Angelique Niare Helps Moms Reinvent Themselves

WOMEN IN POWER–EDUCATION

Show me an accomplished woman and I will show you a woman who has a testimony. At FWM we highlight women who are formidable. They have overcome the odds to be great and they are now using what they have learned to inspire and help other accomplished women. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mom Strategist, Angelique Niare. Her story is truly inspiring.

FWM: Introduce yourself and your business.  

I am Angelique M. Niare and I am a mom strategist and transition mentor. I empower moms to reinvent themselves throughout motherhood and teach them strategies to build confidence in themselves and their parenting abilities. My most important role is being a mother to my three daughters. I am also an author, educator, motivational speaker and advocate for homeless women and children. I published my first book, “The Mommy Manners Handbook: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Well-Behaved Mom” in 2018. It actually celebrates its one year anniversary in print version this month! Whoop whoop!! 

My practical mommy manual offers 15 effective motherhood tips, which I coined “Mommy Manners”. These manners encourage mothers to development stronger relationships with their children, teaches the importance of developing a “Mom Tribe” or village to help raise their children, and offers stress management tips, personal development strategies and tips on creating a balanced life. It also includes affirmations and recommendations to achieve each “manner” and a journal for moms to reflect. The journal is comprised of two sections, one to celebrate “Mommy Wins, those days we know we were a great mom that day.

The second section is for “Mommy Growing Points”, for those days that we are not on our best behavior with our children and just need to dump it. I use it as a resource when I host teen-mom and parenting workshops. My personal mission is to teach mothers how to navigate motherhood confidently and strategically to eliminate stress and create balance along their parenting journey. I want all moms to fearlessly and intentionally heal themselves so that they can become the best version of themselves. In my classes we focus heavily on self-awareness, self-advocacy, and self-care. 

A lot of women are living through traumatic experiences that they never recovered from as children or even in adulthood. One of the activities that we do in class include writing letters to their mothers sharing their deepest hurts, joys or things they wished they could have learned from her. In one class, a mom asked me if she could address her letter to her children’s father instead of her mother because the majority of her pain stemmed from that relationship. Each class focuses on different critical areas of a mother’s life. We discuss stress management, soft-skills, life planning strategies, budgeting tips, effective communication, healthy life choices, self-care and personal development.  

FWM: Why did you start “REINVENTED MOMS”? 

REINVENTED MOMS is a mom support group that is comprised of women from all walks of life, married or single who are ready to grow in their lives and reinvent themselves. It is a community of moms who need support along their motherhood journey and I thought who better to travel with, than women who have a lot in common with you? The support group also serves as a means for moms to create their village. The women that I work the closest with are those who are in transition and don’t know what their next step in life should be. It started because I hosted a “Mommy Movie Meet-up” at the AMC and mothers exchanged information and shared how they wanted to experience growth in parenting, their self-care, their career or experiences for their children. I created the closed Facebook group so that we could have a centralized location to chat. 

I promote the importance of reinventing ourselves because we teach our children to reach for success by them seeing us reaching for our goals. An example of that is, I wrote my book last year and this school year, one of my twins became a published author. Her second grade teacher had each student write a story, she compiled them all and published their work. She got each student a shirt made with their names on the back and in the back of the book, it read “Author’s Names” with each student’s name on it. Had my daughter not seen me successfully write a book, maybe she would not have had much interest in participating. I fully supported her and I encourage all of my girls to write.  

FWM: Describe your journey to success.  

It started four years ago when I chose to move my three daughters and myself into a homeless shelter in Atlanta, GA. From February 2015-July 2015, we were homeless; well, longer than that, if you count the months we stayed with other people. In February 2015, I moved us into the women and children’s transitional facility and I went on a journey of self-discovery. Through frustration, humbling myself and learning to ask for help, we made it through. I went on countless interviews looking for work and wen my six months was up, I became frantic.

I heard the holy spirit say, “Ask for Help” and I put a post up on Facebook, telling all of my Fb friends that we had been living in a shelter and that I needed help finding a job. Many leads were posted and sent to me but one stuck out the most. One of my high school math teachers posted that she had a job in Special Education and it was mine if I wanted it. I applied and after months of going through the hiring process, I was offered the position.

I started out as a Paraprofessional then moved into another position in Special Education while I studied for my certification exams. Going into my third year with the school, I was offered a salaried, full-time position as a Social Studies teacher. Now, in my fourth year at the same school, I will be beginning my Masters in Teaching degree and will be fully certified in May 2020.  

While living in the shelter, I walked into the restroom and heard a Mom speaking harshly to her child and I immediately wondered how do I speak to my children when I am stressed out and frustrated. I told myself that my “mommy manners” suck and that is how I came up with the title of my book. Now I want ALL moms to mind their manners with their children and be on their best behavior towards them. 

Three years after moving out of the shelter, in August 2018, I began hosting a parenting workshop in the shelter every other Tuesday. I taught 27 women for 5 months. Then in January 2019, my classes were split in half so that the shelter could offer more resources and classes during the same time. Prior to being homeless, I worked with the homeless population in Atlanta with one of the local sheriff office’s chaplain department. Naturally, when I found myself in the same situation, I stopped participating. Now, I go back to the shelter for a few reasons.

First, because when we lived there, there weren’t many people who came in and looked like us. No one ever came back that had successfully “made it” out of homelessness and there were very few black people that came to help. Sometimes I am filled with more joy from one class with them than I am from an entire week at work. One mom that faithfully attended every parenting class I taught, has now moved out of the shelter and has found a home for her and her children. That is why I go back. That is what success looks like to me. 

Success for me is every time I achieve a goal I set for myself. Success was when I moved my family into a facility that said it could help us get back on our feet. Success was when I didn’t give up on passing my certification exams for my job when I didn’t pass one. Success for me is going back to the shelter every other Tuesday to share what God has done for my family and be the example that He can do it for them too. My prayer is that anyone who hears our story is inspired to not give up and to find the resources they need to take care of themselves.  

FWM: What is your super power? 

My superpower is helping moms find their strength, passion and purpose and teaching them how to fearlessly become the person God called them to be.  

Read more of this interview in the April 2019 print edition of FWM here.