The 🧠 Behind MoNA
An eye for beauty
shaped by Hip Hop
Courtney-Grace Richardson
Founder & Artistic Director
Growing up watching her uncle direct music videos for the Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg & No Limit Records, she received an early education in Black image-making. Music, fashion, beauty & storytelling shared the same frame: every detail fed her imagination.
Courtney-Grace founded the Museum of Nail Art because
Radical Black Beauty has always been historic:
even when the world fails to
call it art.
Photos by Danita Bethea
CREATIVE DIRECTOR 🖼️ CULTURAL STORYTELLER 🖼️ MUSEUM FOUNDER 🖼️
🖼️
🖼️ CREATIVE DIRECTOR 🖼️ CULTURAL STORYTELLER 🖼️ MUSEUM FOUNDER
CREATIVE DIRECTOR 🖼️ CULTURAL STORYTELLER 🖼️ MUSEUM FOUNDER 🖼️ 🖼️ 🖼️ CREATIVE DIRECTOR 🖼️ CULTURAL STORYTELLER 🖼️ MUSEUM FOUNDER
@THISISCOURTNEYGRACE
✅
@THISISCOURTNEYGRACE ✅
At MoNA, she begins with one question: Whose imagination are we witnessing? Her work connects nail artistry to iconic moments in Black culture: from music videos & film to fashion & sports.
Oakland-raised & NYC-based, Courtney-Grace is an award-winning creative director whose practice spans beauty, fashion, music & cultural storytelling. Through MoNA, she brings those worlds together around one conviction:
BLACK WOMEN’S
CREATIVE EXPRESSION,
INNOVATION + IMAGINATION
DON’T NEED PERMISSION
TO SHOW UP.
🎬
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
🎤
BOOKED x BUSY
🎬 UPCOMING APPEARANCES 🎤 BOOKED x BUSY
September 23, 2026 | NEW YORK, NY
Courtney-Grace Richardson joins a powerhouse lineup of Hip hop Heads & industry leaders to talk the power of influence, ownership & who gets a stake in what the culture creates.
📍CLIOS ON CULTURE: UNLOCKING THE VALUE THAT HIP HOP CREATES
📍CULTURECON 2026:
MUSEUM OF US
October 3-4, 2026 | BROOKLYN, NY
Join MoNA founder, Courtney-Grace Richardson at CultureCon as she speaks about building a cultural institution around Black nail artistry & pop culture.