ME.LION.ONE

This Queen has Bold, Blessed, Beauty, and Beautiful in her name, her walk, and her DNA. Allow me to introduce this month’s Phorbe Queen of the Month: Melione.

Victoria Hoang aka Melione is a hip hop artist, spoken word poet, DJ, Television Host, Actress, and basketball player. She started writing and rhyming at the age of 10 but began to fully pursue her career about six years ago , and in that time has dropped her first EP Me, opened a show in Vegas for Bone Thugs N' Harmony, starred in a movie with Master P and Romeo, co-hosted a talk show: Juce Live on the Juce TV Network and through all that has maintained her role at RYTMO, a local non-profit, as an instructor and engineer. Hands down, she is the best up and coming hip hop artist in Orange County, dope as hell, and an inspiration to us all.

I had the honor of sitting down and speaking to Queen Melione and was blown away by how caring, intelligent and important she is as an artist, as a motivational speaker, and as a activist in our community.

Me. Lion. One.

Why Melione? She says it came to her in a vision. She was initially inspired by the strength and courage of the lion and eventually expanded her stage name. "Me” represents getting to know yourself and being comfortable in your own skin. "Lion" is the King of the Jungle, fierce ferocious, bold, and wild. "One" is being the chosen one, the one who stands out, and stand up for what you believe in. Together she is Melione.

Her fans would tell you that yes, she’s a dope female rapper and that’s what initially draws you in, but it’s her inspiring message of #StayDopeHaveHope that makes Melione the stand out artist of Orange County. Not only is this Queen making moves, she’s also motivating others to reach for their goals and dreams no matter what. Melione is not just an artist, she’s a movement. She wants her fans to go on this journey with her. She started writing about her life and what she saw around her and, in the process, has truly found herself. Now, she wants others to recognize who they are, understand why God put them on this planet, and be the one to be bold and the King or Queen of the jungle by living out their purpose. Melione is changing the world one rhyme, one performance, one hashtag at a time.

She is Bold

Melione’s goals include inspiring the world and spreading positivity, touring, traveling, acting, and to one day open a non-profit for young kids motivating them to be anything they want to be. “ I was put here to strive for greatness, spread positivity and to inspire people along the way .”

God gives her strength, vision, and the audacity to go after her goals. A few years ago, she was drugged and spent five days in the intensive care unit with doctors telling her she could have died in her sleep. Her hospitalization inspired her to fully chase her dreams and not look back, “ We don't live forever. What will we leave behind to inspire generations to follow?”

Shortly after her recovery, Melione started working at Love and Laughter Studios in Anaheim as the administrative assistant for CEO Joey Arreguin. She says being around all of those artists in such a musical and creative environment and learning something new every day, inspired her to take the leap of faith towards her goals. She credits Joey as being a powerful mentor in her life.

She is Blessed

Although Melione believed in God, she says that her stint in ICU strengthened her faith even more and brought her closer to God. Since then, she has found genuine joy, peace, and her purpose. She says she is no longer pressuring herself to live a certain way because God is the higher power who guides her and He always provides.

A good example of how God has worked in her life is her Kickstarter campaign, It’s Bigger Than Me. For those of you who don’t know, Kickstarter is an online fundraising site that allows artists the opportunity to raise seed money to create or complete their passion projects. However, unlike other fundraising sites, there is a time limit for when you can fundraise. You set the time and the goal. If you don’t make your goal in the allotted time, everything you raised will be returned to your donors.

Melione’s goals was to raise $10,000 from October to November 2016, exactly 31 days. While Melione received a lot of love and support, she found herself short a few thousand dollars with only a few days left in her campaign. By the grace of God, a donor came through at the last-minute donating just enough to push her over her goal; making her campaign a success. The money was used to finish and release her first EP, Me, which is now available on Soundcloud here.

If God provided the vision, her parents provided the example. Melione’s mother, Tam, and her father, Lam, taught her hard work pays off and showed her what respecting her elders, herself, and others truly looks like.

She is Beautiful

Melione’s definition of beauty is:” The bigness of the heart, the authenticity of a smile, and the brightness of someone’s eyes.”

Like everyone else in the world, Melione has struggled with self confidence and says it took learning who she is for her to find her beauty. She says if you don’t know who you are, you’re constantly looking around comparing your life, and defining and redefining what beauty is based off of other people.

Once you find yourself, you begin to appreciate yourself for who you are and fall in love with your authentic self.

Melione’s inner beauty is infectious. She has a huge heart, is compassionate, and cares deeply for others. I’ve personally known Melione for close to five years now. When she heard that I was in a car accident last year, she sat with me and gave me some encouraging words on how to move forward with my life. When she found out that there was a second big accident a little over a month later, she left a voicemail on my answering machine that I would listen to almost everyday to help me keep going and stay the course.

Melione was also a huge key factor in the birth of Phorbe. Melione doesn’t work a 9-5 job. She is ALL IN on her career. Watching her go after her goals with such ferociousness and win every time planted a seed in me that just grew.

In regard to her outer beauty, Melione says "It's probably my smile that wins people over the most, but my booty keeps their attention" She laughs jokingly. "JUST KIDDING!" But all jokes aside, Melione says taking care of her body makes her feel beautiful. She’s always been an active person: eating healthy, working out, and playing basketball.

In fact, just this year, Melione took on the the P-Miller 90-day challenge which encourages people to be active for at least thirty minutes every day for 90 days. Melione has a crazy intense schedule, but she completed her daily thirty minutes of workout, and never missed a day! She said even if she didn’t leave the studio until 2am, she would still head to the gym to get her cardio in before heading home. I asked her how she was able to keep such a commitment and she said, "Commitment is doing it even when you don’t feel like doing it."

Striving for greatness is in her DNA and documenting the process on social media for her fans to see and follow along, helped her stay accountable.

She is always striving for the Best Version of herself

The best version of Melione looks like someone who is financially free, spiritually unbothered, creating and performing her music, acting in movies, and making money moves that position her to give back to the community. She jokes that a flatter stomach wouldn’t hurt either.

To reach the best version of herself, Melione pushes herself with challenges like the P-Miller 90 Day Challenge. She also meditates daily, reads the bible, and studies other people who are successful.

Life gets crazy and sometimes she finds herself being pulled in all different types of directions. So, Melione uses meditation to pause and reflect. She says the key is to reflect with gratitude. Everyday, Melione sets a timer on her phone for exactly 10 minutes and sits in a quiet place to breathe deeply and count her blessings.

Reading the bible reminds Melione that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. She says it’s the only thing that stays consistent while the world is constantly changing. She believes that there is something beautiful in knowing that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in all of us and all we have to do is walk in our faith to realize our greatness.

Melione’s favorite successful people to watch and study are Will Smith, Tai Lopez, Kevin Hart, J Cole, Oprah and Kobe Bryant.

She is a Phorbe Queen

Join me in celebrating this Queen for all of her accomplishments and uplifting her as she moves forward in her journey. July is also Melione’s birthday month. So don't forget to wish her a happy birthday when she blesses the Phorbe Instagram page!

Melione will also be taking over the Phorbe Instagram page throughout this month to spread her message of love and positivity with the Phorbe Queendom.

Until then, you can follow her on Instagram @VH1Melione. Check her out on soundcloud as well @Vh1Melione.

Do you know a strong person who is defying gravity and moving barriers to reach their goals and dreams? Nominate them now for Phorbe Queen of the month. Just follow PhorbeOfficial on Instagram, subscribe to the Phorbe website, and email Queen Maree at msjasminemaree@phorbe.net with your nomination. Please include a photo of the nominee along with the best way to contact the nominee.

It's a beautiful day to conquer the world, so go forth and slay!

-Queen Maree

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON JULY 14, 2018