About Dionne

Dionne Monsanto graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hunter College with a BS in Accounting in 1994 and became a certified life coach in 2009. She was a founding member of Theater on the Edge and was its first treasurer. A performer since childhood, she has used her theater skills in a myriad of ways. These skills have helped her tremendously as a mental health advocate and public speaker.

Dionne has been on the board of the NYC Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) since 2014 and has completed a 3-year term as Chair of the Board. She is a native New Yorker who began her work with AFSP in 2009 with their Community Walk in NYC, moved on to Advocacy (locally and nationally), was trained, became a board member and then part of their speaker’s bureau. She has trained the NYPD and community organizations. She passionately speaks about and trains people internationally in mental health awareness and suicide prevention. As the current chair of the Education Committee, she led the first Talk Saves Lives training via Zoom.

Shortly after the death of her 15-year-old daughter by suicide, Dionne left her 20-year financial services career and became a full-time yoga and dance teacher in 2012. Since then, she has taught thousands of classes internationally.

Dionne is the Executive Director of The Siwe Project, a mental health organization named after her late daughter, Siwe. She believes that telling her story continues her healing and keeps her daughter’s memory alive. As such, Siwe Lives was a featured article in the January 2014 issue of Essence Magazine on her journey as a care provider treating her daughter’s mental illness. She was also a guest on *exhale* TV, Exploring Mental Illness. She has been on radio shows and done PSAs. In the Spring of 2019, she was one of the speakers on dadasphere and the first guest on the Big Fat Talk Show. (Both can be viewed on their respective YouTube channels.)

Dionne has conducted multiple “Talk Saves Lives” trainings for the NYPD, as well as with Community Partners, Border Patrol & Protection, and others. She is the AFSP media liaison for radio and TV. Dionne has initiated suicide prevention education in Kenya, where she spends a good deal of her time annually. Due to her relationship with Befrienders Kenya, the country hosted its inaugural Survivor Day in 2019. She is also certified Mental Health First Aid Trainer.

Dionne’s role as a resource and mentor for other AFSP board members has helped the board function more cohesively. Under her leadership, the NYC chapter saw a $200K net growth in chapter events. Most recently she was the first African American elected to the Chapter Leadership Council of the National Board for AFSP. She was a panelist on their first Diversity and Inclusion panel in January 2020 and has created a curriculum for them to diversify the organization over the next 12 months.