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

Angelica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I am very thankful my parents did this one thing with me while I was growing up. That one thing was that they gave me freedom to make my own decisions on whether or not I enjoyed doing some thing. My parents never forced me into doing extra activities outside of school if I was not truly happy while doing them. I will never forget this moment in one of my piano lessons that my teacher came over to me to watch me perform one of our exercises that we were doing, and unfortunately while performing for my teacher I ended up pressing a wrong key. Now my teacher took it into her own hands in a way in which she thought would be best for me to remember what key should always be pressed during that song, she took my hand and I remember her pressing my fingers into the correct keys so that I would remember what keys to play. As a child I knew that this was wrong and I did not like how it made me feel. As soon as my piano lesson was done I raced to my mom and I told her that I no longer want to do piano lessons and explained what happened during the lesson. She didn’t try to force me into coming again or telling me that this is a one time thing, she acknowledged how I felt and let me be me and took me out of the class. This happened with a few other things while growing up trying extracurricular activities, doing side sports and figuring out what I liked and didn’t like while growing up. One thing I was always told while growing up was that it’s my choice and it’s my life and if it’s not making me happy I don’t have to do it. Growing up this way gave me the strength I needed to know that I have no fear when it comes to trying anything because I know that if it doesn’t make me happy it’s not for me so I have no fear when it comes to trying something new out because I know I can always walk away if I need to. This has helped me with my personal business so much and especially navigating through it as I finally found something I truly love and it makes me happy.

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

So I first started back in 2017 just for fun, trying different food combinations and getting really creative because I did not want vegan to feel or seem like I was lacking something but instead creating a new avenue of abundance through food. It became this fun challenge for me, I would wake up everyday with the thought, “hmm, what do I miss? and how can I make this taste the same but make it vegan?” These fun daily challenges I created for myself turned into a real passion, don’t get me wrong I always loved cooking but I never thought it would be something I would take serious. I grew up thinking I would be a model not a chef, but the more and more I got into cooking I realized this is what I want to do and I started doing research to find a plant based culinary school and I did. I was enrolled in Plant Labs culinary program in 2018 in New York and I loved it, I feel like culinary school was exactly what I needed to take my home creations to the next level and really start perfecting my craft. After culinary school I still wanted more, I knew cooking wasn’t just it for me I started learning about how we can actually heal certain alignments through the foods we eat and detoxing with fresh pressed juices and herbal tea. I did some more research on how can I educate myself deeper with this niche. I found a woman teaching a raw holistic detox program in Bali, Indonesia and I moved to Bali for two months to study and do these detoxes on my own body so I can heal and feel the effects and see how my body would feel while healing on a cellular level. Doing my own experiments on myself I found things that worked and didn’t work, but of course everyone is completely different. With my clients I like to approach this on a more spiritual level than an actual physical one. More than likely we are eating for our emotions rather than the actual health aspect of what food should be. Im not saying completely throw away the ice cream when we are in our feelings but rather sit with that and figure out why are we really feeling this way instead of masking the issue with food and burying it. Also allowing yourself to feel whatever it may be you are feeling is also key in that moment to because we don’t want to suppress our feelings either, then we can go get some healthy ice cream or make our own with banana and vanilla in a blender. With my clients I ask tons of questions before we get started on just a meal plan, its more than just loosing or gaining weight. I want you to feel the absolute best and this is why I love the holistic healing approach with my clients. Not all my clients want food some of them come to me for juice detoxes and herbal flushes, some do a combination of both depending on what they are working on. I will go over with you what your goals are and what you feel like you would like to improve in your overall health and create a custom plan tailored specific to you and your wellbeing with weekly checkins and twice a week meal drops. I provide my clients with the luxury of not having to think about what to eat or do for their health because its already done for them in a tasty healthy way.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

One of the biggest things that helped me more than any book could ever do is being apart of a community within my field. I have met so many wonderful beings from all over thanks to being vegan and of course the power of social media. Connecting with so many other like-minded individuals has played a big part in my overall experience in this field as well as my business. Being able to connect with other people in my field has given me so many “light bulb” moments, hearing people express what they like and do not like when it comes to food and rearranging the food combinations in my head. Its like a live classroom with everyday experiences and different people sharing perspectives you would never even think of.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Honestly I’m still unlearning the fact that things don’t need to be perfect. I feel like I am so critical of myself and what I put out to the world work wise because this is me, this is my face, this is my business, this is everything. Constantly putting the pressure on myself for something I am doing to seem so perfect became so stressful. I had to drop these tense feelings and emotions and just be real with myself, my business and my community that we are all in this together. My work is a constant work in progress, as I continue to evolve personally it also mirrors in my business. Therefore realizing that things will change overtime as growth happens but the core doesn’t change. This perfectionist mindset can come in handy for aesthetic purposes but sometimes its not real and relatable and it also adds unnecessary pressure on yourself. Learning to let go of this has created so much more space within myself and field for pure creativity without scrutiny.

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