Born in St.
Petersburg, Florida, she grew up in a nurturing
environment with music and ministry the family
focus. Though her parents were both blind, they
had a determination for independence and success
that was passed on to their only surviving child.
The family migrated to Philadelphia, PA in hopes of
better opportunities economically. Angela graduated
from Germantown High School and Peirce College and
developed her vocal talent as a voice major at
Settlement Music School. She attended Manna Bible
Institute and Eastern Baptist Seminary School of
Christian Ministry and is ordained as a Missionary
Baptist minister and Adventist local elder. She now
serves as an associate minister at Sharon Baptist
Church, Bishop/Dr. Keith Reid, Pastor, in
Philadelphia. She has three children and six
grandchildren.
She worked
for the FBI, Crime Commission and Weight Watchers
before settling into a career as an office manager
for the PA College of Optometry. In her l0th year
at the college, she was suddenly stricken with
meningitis with two accompanying strokes and
remained in a coma for several weeks. Upon
awakening, she found she was unable to hear, walk or
speak clearly with memory loss and bells syndrome
facial disfiguration. Through the long
rehabilitation journey to recovery, she became
involved with the independent living movement of
people with disabilities and serves on the state
governor’s council for independent living. She
travels, interacting with disability rights groups
cross country focusing on freedom of religion for
all people. In 2006, she was awarded a scholarship
and became the first deaf fellow in the National
Afro-American Women’s Leadership Institute which has
led to the development of “A Widow’s Mite”, a
community service project to assist recovering
patients, an idea conceived in her autobiography
“Uphill Journey”. Her non-profit corporation,
Interfaith Specialty Services, Inc. was also
conceived in the book and brings to reality REC
(religion, education, culture) by nurturing and
elevating the self-esteem of people, often gifted,
but overlooked by society because of their mental,
sensory or physical challenges.
As an
advocate for disability rights, she has found her
place of contentment as a deaf preacher/teacher and
consultant, conducting revivals, retreats,
sensitivity workshops and seminars, sometimes even
singing a new tune that she cannot hear, but can
convey the meaning of from the heart. She has been
awarded the “deaf”inately Outstanding Award in Los
Angeles, CA and has developed, in memory of her
parents, the “Enabler Award,” which is given to
honor overcomers with challenges who give service to
others. Her latest vision is one of P.E.A.C.E.
(Physically Enabled And Cognitively Empowered),
which is a para-church attachment to places of
worship for the nurturing of those with special
needs.
