Today we’d like to introduce you to Mona Amini.
Hi Mona, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up, I was constantly fascinated by human behavior and the complexity of the mind. Though I did love the sciences, I gravitated toward the creative arts and literature because they taught me something that science alone couldn’t – that there is so much more to our existence than what sits on the surface. That life, even in the midst of its harshness, can hold real beauty and joy.
After completing my psychiatry residency, I was driven by a clear mission: move into healthcare leadership, advocate for clinicians, and help reshape the way mental health care was delivered. What I encountered instead was a system more committed to bottom-line metrics than to the people it was meant to serve. I met that reality again and again, and eventually, I had to make a choice. I stopped waiting for a seat at a table that wasn’t built for what I believed in, and I built my own.
That’s how Mon’Vie Mind Wellness was born – a concierge, high-touch private practice in Scottsdale where the standard of care actually reflects the depth of care. I’ve continued advising and consulting across healthcare and non-healthcare businesses, because meaningful change doesn’t stop at the clinical office door.
What took me by genuine surprise was what emerged from a research and design project I led inside a sober treatment center. I wanted to show patients that meditation didn’t have to look the way they imagined – that sonic immersion through electronic dance music, led live, could be a portal to presence and healing. The response changed something in me. It led me to enroll in a DJ academy, to fully step into a passion I had carried quietly for many years, and to ultimately create Dr. Vie™.
Today, I lead sonic immersion experiences for the public, at conferences, and in corporate settings. The intention is to guide high-performers toward clarity, joy, and genuine release. For those craving something more kinetic and community-based, I lead activations that are exactly that: fast beats, movement, and the kind of freedom that reminds you what your body already knows. No matter your age or professional title.
All of this – the psychiatry, the music, the performance, the advocacy – converges in my thought leadership work. Through my own creative lens, I lead a team that produces content designed to make mental health a real conversation: fun, honest, sometimes a little unexpected, and never stigmatizing. Because my deepest goal has always been the same. A world where mind wellness is something we talk about openly, without shame, without the label of weakness – and where that openness makes us better connected to ourselves and to each other.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? Definitely not… But that’s entrepreneurship – and honestly, I wouldn’t trust a road that was.
There’s a certain kind of thinking that entrepreneurship requires. I call it a productive level of delusion – the unshakeable belief in yourself that keeps you moving forward even when the evidence around you hasn’t caught up to your vision yet. You don’t wait until you feel ready. You’ll never feel ready. You just keep going.
I don’t think there’s ever a perfect moment when enough courage accumulates to finally become the person you dreamed of being at nine years old. That version of you just waits – patiently, persistently – until life finally gives you enough ground to stand on.
For me, that ground came in layers. Multiple degrees. A beautiful marriage. Even more beautiful children. A growing vision that refused to stay small. And a circle of friends I don’t take for granted for a single day. Having that kind of support – that’s honest, unyielding, and real – gave me the foundation to take the leap I’d been circling for years.
Since turning 40, something shifted. I feel wiser. More grounded in who I am and less apologetic about it. More confident, not in a performance way, but in the quiet, earned way that only comes from actually doing the work. That’s where I created the moniker “Not Your Typical Psychiatrist®️”.
I won’t pretend that reality doesn’t knock on the door without warning. It does – for everyone, including me. The tools I bring to my patients? They work on me too and I use them. That’s not incidental – that’s intentional. Practice what you preach isn’t just a saying. It’s a standard I hold myself to.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Mon’Vie Mind Wellness /Dr. Vie/Give Yourself Permission?
Mon’Vie Mind Wellness is a concierge, adult private psychiatry practice rooted in the belief that exceptional mental health care should feel as elevated as the life you’re working to build. I specialize in adult psychiatry with a particular focus on high-performers, executives, and individuals who are navigating the intersection of ambition, identity, and wellbeing. My approach is high-touch by design. I know my patients. I invest in them. And I bring the full breadth of my training and lived experience into every session.
What sets Mon’Vie apart is the philosophy behind it. This isn’t a revolving door. It’s a partnership. Concierge psychiatry means you have access, continuity, and a level of personalized care that the traditional healthcare model simply cannot offer. That matters deeply to me, because I left that system precisely because I believed people deserved more.
Then there is Dr. Vie. She is my alter ego, my artist, and in many ways, the most honest expression of everything I believe about healing. Dr. Vie was born from a research project I led inside a sober treatment center, where I discovered that sonic immersion through electronic dance music could unlock something in people that traditional therapeutic modalities sometimes couldn’t touch. Joy. Release. Presence. Connection to self. I took that seriously enough to train formally, enroll in DJ academy, and step fully into that identity.
Today, Dr. Vie leads sonic immersion experiences for the public, for conferences, and for corporate wellness settings. These are not concerts. They are intentional, curated journeys designed to bring high-performers into a state of clarity and emotional release that they often don’t give themselves permission to access. I set the tone, build the arc, and hold the space. The music does the rest.
Give Yourself Permission is a series of itself – through music and media. It is the more movement-based, community-led activation side of that world. Think faster beats, collective energy, and the kind of physical and emotional release that reminds you your body is not just a vehicle for productivity. These experiences are joyful by design. They are built for people who have forgotten what it feels like to just be in the moment without an agenda.
And then there is Give Yourself Permission as a brand in its own right. It is a lifestyle expression of everything I stand for, producing more digestible content and messaging that I want people to carry with them beyond any event or session. Permission to feel. Permission to rest. Permission to be exactly where you are without apology.
What I am most proud of is that all three of these identities are genuinely mine. They are not manufactured for a market. They came from real experiences, real frustrations, real joy, and real healing. The throughline across Mon’Vie, Dr. Vie, and Give Yourself Permission is the same conviction I have held since I was 9 years old: that the human mind is extraordinary, that wellness should be accessible and aspirational at the same time, and that none of us should have to carry the weight of our inner world alone.
That is what I want your readers to know. You do not have to choose between ambition and healing. Between joy and depth. Between science and soul. I built an entire world that holds all of it at once, because I believe you deserve every part of it.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Phoenix has been home since I was a year or so old. I wasn’t born here, but this city raised me, and I mean that with full sincerity.
What I love most is the feeling of it. There is something about the energy of the desert that’s unlike anything else. The tangerine sunsets, the endless blue skies, the way the landscape holds a kind of quiet power that I find genuinely grounding.
Scottsdale in particular appeals to the part of me that appreciates beauty and intention in the details. The infrastructure, the design, the way style and elegance show up around every corner – in interior design, in how people carry themselves – it feels aligned with who I am and what I’ve built here. The city has also given me community, roots, and a backdrop that consistently inspires me.
What I like least is the pace of growth. And I say that with full awareness that growth is not inherently a bad thing. However, there is something quietly difficult about watching the place you grew up change faster than you can absorb it. As humans, we’re wired to feel anchored by familiarity, especially in the places we call home. When that shifts rapidly it can feel like the ground beneath something deeply personal is moving without your consent. I understand it intellectually, but I still feel it personally.
Phoenix is my city. All of it – the beauty, the complexity, and the evolution.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.monaaminimd.com
- Instagram: @mona.amini.md
- Facebook: @monviemindwellness
- LinkedIn: @monaaminimd
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/31nxegxdthxhs4zau3xz66waowcm?si=5915542e52c74ab2
