Meet Dr. Angela Kenzslowe | Psychologist, Speaker & Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Angela Kenzslowe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Angela, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I describe myself as a risk taker and believe it’s a high level of risk tolerance that creates entrepreneurial quests. Since being a young person, my risk tolerance was high. I was fine with failure. In the 7th grade I tried out for a competitive team and made it. I think tried out to be the captain, even though the captains prior had all been on the team for at least one year as a team member. It would not have bother me if I had failed. It would have bothered me had I not tried. I tried, and made captain. That has essentially been my career mantra. Try, be willing to fail, yet plan to succeed. If had never tried, I would not be where I am today. Today I have time freedom. Taking the risk on being an entrepreneur has never been about the accumulation of money for me, it has always been about being in control of my own time.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I have two businesses currently. Purple Heart Behavioral Health LLC is my clinical practice where we focus on treating people with PTSD, trauma and stress. What sets us apart is we have an intensive online program that focuses specifically on treating symptoms of trauma to assist people to get their functioning back. It’s a faster process than traditional therapy, so people tend to get results quicker compared to those who attend traditional once a week therapy. My initial PTSD clinical training was during my one year clinical internship with the Army at Tripler Army Medical Center. It was a highly competitive program and I was honored to train there.

I am excited, that as I been an entrepreneur for most of my sons life, he has now decided to join me at Purple Heart Behavioral Health in an administrative role. He most recently was employed with American Express and will be bringing his skillset to assist our stakeholders. Our goal is to help as many people as possible live good functioning lives where past traumatic experiences no longer negatively impact their current or future life.

Kenzslowe Consulting LLC is where I focus on my name as the brand. I have a bachelors degree in theatre, an MBA, a Masters in Psychology, and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. While these degrees may not seem to ‘go together’ to others, these skills help me to understand business not just from anecdotal experience, but from theory and formal education.

My theatre background taught me stage presence, how to project vocally and how to engage an audience. Many people think of psychologists as therapists, yet our education provides so much more. We look at systems and groups along with individuals. This allows me to work with companies and organizations to help them better understand their corporate culture and to improve it. We are behavior experts… and that is behavior of people, organizations, communities, groups, and cultures.

I’ve had the opportunity to be a featured expert in several media outlets to include Oprah Magazine and the Today Show with Hoda and Jenna. It’s been an honor to have well known national brands trust me with their audience. As I mentioned before, we have to be willing to fail, yet plan to succeed. It may sound cliché, but failure is truly to only avenue to success. An example I like to use is a baby learning to walk… how many times do they fall before they succeed? We were created to use failure to launch us to success.

This was not an easy journey. I’ve had almost two decades of my life where I was in school. In order to initially pay for school I joined the Army during Desert Shield. That was probably the biggest risk of all. I was willing to risk my life to have a chance at having a better life than when I was young. The GI BILL definitely helped launch my education and the VA loan helped my purchase my first house at 22 years old.

When I was in the Army, I became a mom. I was a single mom for most of my sons childhood. But I knew that in order to have time freedom, I needed to succeed in business. I needed the education to give me the skillset to help me be successful. So, I invested the time early on to have the freedom now.

Being a speaker, consultant and author affords me the opportunity to touch lives in multitude, something I would not be able to do if I worked solely as a clinician. Being a features expert in various media outlets allows me to share information that is helpful, needed and beneficial to our communities and neighbors. It’s truly an honor to have that level of trust.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend were to come for a week we’d have to see more of Arizona. The first day, we’d stay in Scottsdale where I currently live. We have brunch at Maple and Ash as it is an AMAZING brunch. We’d then hang out by my pool a bit and just relax. The next day we’d walk around Old Town Scottsdale. We’d have breakfast at The Breakfast Club and then walk to our hearts content as we checked out a lot of the shops. There is so much history in Old Town. I’d ensure we stop by the Scottsdale Historical Museum. For dinner we have a delicious dinner at Francos Italian Cafe.

Our next day we’d get up early, pack our backpacks with water, snacks and sandwiches. I would drive over to the main trailhead at South Mountain Park and we have a day of hiking. I typically do the National Mormon trail, but since we’d be making a day of it, I’d ensue we make it to Fat Man’s Pass as well. I love to tell folks how it’s the largest city park in the US and one of the largest in the world. We have hundreds of trails. It’s definitely an escape right within the city. Knowing we had a full day, I would plan to end our day at the pool, then a fun dinner at Culinary Drop Out in Tempe so we could play ping pong if we had the energy. The next day we’d get up early again, and head out to Sedona. We’d stop at various places to take pictures and experience Sedona. Bell Rock is a must. Many people don’t realize it’s a pretty easy hike to get on Bell Rock. We’d stop at the Church in the Rock. Then make our way toward some of the trails near the airport. Lunch would be a random restaurant in town then dessert at Black Cow Ice Cream. That’s my second favorite ice cream place in Arizona. We’d sleep over, likely at an AirBnB or other vacation rental. The next day we would have some water fun at Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon. We’d pack a lunch and water. After having some fun in the sun, we’d head up to Flagstaff for dinner at Satchmo’s. I would have reserved another Airbnb for the night. The next day we’d explore Flagstaff. There are so many fun places to find in town. Before sun set we’d get a quick hike in and then have dinner at Black Bart’s Steakhouse, Saloon and Musical Revue. We’d sleep again in the Airbnb and then super early the next morning head up to the Grand Canyon. We’d explore, eat a packed lunch and then find a local restaurant to eat. We’d sleep in a local vacation rental. I’d prefer to support the local residents. The next morning, we’d make our way back down to Scottsdale and have a casual dinner at LoLo’s then have drinks at the Second Story Liquor Bar and people watch folks walking up and down Scottsdale Road as we sit on the balcony.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mr. Robert Campbell was my band director in junior high school. Our band was GREAT. We were at the level of many of the local high schools. In order for us to go to all the the competitions we did, we had to fund raise. We sold candy bars, had car washes and bake sales. At such a young age, I thought we were just practicing and fundraising. He taught us that in order to get what we want and go where we want, we have to be disciplined and we have to create ways to make money to pay for our wants. He was truly my first mentor in entrepreneurship. I reconnected with him on social media and had an opportunity to thank him. He passed away last year and I am so grateful I was able to give him his proverbial flowers beforehand.

When Robert Kyiosaki wrote Rich Dad/Poor Dad, I devoured the book. I then bought every book he had out that I would find. His work helped to train my thinking more. His game Cash Flow has been an excellent tool for me and with teaching my son.

My son, Tynan, also was instrumental. He was my motivation. I knew that as a young mom, I had to ensure he had a financially secure life that also allowed for a solid middle class experience. His trust was monumental as I launched businesses. I knew he was watching and that was more than encouraging, it pushed me.

Website: drangelakenzslowe.com

Instagram: dr_angela_k

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drangelakenzslowe/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drangelakenzslowe

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrAngelaKenzslowe

Image Credits
London credit Anita Nagypal