Former Miss Kingston and Miss Surrey, Jessica Monaco has travelled the world as a model and graced the covers of multiple international magazine covers including FHM. Devoting much time to charities, including our Surrey Fashion Week celebrity charity catwalk shows, she’s all about helping others wherever she can. Celebrity cover journalist and Surrey Fashion Week co-founder Angela Sara West chats with our July cover star – international cover model Jessica Monaco – about her jet set lifestyle, Surrey hangouts, prolific philanthropy work and how YOU can win a hot date with our cover model in our charity auction!
Hi Jessica, you have a huge following on Insta – how does it feel to be an influencer?
It’s just my fan club. It’s a space to chat and keep in touch with fun content from my modelling life and archives.
I hear you have a new movie in the making!
Yes! It’s a true story of a calculated unbelievable villainess. Expect crazy scenarios, lots of action and deception. I’m currently in talks with film producers and looking for funding, if anyone would like to get involved…
You live such a glamorous jet set lifestyle! What have been a few of the highlights of your glittering career so far?
Appearing on international magazine covers and attending and assisting with amazing events and charity fundraisers such as Surrey Fashion Week and the Surrey Awards.
How was your recent Cannes & F1 Monaco Grand Prix experience?
It’s always amazing! I used to live close to St Tropez. Summers there are so relaxing and picturesque. Monaco is my favourite town. I love going back there.
You always looks so fresh and amazing! What are your top beauty, fitness and style tips?
Five litres of mineral water and fresh smoothies with ginger and turmeric. I eat everything organic at home and have tonnes of vitamins and supplements. Pure Altai shilajit in everything. I also have marine collagen matcha with coconut milk and vanilla, organic Irish Sea moss, and my preferred fruits are pineapple and papaya as they contain important enzymes. I consume all of the above on a daily basis, and also practice yoga, Pilates and go swimming. Style-wise, I prefer timeless pieces to re-wear over fast fashion. It’s more ecological and ethical.
Any go-to Surrey salons?
Headmasters for cuts and treatments and William Thomas Gaughan luxury salon in Richmond @williamthomasgaughan where I had the most AMAZING experience from start to finish. Thank you so much!
What do you love most about your hometown, Kingston?
From fond memories of going to Kingston shopping centre with my mum to revelling with school friends as a teenager, Kingston is a great place to grow up and study.
The best thing about living in Surrey?
Surrey Rocks’ events listings are the best – Surrey Fashion Week, the Surrey Awards, Hampton Court Palace and Flower Show…
For meals out, Al Forno in New Malden is an authentic Italian serving the finest seafood pizzas. Extra truffle oil for me! My favourite restaurant is Scott’s, on the river in Richmond. I love everything about it… You just have to go.
You’re a prolific philanthropist and SO supportive of all our fundraising efforts…
I do as much as I can to help out wherever I can be of assistance for all charities, especially at fundraisers like Surrey Fashion Week, which is currently fundraising for Surrey’s Royal Marsden cancer hospital.
And I’m up for a date! So, get bidding on our latest Surrey Fashion Week auction, guys, all in aid of charity. Check out www.jumblebee.co.uk/surreyfashionwweekxmissbritanniaxpolo Please be generous with donations to such not-for-profit organisations!
Thanks, Jessica – you’ve been such a fantastic supporter of Surrey Fashion Week ever since we launched our celebrity charity catwalk shows with Surrey’s Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and Surrey Rocks back in 2021. When did you first get involved in charity work?
My first fundraising challenge was in 2012. Whilst living and working in the French Alps, I took on a daring adventure by my friend to take a jump off from Mont Blanc. I told her, if we were going to risk our lives, we should do it for charity so someone could benefit from our endeavours!
I chose to crowdsource for a major UK-based animal charity. I then came across K9 Angels, another UK not-for-profit organisation on Facebook and was shocked to see how many furry friends were suffering in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. I immediately decided to help and get actively involved.
Now, I’m an official fundraiser for the K9 Angels team @thek9angels, helping to save dogs worldwide. Every Dog Matters.
How does this amazing charity assist canines in need and what’s the latest on your Camp Beagle campaign with our past Surrey Fashion Week K9 Angels models Victoria Featherstone Pearce (and her rescue dogs who also walked the SFW catwalk!) and S Club singer Jo O’Meara?
They focus on funding to help street dogs in trouble, providing medical care and food and assisting with them being adopted, alongside carrying out massive spay and neuter campaigns.
I was recently at the High Court of Justice to support the @thecampbeagle campaign.
Their eviction notice was stopped by the judges. A small victory for them in a big fight for dogs.
For four years, Camp Beagle has been running a campaign against a dog-breeding facility called MBR, supplying over 2,000 beagle pups a year to laboratories across the UK. MBR, in addition to breeding beagles for toxicology laboratories, harvests and sells the dogs’ blood and internal organs. Covert footage and whistleblowers’ videos taken inside MBR’s facilities provide evidence of horrific systematic neglect.
Camp Beagle works tirelessly to expose the suffering of the MBR beagles, raise public awareness, and lobby the government to end animal testing. They need the public’s awareness and support now more than ever to push forward.
Tell us a little about MBR Acres…
Beagles are kept inside windowless sheds and never allowed outdoors. Their pens have filthy concrete floors covered in wet sawdust and excrement, and no bedding at all. These dogs are so deprived of the most basic welfare requirements that, in undercover footage taken inside MBR, they can be seen displaying signs of pathological behaviour.
All of the puppies bred at MBR are used in toxicology tests required by the regulators. Yet over 90% of the drugs tested on animals fail in human trials because they either turn out to be toxic to humans or their alleged efficacy does not hold true in humans. Animal models do not accurately predict human effects.
There are many non-animal methods of research available now, producing more accurate data and more relevant results at a fraction of the cost. One of these new methodologies I’ve called “liver on a chip”. They have significantly better accuracy for predicting human toxicity than the animal tests currently in use.
Camp Beagle is running a parliamentary petition to ban testing on dogs, which gained 100,000 signatures in four days and now has nearly a quarter of a million. On 28th April, the petition was debated in Parliament, and many MPs spoke in favour of it.
Please, everyone, sign the petition and share it as much as possible. These barbaric practices in our country need to be abolished immediately! www.petition.parliament.uk/petitions/705384
What challenges have you faced and overcome?
The toughest challenge of all was choosing my rescue dog out of all the strays I met whilst on a rescue mission to Romania with K9 Angels. The conditions are exceptionally harsh in war-torn countries…. nothing compares to what the little dogs suffer on the streets.
The small courageous team of protesters @thecampbeagle campaigning to shut down MBR Acres here in our country urge you to take a look into your own dog’s eyes and stand united for their friends. Daily torture and murder of in nocent beagle pups being bred for toxicology testing should be banned immediately by our government.
We wish you the very best of luck with your Camp Beagle campaign and will support you wherever we can, as I’m sure our readers will, too. So, what does being such a positive female role model mean to you?
A woman who is bold enough to go forward and speak her mind on matters concerning the voiceless, even though it may not be a popular subject or culture. I look up to strong women who have overcome adversity to achieve success, helping and guiding others along the way to become better people.
Who are the women who have had the biggest influence on your life?
Definitely my friend Victoria, founder of K9 Angels. She’s original and genuinely beautiful from the inside out. A strong and non-judgemental woman, she’s also very kind and very wise. Victoria has rescued over 1000 dogs over the past ten years with her not-for-profit charity with her fellow team members. We are great friends to this day, and we both continue to try and make a change in this world.
Any advice for women starting out in their careers?
Stay grounded and humble. Be true to yourself and be unique. It takes a determined and resilient woman to achieve positivity and triumph in the world. Never give up. And enjoy the journey with those that have been loyal and stuck by you through thick and thin. Food for thought for us all!
Finally, what’s next for Jessica Monaco?
I’m going back to Koh Samui, Thailand, to help the rescuers and dogs. @samuistreetdogs are amazing. I’m also excited to swim with the sacred sea dogs at Pig island – an ultimate life experience for me. My ultimate goal is to be in a position where I can help eradicate the suffering of street dogs worldwide. A big operation that teams such as @thek9angels and @nialharbison do on the frontline.
We all play an important part in supporting charities. If people can’t donate, they can still support by being responsible with animals, sharing and creating awareness to others!
