We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr Joan Hangarter Joan Of Angels a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr Joan Hangarter, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

One defining moment in my life happened shortly after I graduated from chiropractic school in 1980. I had just moved to Berkeley and was looking for a place to open my first practice. One afternoon while driving down Solano Avenue, I suddenly heard a very clear inner voice say, “Turn around, you’re going the wrong way.”
It surprised me because it was so distinct that I actually pulled the car over, turned around, and drove back up the street. As I did, I noticed a sign going up in the window of a small office space that had just become available. I walked in, spoke with the landlord, and within a short time that became the location of my very first chiropractic office. I was literally the first person to see the space.
That moment stayed with me because it showed me something important about intuition and listening to a deeper inner knowing. Over the years my practice grew to more than two hundred + patients a week, and later my work expanded beyond physical healing into helping people reconnect with their own inner guidance. Today, as a Soul Vision Mentor and Strategic Discernment Advisor, I help people access that same clarity within themselves — the kind that doesn’t come from forcing answers, but from learning how to listen more deeply to what they already know.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My work sits at the intersection of intuition, wisdom, and real-world decision making. For more than forty years I’ve helped people navigate moments when life asks them to step into something bigger.
I began my career as a chiropractor after graduating in 1980, opening my first practice in Berkeley, California. Within a short time the practice grew to more than 200+ patients a week. But what fascinated me most wasn’t just the physical healing taking place. Many of the people coming to see me were also standing at pivotal crossroads in their lives — facing major decisions, transitions, and questions about their purpose.
Over time I realized my work wasn’t only about healing the body. It was about helping people reconnect with their inner guidance.
Today I work as a Strategic Discernment Advisor and Soul Vision Mentor, supporting thoughtful, intuitive individuals who are navigating consequential life or business decisions. Many of my clients are accomplished people who outwardly appear successful but internally feel a quiet pull toward a new direction. My role is to help them slow down, cut through mental noise, and access the deeper clarity that allows them to move forward with calm confidence.
What makes my work unique is the blend of grounded professional experience and intuitive insight. With a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, a Master’s in Counseling, and decades of working closely with people through transformation, I bring both practical perspective and a deep understanding of how intuition actually works in real life.
I’m also known as Joan of Angels, a visionary artist whose angelic paintings explore themes of consciousness, guidance, and the unseen forces that shape our lives. Art became another language through which I express the spiritual dimension of my work.
What I’m most proud of is helping people rediscover trust in themselves. When someone moves from uncertainty into clarity and begins living in alignment with who they truly are, it’s extraordinary to witness.
At the heart of everything I do is a simple truth:
clarity isn’t something we force — it’s something we learn how to hear.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of the most defining periods of resilience in my life came after a time when everything I had built seemed to collapse at once. Earlier in my career I had a thriving chiropractic practice and was deeply engaged in healing work. But life doesn’t always move in straight lines. A series of difficult personal and financial challenges eventually led to losing my home and having to completely rethink my path forward.
For a while it felt like the ground had disappeared beneath my feet. Yet in that quiet space something unexpected happened. I moved to Mexico for a period of time and began exploring interests that had always been part of me but hadn’t fully expressed yet — creativity, metaphysics, and the deeper mysteries of consciousness.
That chapter opened the door to a profound creative and spiritual awakening. I began painting what eventually became a series of angelic portraits that many people resonated with deeply. Those paintings were not something I planned intellectually. They felt guided, almost like messages emerging through art.
Looking back, that period taught me something essential about resilience. Sometimes what feels like a breakdown is actually a redirection toward a deeper expression of who you are meant to become.
Today the work I do helping people access clarity and trust their inner guidance grew directly from those experiences. Because I’ve walked through uncertainty myself, I’m able to help others navigate their own transitions with greater confidence and perspective.
Resilience, for me, is not about pushing harder. It’s about trusting that even difficult chapters can carry the seeds of your next evolution.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The biggest factor in building my reputation has been something very simple: genuinely caring about the people I serve.
From the beginning of my career as a chiropractor, I never saw my work as just treating symptoms. People often came to me during moments of stress, uncertainty, or transition in their lives. Taking the time to really listen — not just to what they were saying, but to what they were experiencing — created trust.

Over the years that trust became the foundation of my reputation.
Another important element has been consistency. I’ve spent more than forty years working closely with people through healing, mentorship, and guidance. When you stay committed to helping people grow and navigate change, word spreads naturally.

Finally, I think people resonate with authenticity. My work blends professional training — a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and a Master’s in Counseling — with a deep respect for intuition and spiritual insight. Instead of separating those worlds, I’ve allowed them to work together.

What I’ve learned is that people aren’t just looking for expertise. They’re looking for someone who can hold space for the bigger picture of their lives.

At the heart of my work is helping people reconnect with their inner guidance so they can make decisions with clarity, confidence, and self-trust. When someone experiences that shift, it stays with them — and that’s how a reputation grows: one meaningful transformation at a time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joanofangels.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanofangels
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joanofangels
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjoanofangels/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/joanofangels
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/3sPLNtOpdV2yrflkaz
• Other: substack: https://joanofangels.substack.com/