Kehlani & Monaleo Speak on Balancing Music and Motherhood at Billboard House

Closing the Billboard House summit during Billboard’s 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players celebration was the “Like Minded” panel on Wednesday (Sept. 9) presented by BetterHelp. Featuring Grammy-winning singer Kehlani and rising rapper Monaleo — also both mothers — the conversation focused on motherhood, identity and caring for yourself while caring for others. Moderating on behalf of BetterHelp were Sonni Williams, a licensed professional counselor specializing in perinatal mental health, and Gail Mitchell, Billboard’s Editor at Large, R&B/Hip-Hop.

Kehlani and Monaleo insightfully answered five questions about balancing their professional and family lives. Here are some soundbites:

What truth about motherhood do you wish women were given permission to admit — without having their love for their children questioned?

Kehlani: Being able to admit that it’s hard … a nuanced hard in having to find the time and space to have your own identity, especially when you’re a young mom and like go out with your homegirls and wild out sometimes — and not make you question if you’re the kind of mom you should be. Obviously, we’re working moms so we already deal with that battle internally. We want to spend more time; want things to be ideal, but they just aren’t.

Monaleo: Also, it’s about just coming to the realization that you’re going to make mistakes. Everybody wants to feel like they’re the perfect mother. [But] it’s okay to admit that you’re going to drop the ball sometimes. That humanizes our experience because there’s a lot of pressure put on moms to be superwomen. I try to live up to that as much as I can, and I find myself really stretched. But I have the opportunity to do better moving forward and just continue showing up for my child the best way that I can.

How has motherhood impacted your craft?

Monaleo: It’s made me way more intentional. You should be intentional in general, not just because you have a child that will grow up to listen to your music. Before you have children, there’s this sense of nonchalantness about life that’s beautiful to have. But when you have a child, the s–t gets real serious real quick: What’s he listening to? I’m not everybody’s parent. But I understand that we have people who tune into our music. So I try to sneak the medicine into the candy sometimes. Yes, it’s a bop, but from time to time you’re going to get a little education about Black history or whatever it is that I put in my music. I’m going to walk you through something, and I want this to be something that resonates with you. Having a child really made me more intentional in that way.  I don’t want [my son] to be influenced by bulls–t. There’s a lot of bulls–t going on, and I’ve made some bulls–t songs. So I’m already like we’ve got to clean this up not only for my baby, but for the other babies here in the world.

Kehlani: Before I had a kid, there were so many times I wanted to quit. Like I can just leave this b–ch right now and go get a farm. [But] I’m a single mom and head of the household. Sometimes my only thought is I’ve got to keep going and find new inspiration: not just in taking care of her but so she can see that no outside forces should be able to stop her dreams. Because a lot of things that made me want to quit were outside forces that I shouldn’t have been internalizing. I want her to have joy and passion for things. What keeps me reinventing the joy in my career is because she gets so excited. Now she wants to try things and gets inspired by everything. So shout out to the babies – and to the mamas!

Concluding the conversation, Williams said, “Becoming a mother puts a battery in your back like nothing else. I love sitting here with strong Black women who are doing motherhood and so much more. it’s important for people to have these conversations to know that I’m not just a mom. I’m a business owner. I’m head of the household. I’m an executive.”

For more information about BetterHelp, click here.