Monica Padman

Padman was born in Duluth, Georgia, to a Malayali engineer father and a computer programmer mother. Her mother moved to the United States from India at the age of six, and her father moved to the United States from India as a college student for educational opportunities. While attending Duluth High School, Padman took Advanced Placement classes and was on the cheerleading squad- where she served as a flyer. During her time at DHS, Padman and her team secured two state championships in cheerleading. Padman graduated from Duluth High School in 2006 and attended the University of Georgia on the Hope Scholarship, which is a merit-based scholarship funded by the Georgia Lottery.

Padman cites her love of the show Friends and the film Good Will Hunting as making her want to become an actor when she was in eighth grade. She began studying theater in high school and, in college at the University of Georgia, she double-majored in theater and public relations, choosing the latter in order to placate her parents. Padman completed an internship at the Radmin Company while in college. She graduated in 2009 from UGA with a 4.0 GPA with both BA and ABJ degrees and afterwards moved to Los Angeles.In 2011, Padman moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She trained in improvisational comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and supported herself by babysitting and working at the front desk at SoulCycle. Padman met Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard through social circles, then coincidentally booked an acting job on an episode of House of Lies playing an assistant to Bell's character. Bell subsequently hired Padman to occasionally babysit for them, and Padman eventually became their full-time nanny. Her role gradually evolved into serving as an assistant to Bell and then becoming a professional partner to both Bell and Shepard. In 2019, Bell referred to Padman as her "chief of staff".

During this time, Padman booked several major commercial campaigns including Geico and Herbal Essence. She also had appearances in shows and a movies affiliated with Dax and Kristen Bell. Her professional relationship also continued to develop with the couple, and she began writing things for Kristen Bell and helping to produce content, like Momsplaining with Kristen Bell.