We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angelique Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Angelique, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
In this season of entrepreneurship, I host community spaces that support hundreds of people with healing and transformation, I create works of art that people are proud to display in their homes, and I have a profound spiritual practice that gives me a powerful foundation of clarity. But it wasn’t always that way. There was a time when I was hustling and bustling around the city of LA working 3 jobs and a side gig just to make ends meet, but still somehow, I was broke at the end of each month. I was physically, mentally, and emotionally empty. Anything that was left of me was spiraling down a drain of dark thoughts. It got to a point where I was questioning my very existence. “Did I drop out of college and move to LA just to end up a skid mark left behind by the 720 bus? To be an overused, underappreciated tool of fast food corporations?” The thoughts consumed me. I almost ended my life, but by the grace of God I failed. That moment showed me two things; 1. I was meant to be alive and 2. I needed to make a drastic change.
Deciding to jump out of the rat race and pursue serving with purpose was a major risk for me. I had begun studying and applying personal development mindset techniques, but I was still faced with the “making a living” of it all. Nothing happened overnight. There were a heap of challenges internally and externally that I had to climb over, but eventually, I found my rhythm of life. Once I accepted that being creative was essential to my mental and spiritual well-being and opened up to supportive accountability, life began to unfold in beautiful ways. And this isn’t to say I have everything perfect and figured out now. However, I am certain that the risk of taking the leap to follow my Divine calling was better than the lifestyle that was leading me into deadly mediocrity.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve been a creative soul since kindergarten. However, it wasn’t until I started attending personal development conferences that I fully began living from that creative soul space. As I saw the impact of different mindset and spiritual practices in my own life, I became increasingly interested in curating my own spiritual retreats, creative workshops, and community experiences, especially for young people. That lead me to becoming a Certified Wedding and Event Planner through Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute in 2024. This education has brought my event design and planning knowledge to a new level and improved my ability to navigate contracts and plan effectively.
My mission is to utilize this knowledge in combination with my Professional Life Coaching Certification to curate uplifting and inspiring opportunities for individuals to learn how they can create the life they desire. I also support “change agent” individuals with curating community connection through their own events. What’s unique about my event planning and design service is the visualization process. As a spiritual coach, I’m very aware of the power of the mind’s energy. When we allow the vision of our desire to come to us clearly, the result comes into fruition with greater ease. My clients are walked through a visualization process that gives them clarity and connects them emotionally with what they want to create. That emotional connection provides the energetic tie needed to stay the course through any challenges that come up. Once they have a clear vision, I use my organizational skills to build a game plan and make the connections to bring it to life.
With my own events, teens and adults learn to deepen their connection with their inner creator through inner dialogue, building a personal practice, and honoring their authentic expression. Having a supportive, loving community has been a lifesaver for me, so that is a main motivation for the experiences I provide. And I’m proud to say that the people in my community will pour into you just as much as I will. So if you know someone seeking a supportive safe space, please reach out!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission of my creative journey is to uplift and inspire individuals, especially teens, to create a life they desire to live. Before I fully embraced my creativity, my life was empty and exhausting. And I know from my time as an afterschool program leader that many young people are feeling the same way. It was reported that 44% of teens were experiencing extended periods of sadness or hopelessness and many had considered taking their lives. I’ve also had these types of conversations with the young people I worked with. I personally believe that many of them have dreams for their life that they believe won’t come true because it doesn’t fit the mold they’re being told to fit. I’ve seen how being creative and holding space for others to express their creativity has brought light to their eyes and hearts. That fuels my creative journey.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I personally believe everyone is creative, we simply express it in unique ways. Some people are creative with business strategy. Some people are creative with science. Some with food. The difference with being a visual, written, or auditory artist is that there isn’t a specific professional slot for us. I think some people would struggle to understand why I dropped everything and didn’t do traditional work while pursuing my creative endeavors. The thing is I did. What I found was that I wasn’t able to give enough focus to my creativity for it to truly grow. I was giving 95% of my life force to traditional work. By the time I went to do something creative, I didn’t have anything left to give. Creative work takes a lot of mental and emotional energy. So if you don’t even have the physical energy to get something done, the other energy required isn’t there either. It’s interesting though, when you give your energy to doing what you love it cycles back to you and that exhaustion doesn’t really hit you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vzevents/ https://www.instagram.com/anjuliqueartistry/
- Other: VZEventDesign@gmail.com