We were lucky to catch up with Angelica Chapman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Angelica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I contributed significantly to success during the 21 years I worked in my professional career and kept my enthusiasm for entrepreneurship alive. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this plan led me directly to my current position as a business owner. I started my own business in 2019 and since then, I’ve educated people about high blood pressure and its detrimental effects on our communities. I’ve also helped hundreds of people in our community breathe more easily to relieve anxiety and stress. But first, let me explain how the idea initially entered my head. My family and I went to a beach in North Carolina, and I came home with a rash that looked like a bull’s-eye. I went to the doctor, who diagnosed me with Lyme disease. As it turned out, though, my several blood pressure readings that day caused the doctors greater concern. My blood pressure has previously caused me to worry. My high blood pressure nearly killed me in my 20s. Can you believe I was hospitalized for three days for high blood pressure in my 20s? After age 45, the majority of people start having high blood pressure. While those numbers represent the average, WebMD claims that Black people are more likely than other demographics to experience high blood pressure in their younger years. That is horrifying to me. Additionally, most people are unaware that high blood pressure causes 472,000 deaths annually. I became interested in spreading awareness as a result. In the long run, I want to reduce heart disease-related fatalities and enhance the health of 472,000 people who are at risk for high blood pressure. Action must be taken to address this issue that impacts our entire community. The fact that I can use my business endeavors to address an issue affecting our community makes me extremely happy.

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

Hi, I’m Angelica Chapman, and I am a health and wellness advocate committed to helping others improve their lives and develop healthy living habits. I first developed an interest in health and wellness as a young girl, and during high school, I studied to become a certified nursing assistant before attending North Carolina State University.

Like many of the individuals I work with, I have struggled with my health and wellbeing. I’m a busy professional, an entrepreneur, a wife, and a mom, and I understand. I know first-hand how difficult it can be to find a balance between a career, a family, and a healthy lifestyle. After years of neglecting my health, I discovered the tools, strategies, and support I needed to make long-lasting and meaningful changes in my life. Now I’m dedicated to using my platform to share health and fitness-related tips, tricks, and tools and help individuals combat everything from unhealthy eating habits to health conditions like hypertension, which can lead to serious and fatal heart problems if left untreated. Many of the techniques I share focus on making small changes like taking the time to breathe or reducing sodium intake to help individuals see that their journey to health and wellbeing doesn’t need to feel overwhelming or impossible. In addition to helping hundreds of people create healthy habits, I have also had my journey and successes featured in multiple publications throughout my career, including the Greensboro News and Record and, most recently, CanvasRebel Magazine. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family, volunteering in my community, hiking, traveling, photography, doing yoga, and being a compassionate awareness advocate.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

THE LESSON

This is a personal story. I have been in the health and wellness industry for over 12 years and have learned many lessons. One of them is that you need to be able to unlearn things in order to learn new ones.

I used to think that as a young adult you didn’t need to be conscious of your eating habits because your body is resilient enough to recover without exerting too much effort. I also thought that if you don’t show symptoms of high blood pressure, you are in good health. These are all things that I had learned through various sources, but they turned out to be untrue.

THE BACKSTORY

Heart disease is the number one killer of adults worldwide. Over 70 million cases of heart disease exist worldwide, and many individuals lose their lives to it every year. One of them was almost me, in my 20s. Doctors and health professionals have found that making healthy lifestyle changes can greatly reduce the number of people with heart disease. Increasing my physical exercise and eliminating my poor eating habits was one of the biggest changes I made. My heart has greatly benefited from doing this.

In my daily regimen, I spend 30 minutes cycling, walking, or practicing yoga. I also believe that doing resistance training for at least three days a week is good. This can increase muscle mass, which benefits your heart as well: bigger muscle tissue pumps more blood through your body. Plus, you’ll feel much stronger after doing resistance training, which gives you more energy when you’re done exercising.

I also made sure to eat a lot of nutritious grains, low-fat proteins, fruits, and veggies in at least two of my daily meals. Fruits and vegetables provide your body with a lot of vitamins and minerals it needs to stay healthy. Additionally, they provide fiber to keep you feeling full and low calorie content to keep you hydrated. Whole grains are an excellent source of dietary fiber and contain protein that keeps you full. I also limit my consumption of fatty meals and processed meats because they are high in saturated fats and cholesterol. These increase your chances of developing cardiovascular problems like coronary artery disease and heart attacks.

Another thing I discovered was the need of stress management, or mindfulness as it is known in Eastern cultures. Coronary artery disease occurs when a coronary blockage occurs in the arteries that supply the heart with blood. This causes the heart to stop functioning altogether as the organ suffers oxygen deprivation due to lack of circulation. Doctors believe that high levels of stress cause the body to pump excessive amounts of blood through the heart, which increases the risk of clots forming in the arteries. Knowing when you’re stressed out can empower you to handle it in a conscious manner. Every other Sunday, join us for guided breathing exercises on Instagram as an introduction to learning how to breathe to relieve stress and anxiety.

Taking these steps dramatically improves your chances of living a healthy life without any negative impacts on your heart health. You’ll feel better overall without any harmful side effects on your heart. Plus, you’ll be able to handle stress much easier without affecting your health negatively. The changes are simple to make and will have a dramatic effect on your health!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Stephen Denning was one of many prosperous people whose life were centered on founding new companies. Self Made Manmade: A Story Of Success, his debut book, details how he overcame hardship by starting new businesses out of necessity. In the book, Denning describes how he developed numerous revenue streams while still a teenager so he could pay for a car and attend high school. I love the way Stephen discusses the books that had a major influence on his early career. These teen reads for Stephen Denning included works by Thomas Edison and Walt Disney, which set him on the road to business.

Anyone can follow in Denning’s footsteps by picking up any book on any aspect of entrepreneurship and applying them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.angelicawellnessshop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovelifeandangelica/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovelifeandangelica
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/LoveLifeAndAngelica
• Other: Interested in connecting Business-to-Business? Let’s network: https://www.alignable.com/raleigh-nc/angelica-wellness-shop-2 Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter to receive healthy lifestyle blog posts: http://eepurl.com/hcOoUv

Image Credits
Photographer: Studio Aray Photographer: Wendy Jade Photography Model: Angelica Chapman