We were lucky to catch up with Angelica Maulucci recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Angelica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?
I started working at 10 years old. Already sounds like a “back in my day” story, and I’m going to make it worse by sharing the jobs I’ve had: newspaper delivery, babysitter, food service, janitorial, nightclub bouncer, landscaper, retail worker, preschool teacher, social worker, celebrity fashion stylist, therapist, operations manager, and business owner. The purpose of sharing this is because I have learned from it all, that every job is important. And every person doing the job is important. We all rely on each other. I want youth to know that they matter, no matter what they do. I am grateful for all the jobs I have had, all the lives that have connected with mine. For all those whom I have crossed paths with, I am here because they were there. To have learned and loved alongside youth, families, and communities…everything I do is dedicated to them, and to those I have yet to meet but will have the honor to know.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I was raised by a single mom who taught me that life is all about learning how to love ourselves and each other. She also taught me that life isn’t going to stop to figure that out–it keeps going, so when it is the hardest to love ourselves and others, that is when it is needed the most. My mom had 5 jobs. I only had one, and I was still pissed about having to work growing up. I didn’t want to have responsibilities, I wanted someone else to do it for me. But because I had to do it, I learned I could do it. And when I did do it, I learned I could continue to do it. I realized that my responsibilities actually gave me confidence, independence, and purpose. I learned how to trust myself by problem solving–facing obstacles and building resilience. The kind of creativity that is born from necessity. Turns out, the freedom of creativity is exactly what my teenage rage longed for.
My creative inspiration came from some of the most cherished moments with my mom. When she was doing my hair, watching Project Runway, looking for a prom dress…and really, it was how she was with me during these moments: present, encouraging, always telling me that I was enough. When I was little, she made up silly songs we would sing about our bellies so I would learn to love mine. She always pointed out when T.V/magazines were sexist, racist, etc. so I would see how media uses systemic and strategic methods to build insecurity, and therefore divisiveness and consumerism.
She let me experiment with my cutting my hair, which taught me autonomy. She let me play with makeup, so I learned to see it as an artform rather than something I “needed.” She let me choose my own clothes as soon as I could get myself dressed, so I could discover what feels good on my body–which in turn taught me to feel good in my body. Even though I had given myself some questionable haircuts, painted on excessive eyeliner, and wore mismatched thrifted clothes, my mother’s love for me never wavered. Her love was consistent whether I had completely overplucked my eyebrows, or any other teenage mistake. She trusted me with my own body, and she just trusted me. I am sure a part of that was earned through the discipline I showed with responsibilities at home and at work. Overall, my mother taught me how to love myself beyond my appearance–she taught me how to love myself as soul. She gave me the capacity and ability to do so with others, to hold up a mirror and reflect back that glow.
So that is what I set out to do. My heart has always been in working with youth and teens because I so vividly remember the pain of this time. Maybe I wanted to be a teacher? In high school I volunteered in an elementary school as an aid to special education students. One morning, the student I worked with one-on-one had on a whole new outfit. The students wore uniforms so it stood out. Her homeroom teacher pulled me aside and said that the last few times she has had on new clothes, it had been to cover up bruises and other markings. I realized then that I wanted to work with youth outside of the classroom, supporting them and their communities where it starts–at home. So I pursued social work, but the work of youth educators was never lost on me. Youth educators literally make life possible for all of us.
My social work program was accelerated, a 3+1 they called it. I got my Bachelor’s of Social Work in three years and my Master’s of Social Work in one at Simmons College in Boston. Two years into the program, the trauma I had been witness to was so substantial. I did not know how to carry the weight. What had I done in the past to get through it? Ah yes, fashion. Having used fashion as a vehicle for creative expression, I discovered my voice. I discovered my purpose. I was able to transform what didn’t feel good on the inside to something that felt good on the outside. Not so much about the clothes themselves as who I am wearing them. If it worked for me as a struggling teenager, how could it work for me as a struggling college student? I called my mom and told her that I was going to go to the School of Style in Manhattan for the weeks I had off in the summer between semesters. She talked me out of dropping social work all together, and encouraged me to combine them. So that is exactly what I did, graduating in the accelerated program as a BSW, MSW, and Certified Fashion Stylist.
This journey has led me across the country and back as a teen therapist, where I have worked in hospitals, schools, communities, and private practices. All of which has supported me in creating my own business, GlowUp GlowTogether, which uses the universal language of fashion for social and emotional learning. GlowUp Workshops for Youth uses fashion as armor of their resilience, and fosters real conversations and connections that happen naturally and in a safe space. GlowUP hands-on workshops, give youth the tools they need to express their creative freedom, and find their voice. GlowTogether Professional Developments support youth educators in transforming, rather than transferring trauma. GlowTogether is based on the idea that effective mentors model the tools we want our kids to learn. GlowUp GlowTogether is committed to serving with equity, humility, and sincerity, to inspire generational transformations, from the outside in, and inside out. Thank you to my mother, and everyone that has made this possible.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Empathy and gratitude have allowed me to see truth with less fear. When empathy and gratitude are present, my awareness is much more expansive, more attune, and less resistant. I do a better job at holding space for others as they uncover their truths.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to learn that things happen for us, rather than to us. In my training as a social worker and therapist, we explore behavior as a form of communication. What is really being said? When we grow up, we demonstrate how we feel by creating a situation to engage the other person in our own emotion. For example, a child is throwing a fit and the adult feels powerless. The child threw the fit in the first place, because they themselves felt powerless. We are constantly mirroring each other, and we don’t stop doing this as adults. So when things happen to us, they are really happening for us–asking us to look in the mirror. Then, seeing behavior as a language for authentic self-expression can be empowering. Much like how fashion speaks without words: what parts of my story is my clothing telling? What about my style comes from present me and what about it comes from past me? Am I dressing as the person I want to be? Getting dressed then opens the door to emotional freedom.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.glowupglowtogether.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glowupglowtogether/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glowupglowtogether
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelica-maulucci-8444971a6/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnAWTUNzAG2YKjrlg7I9M1w
- Other: https://linktr.ee/glowupglowtogether
Image Credits
Photographs via GlowUp GlowTogether