Her Story
About Angelique
I've been in nursing since 2009 and the education industry since 2018, and I truly love doing both. Nursing has always had an education component, as you're constantly teaching your patients, and that's what drew me to pursue higher education and leadership roles. I started as a phlebotomist when I came to the United States, then became a medical assistant, then went to LPN school and passed my NCLEX the first time. After 10 years as a nurse, I wanted to go higher and move into administration, so I completed my bachelor's degree in health administration. That's when I crossed over to the education industry and became a program director for medical assisting, which is when I started teaching and discovered I love it so much. I grew that program for 4 years before being promoted to campus director and director of education. I completed my master's degree in health administration while serving as program director, and when I became campus director, I even took some credits toward a doctoral program in education. Currently, I'm the campus director at Eastern International College, running campus operations with several departments under me. On weekends, I still do floor nursing with 15 patients because I love doing wound care, IVs, and giving medications to my patients. I just love both the nursing and leadership parts of my career. My approach is about maximizing my talent and making sure I'm doing what I plan to do. When I plan something or want to do something, I make sure I work on it, obtain it, and achieve it. That's just how I do things.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Angelique
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say, deeper in my heart, I think it's for my mom. My mom was the one who never held back, even if she knew she was hurting my feelings. I think people need that, you know, someone to call out our weaknesses so we can wake up. She never stopped teaching me. She was like 24-7, always creating teaching moments. She taught me how to shake a hand, how to give a firm handshake whether with a female or male, to not slouch, to always stand straight up high, to always look into people's eyes, to not lie, to always respect myself and respect others. She taught me how to walk with heels, how to carry myself. Every time that I reach a milestone, it's always my mom, because I know she wanted this for me. If she could see who I am right now, she would be very proud of me.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Identify your strengths and your weaknesses and your talents. Number one, if you know your strength, you can showcase it, and that way you cannot take any leftovers from other people. Number two, if you know your weakness, you can develop it into your strengths. Number three, you've got to identify your talents, because you should be chasing your talents, not your dreams.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Number one is respect to self. When you respect yourself, you build your discipline, you get to build your boundaries, what you can accept and cannot accept. I learned this because I discovered that I used to please people. It's like I lived for other people. I just realized that in this life, it's only me who's walking in my path. There are some strategies and ways to say no, and you can only control yourself. You cannot control any external factors except yourself. If you're going to keep on minding everybody's opinion or if you're going to keep on thinking for everybody, then you won't be able to really control yourself. Controlling yourself and controlling your emotions is the only way that you can control your outcome.
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