Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Lomenzo
Hi Angela, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The origin of my story to becoming an author begins with the wildly creative family that raised me. I was surrounded by artists, musicians, designers, and even an Academy Award-winning grandfather. I am an LA native who was born in Burbank and raised in Toluca Lake. Where I am today has everything to do with the unbounded creative freedom my parents allowed me to explore as a child.
For as long as I can remember writing, art, and photography have been my outlet for self-expression, and over the years I have had various careers that utilized one or more of them. The summer before my senior year in high school, I took a program at Otis-Parsons Art Institute in photography, and I was hooked! I started to create photographs of people using makeup and set design, as well as shooting live bands. I loved creating art on the human canvas, so I went to makeup school and got a degree in film and theater makeup. As a makeup artist, I worked in television, music videos, and print, but my favorite arena was working with photographers as a makeup artist and creative director.
In 1993 I married my partner in everything, James LoMenzo, who is not only a professional musician (currently the bass player in the band Megadeth), but an accomplished photographer/videographer as well. We have a beautiful and brilliantly talented daughter, Zoe Rose, who is an artist and musician. James and I have merged our talents over the years in various projects, and in 2012 we started the video/music production company, Monster House Productions, now Magic Monarch Productions. When I decided to write this book, we realized it was the perfect passion project for the two us to work on together. Collaborating with James as the photographer for the book added yet another layer of magic to it.
I feel like everything I’ve done throughout this life journey has uniquely prepared me for the career I’m in today where I’m able to combine multiple passions at once. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to become a published author, but it didn’t happen until I was in my fifties. It wasn’t until then that I was able to silence the voice of my inner critic and have the confidence to truly believe in myself and my potential.
What prompted my renewed outlook and empowered state of mind? It came after a series of life-altering events in my late forties left me in a dark, empty, and lonely place. It was in that darkness I was able to see my light, thanks to the love, support, and strength of other women who had battled these same types of situations and emotions. Sharing our stories showed me how connected we are in the human experience, and that we are never alone in our pain. This powerful female energy reignited my creative fire and showed me that anything is possible. I felt like a Phoenix rising from the ashes —burning away the insecurities, self-doubt, and fear I had been carrying with me since my youth. I wanted to channel this feeling to women everywhere! That’s when it all became clear, and my book Wisdom of Wildly Creative Women: Real Stories of Inspirational, Artistic, and Empowered Women was born.
In the book I share the wild and wondrous journeys of twenty-five extraordinary, deeply creative, and diverse women in a multitude of careers: artists, authors, actors, designers, and entrepreneurs. Their chapters discuss issues we have all faced like depression, bullying, infertility, cancer, assault, grief, and many other topics women don’t often have a safe space to talk about. I wanted women to pick up this book and find themselves somewhere, if not everywhere. We all have the strength and resilience to conquer anything, and most of all, to live the life we have always desired.
Empowering women through the wisdom and experiences of other women has been such an honor and a calling I will follow until my last breath. This quote by Buddha says it perfectly, “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it,” and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely wasn’t smooth at all! The entire process took seven years from concept to completion. I had two agents before getting my current agent, and I had two publishing deals before finding the book’s forever home at Mango Publishing.
Every project has its challenges, but when you are fueled by passion, they just become a part of the journey. They’re the bumps in the road necessary to bring you where you need to go and without them the end result wouldn’t be as spectacular! When we take a road trip, we don’t question the detours or changes in terrain encountered along the way. The excitement to get to our destination enables us to accept whatever lies ahead. That’s exactly what I had to do to see this book become a reality: put my blinders on and forge ahead no matter what twists or turns were thrust upon me. There were many times people tried to convince me it might be time to give up, but there was no way I wasn’t going to share these phenomenal women’s stories with the world!
My best advice from what I’ve learned through this experience is to trust in the journey. When I look back to all the incredible things that came out of these perceived setbacks, I am extremely grateful for them. If either one of my first two agents had worked out, I would never have found my current agent, and soul sister, Tina Wainscott, with The Seymour Agency. It was the same situation with the publishing deals. If I had followed through with either one of the other two, I wouldn’t have signed with my dream publisher Mango Publishing. At the time, every one of these detours felt devastating, but in the end, they brought me the greatest gifts.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What I specialize in as an author are the subjects that excite me personally. I firmly believe that whatever drives us in our daily lives, what makes our hearts sing, is ultimately reflected in our work. What makes me jump out of bed in the morning is the desire to learn and grow, to seek peace and joy, and to share the wisdom I discover along the way. I am deeply motivated to help people see their beauty, brilliance, and vast potential. As someone who has broken free from the shackles of insecurity and self-doubt after living most of her life in them, I feel I’m uniquely qualified to help others to as well. What’s the point of being here if not to be there for each other? As women we are especially subjected to a narrative that promotes insecurity in every aspect of our lives from the time we are young girls. Social media has only added more fuel to the constant fire threatening our self-esteem and confidence.
One of the most liberating things about getting to be my age is the clarity of how unimportant the things that took up so much of my brain space in the past were. Letting go of all the mindless minutia lets you focus on what really matters to you—not what your family, friends, or society dictates you should want or be. Self-love is the most powerful foundation to build your life on. A bad relationship with yourself keeps you from having authentically good relationships with others. The ability to love, appreciate, and respect oneself, enables us to do the same with the people in our lives. Looking at the things that make us unique as our superpowers enables us to become the superheroes we were always meant to be.
I have received so many messages and emails from readers who said the women’s stories in my book inspired and empowered them to go after their dreams. Knowing that in some little way, I have helped open women’s eyes to how absolutely phenomenal they are, just as they are, my heart is full. This is what I’m most proud of regarding my work and what motivates me to continue writing stories that expose the warrior within us all.
How do you think about luck?
I prefer to look at good luck, or bad luck, in a less literal way. Emerson called luck “The tenacity of purpose,” and the Dalai Lama XIV said, “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” I can look at every difficulty in my career and see a purpose and direction that resulted from it that led me where I needed to go—even if it wasn’t clear at the time. Alternatively, I can look at the lucky breaks I’ve had and see where tenacity, intuition, and positive energy, attracted it. These beliefs are what give me hope and strength when I’m in the not so lucky periods, and joy and gratitude for the lucky ones. I do believe positivity begets positivity and draws in magical energy from all spiritual realms.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.angelalomenzo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglomenzo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089565554540&mibextid=JRoKGi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChMQc2xn9HBnTYK8fJR6dBw
Image Credits
James LoMenzo, Angela LoMenzo, Gene Kirkland, Marco Gallico
