Before doing this interview, I had never met Angela Harris. I had seen her on social media, and I had briefly heard about Work of Heart. Despite not knowing her, I had a gut feeling she was a very influential person. She is one among many Women of Moncton who are making a difference and inspiring others every day.

Without further ado, let’s get to know Angela!

Tell me about yourself.

My name is Angela Harris. I am a mom and a wife. I am an entrepreneur. I would say I am a community builder and relationship connecter. I’ve been in Moncton on and off for the last 30 years. I was a military brat so I moved around my whole life until 11 years ago. This is the longest I’ve ever lived in one city. 

What is Work of Heart? 

Work of Heart is a movement that I started to help people take better care of themselves. It’s evolved into this community of people who build each other up. Work of Heart organizes events, specifically focused on health and wellness, as well as personal growth. 

We offer different types of events. The first big event was essentially a personal growth retreat/conference. It was a full day event that has turned into an annual event. For these events, speakers come in and share their stories. They come in various shapes and sizes, from clutter coaches, to life coaches, to videographers. There’s no specific theme, but all speakers have different messages. Each person that attends will take away something different from every speaker. It depends who they connect with the most. 

I engage with my community every day so that I can get a sense of what people are struggling with and what their looking for, and then I translate that into my events. I’ve always had a passion for events. It’s important to know what guests will take away from the day, what they’ll feel from this. It’s all about positivity. 

We also do workshops. I do speaking and training. More specific topics/specific themes. Confidence. Ignite your inner badass. Time mastery. This past year, I worked on a documentary called Heal. It was a Work of Heart event. I had three showings. It’s about the importance of taking care of ourselves. Available on itunes. 

How did you get started with Work of Heart?

Work of Heart started in November 2016. 

I’ve gone through health and career challenges in past 3-4 years. I embarked on a journey to take better care of myself, and what I wanted to do with different aspects in my life. Health scare from 2015 led me to this. I had to take control of things. I started doing work every day – yoga, stress workshops, meditation, eating better, naturopath… Diving into the personal growth side of my life. I got really focused on it and made a decision that I wanted to be better. If I want to be happy, I need to take charge of this.

I left a corporate job two years ago and decided I had enough. I was travelling too much with two little kids at home. Managing everything was too much. I wasn’t prioritizing myself.

I told myself, “If I have cancer, I’ll leave my job.” So the only to make changes is if I get really sick? How sad is that? We’re constantly encouraged to keep going up the corporate ladder and I didn’t realize that what I had created in my life wasn’t making me happy. It wasn’t my company, but myself that was putting that pressure of me. 

I hadn’t taken vacation in 15 years. The health scare forced me to take time off work. 

Two years ago, I had organzied an event at the casino. Later that day, I was sitting at Mastermind set and they were asking what are you dreaming of doing? I kept wondering why certain events didn’t exist in Moncton, and I realized I was meant to be the person who makes that happen.

We keep making starting something complicated. But you can start by just talking to somebody, writing it down, doing some research. 

How has your business grown from when you first started? 

It started off as an idea to have a one-day event. My background is in sales and marketing. My intention was just to help people. I was posting on Facebook to try to encourage people to attend. By doing so, I started created this online community that I could never has expected. I always share positive content. I created this medium to share content with people. After the first Work of Heart, I had all these people connecting with me, sharing stories about how the event changed their life. It can be a tipping point for people. I would have people stop me and tell me that whatever I shared, it really resonated with them, that they needed to hear that today. So I’ve been posting every day for 2 years in January. It’s just grown and evolved into this community of people. I can use my stories and my voice to help other people. 

What do you love most about Moncton? 

I love the community here in Moncton. I love the energy and the support that people give to each other. Physical objects or just emotional connections. Moncton is such an amazing community to be connected in and to be a part of. I see the possibilities here. My children are surrounded by amazing people. Positive community. 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your life? 

People might expect me to say time and energy. But that’s something I can control, so I wouldn’t say that. I would say that my biggest challenge has been accepting myself for who I am, just the way I am. I’ve also had a hard time embracing my uniqueness, and realizing that being different is actually a gift.

Who inspires you? 

I’m most inspired by my family and friends. The people that I’m surrounded by and seeing every day. Seeing how people get through things, overcome obstacles (real or imagined) is a real source of inspiration. I follow a lot of people online, but i don’t know them, I don’t feel connected to them. So it’s really watching people that I know, follow that dreams. Even small things like having the courage to start doing public speaking, or someone that’s really unhappy about their job and then making that change. 

What advice would you give to other women? 

Do you. Be yourself. Looking back on my life and the decisions I’ve made, I was always trying to figure things out. I was always trying to figure out why I was different. I would beat up for being different, but I didn’t want to be like everyone else. I wasn’t accepting myself as I was and realizing how amazing it is to be different. And so the sooner that people recognize that being themselves or unique, accepting who you are and what you are, the more you can accomplish/the more you can find happiness. 

How can people get in touch with you? 

Facebook & Instagram. I also have a website where I post events. I have an e-mail list that people can subscribe to.