As an Unidentified Missing Person, S. Monique Smith’s life path has provided her with the opportunity to  provide awareness, help and a voice for missing and exploited persons. Called to this path from a young age,  Monique knew what she had to do for the people like her in this world. Her mission to help her community is  rooted in personal tragedy. Her childhood was marked by serious abuse, but she didn't realize the true nature  of her story until her early 30s, when a local municipal application revealed inconsistencies in her  documentation and ultimately led to the revelation that the woman she had long believed to be her birth  mother was not. 

              After years of personal evolution and healing S. Monique Smith has overcome many trials and tribulations to become the survivor she is today. Ms. Smith has devoted herself to advocating on behalf of missing and abducted children, while continuing to work with law enforcement and other agencies on her own case. To know she was missing was one thing, but when she truly felt the magnitude of this trauma, she had to go to work. On this journey one of her most life changing points was creating the book, I Am the Ancestor. Her story has compelled her to personally aid families and children alike in similar life altering circumstances.

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               Monique is passionate and dedicated to her mission and is most  known for her work with The Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Phylicia Barnes case, as well as her launch of Know as Monique First Responders. One of her goals is to make sure that people have accurate information that can help prevent child  abductions and increase the chances that missing children will be found. Monique Smith hosted Maryland's First Annual Missing Person Day on May 5, 2018 alongside NamUS, a  national unidentified persons data source, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the  Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force. She also works to support efforts of non-profit and grassroots  organizations who reach out to children at risk of running away, abduction, or trafficking, such as through  working with the Angels of Addiction's Street Outreach Ministry and Loving Arms, LLC.

              To her credit, Ms. Smith has only used them as motivators while carving out her place in the world as a savvy  business woman, a prolific entrepreneur, and most recently added to her long list of achievements Ms. Smith  is an accomplished author and executive director of her documentary.

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               An Activist, Smith-Person continues to advocate for heightened awareness around providing safe  environments for children. Founded in 2013, Known As Monique's mission is to continue to spread awareness  about missing children - whether minors or adults - as well as provide education and resources to end child  abductions.