 2006, I realized that even jobs with security, weren't secure. It was less than six months later when I discovered Myspace and ran into a photographer who thought I should model. A chance photo shoot led to a 10 year+ career as a model & entertainer. My health and life both, got in the way for Me. I couldn't continue to do the type work I had been doing and started writing more seriously as it had always been a hobby.

Writing for magazines led to paid blogging jobs. Having avid readers gave Me the confidence to finally self-publish My first book. Before I knew it, I had published 6 books in an eight month period. With My extreme life transition, and My experience as a businesswoman, it was an easy leap to coaching and consulting others on shifting their lifestyles as well.

3. Tell us about a challenge you have had in business and how you have

overcome it?

My health once threatened to put Me out of business. I'm legally emotionally disabled, diagnosed with ptsd, depression, anxiety disorder, dissociative identity disorder and fibromyalgia to boot. Once I launched Stronger Than My Struggles and stopped hiding My diagnosis but embraced how strong, productive and happy I was in spite of them, I attracted people from across the globe.

4. What do you believe is an important factor in success for entrepreneurs?

even if it's something you are struggling with.

Staying authentic. Its easy to follow the trend or try to stay "in the loop" on things. It's much better for business if you decide who you are and stick to it. Don't change yourself hoping to attract clients, be yourself and attract tour ideal clients instead. Pretending to besomeone you're not will only get you clients you don't want

5. How do you contribute to women's empowerment?

While I work with survivors of all genders, I specifically am a life coach for women who identify as survivors. Additionally, I launched a Black mental health tour, taking nearly 30 Black women up and down the east coast to discuss mental health awareness in the Black community.

6. Anything coming up you want us to know about?

In 2018 I became the lead facilitator for the Baltimore branch of the freelancers union. Later that year, I was voted National Curriculum Lead for nearly 400,000 members.

7. How can the readers keep in contact with you?

I'm on all social media as @strongerthanmystruggles and can be found at www.strongerthanmystruggles.com/social or www.melonyhill.com

Stronger Than My Struggles

Self-Publishing & Life Transition Coach,

Business Consultant, Public Speaker, Author

Author, The Strength of a Woman

Author, Reflections of a Survivor

Author, Writing for My Sanity

Author, Reclaiming My Time from the 9-5 Grind

Author, Publish Your Book With Ease Using Amazon & Createspace

Author, At Your Fingertips: Free and Cheap Online Business Tools

Author, New Year, New Me Workbook