Persona - Monica

Monica is a 33 year old female who lives in suburban Los Angeles.  She is married and has 2 kids—a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old girl.  She grew up in New Jersey with her immigrant parents and a younger brother, and they were surrounded by numerous uncles, aunts, and cousins who lived in the same neighborhood.  After finishing college at a small school near home, she moved to LA.  Soon after, she got married.  While she and her husband initially lived in a more urban part of LA, they moved out to the suburbs as they prepared to start a family.

1. What does she think or feel?

Monica cares most about family.  She thinks about her children and husband first, and she is also a role model for her brother and numerous younger female cousins as the first in a family with many women.  She always needs to have something to do—she doesn’t deal with downtime for very long.  She is preoccupied with making sure her children are taken care of while also making sure she is successful at work.  She worries about her parents, grandparents, and in-laws as they all get older.  She also worries about managing her time commitments between her family and her career.  She aspires to be an ideal mom, wife, and career woman all at the same time, while also helping everyone in her extended family.

2. What does she see?

Monica’s environment is filled with family.  Her parents, in-laws, brother, and cousins are in and out of town constantly.  She has a nanny that comes daily to take care of her children, and that can be a source of stress at times.  She works at a large CPG company in a marketing capacity with very passionate employees who are excited about their company.  She sees her friends on a weekly basis, and most of these friends have children as well.  She has moved from being a more impulsive and free-spending shopper to a slightly more money-conscious shopper over time, especially with the addition of children to the family.

3. What does she say and do?

Monica’s attitude in public is confident.  She always appears to know what she’s doing and where she’s going.  Her appearance is generally fashionable.  While she was always current with fashion trends, she is now desperately trying to keep up with them—she lags behind due to the time she spends with her children and work, as well as weight gain during pregnancy changing clothing for periods of time.  Overall, her behavior towards others is extremely pleasant.  She is outgoing, and at a party, she enjoys attention from others.  At the same time, she doesn’t necessarily seek it out in a group; however, in a group of friends, the attention often finds her anyway given her outgoing nature and overall likeability (and she doesn’t shy away from it).  Additionally, her behavior towards others involves going out of her way to help her family and best friends in any way possible.

4. What does she hear?

Monica is an attentive listener, especially when it comes to important issues.  She is a sounding board for friends, siblings, cousins, and her husband, and they all see her as a problem-solver.  She relishes this role and is successful at it.  Her conversations with her friends typically revolve around things related to their children (schools, sleep patterns, feeding patterns), work-life balance, and their next girls trip (always discussed, but never happens).  Her conversations at work are strictly work-related (clients, technology, sales).  At home, she discusses work, kids, vacations, family, economy/politics, and current news trends with her husband (probably the biggest influence in her life).

5. What are her pain points?

Monica’s pain points center around people as much as the rest of her life does.  She wants her children to have the ideal life, go to great schools, and have good friends.  She will do whatever necessary to make sure that happens.  She also wants to make sure everyone in her family is healthy and as successful as possible—whether that means mentoring her cousin, making sure her parents are happy, or giving advice to her in-laws.  At home, she wants to make sure her nanny gets along with her entire family while also performing her job adequately.  At the same time, she worries about her husband’s balance between work/travel and being at home with the family.  Monica’s own career comes last amongst these pain points, but it is still important to her.  She has a drive to be successful rather than simply making money to help support her family, but she is not willing to travel for work or sacrifice family obligations in order to do so.  Overall, there is a theme to her pain points, and it is balancing everything in her life.

6. What does she hope to gain?

Monica wants everyone important in her life to be happy.  She wants her children, husband, and extended family to have happy and successful lives.  She wants her kids to grow up in a healthy environment and have as many opportunities as possible.  She wants to be successful in her own career, but not at the expense of her family or anything at home.