Mrs. Wesley Chapel Angela Omoike Named Mrs. Florida American!

By GARY NAGER

Congratulations to Mrs. Wesley Chapel Angela Omoike, who will next compete to succeed 2022 Mrs. American winner Trenette Norris (who was Mrs. New Jersey American) for the title of Mrs. American 2023 (at the Westgate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on August 25), after Angela was crowned Mrs. Florida American 2023 on March 5, at the Westgate Hotel in Orlando.

Mrs. Florida American is a “sister” pageant to the Mrs. America pageant, and the winner each year advances to compete for the title of Mrs. World.

“As women, I believe we can do anything,” Angela says. “My goal is to get more women involved in philanthropy.”

She notes that although there were only 10 married women competing for the title of Mrs. Florida American this year, it was still an honor to compete for, and win, the title. She adds that there will be representatives from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, at the Mrs. American 2023 pageant this summer.

“We were all working moms, people anyone can relate to,” Angela says proudly of the Mrs. Florida event. “We all have our own ‘stressers’ we have had to deal with.”

Angela says that she’s been through a lot in her adult life, including becoming a Registered Nurse in 2011, going through a divorce and becoming a single mom in 2016 (when she moved to Florida) and suffering a hip injury (due to being born with an extra bone in her femur that caused impingement in her hip joint) that got so bad she couldn’t walk or do anything for herself, shortly after she married anesthesiologist Dr. Ehijele Omoike in 2019. It wasn’t until she had surgery in 2020 that she finally was able to take steps on her own again.

“Then, I went vegan in 2021 and lost 30 pounds,” she says. “It was hard for me not being able to walk after always being an athlete when I was younger, and I knew I needed to change.”

In fact, she was a sprinter and high hurdler on her high school track team in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, where she also played varsity volleyball and was a cheerleader.

“But, after high school, I also went through a time when I needed help to provide food for my kids (her son Riddyk is now 18 and her daughter Emma is 15).”

Today, Angela is a Registered Nurse and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Nursing who says she always has been a philanthropist, even when she had only her time to give.

“Volunteering is in my blood,” she says, recalling her childhood in Ohio, where she grew up in a family of nurses. “I also grew up in church, including serving in children’s ministries, volunteering at food pantries and going on mission trips to places like Mexico and El Salvador.”

She adds that the spirit of giving is something she has always tried to instill in her children. “Even when I was struggling (financially) myself, I still needed my children to understand the joy of giving.”

These days, she says she is working at her “dream job” as a vascular surgery nurse, after working as a hospice nurse and health care advocate in Ohio. She also serves under the “Inspiring Hope” mission in Pasco County of Metropolitan Ministries — a Tampa-based volunteerand donor-fueled nonprofit for the homeless and those who are at risk.

“I have such a passion for helping those in need through education and fund raising,” she says. For example, she says, “Thanks to its Inspiring Hope mission, Metropolitan Ministries (MM) made sure that 57 children in MM facilities in the Tampa Bay area, including here in Pasco County, received Easter baskets.”

Angela also is an Ambassador for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation, which focuses on drug abuse issues, as founders David and Jackie Siegel lost their daughter Victoria in 2015 to an opioid overdose in Orlando.

“If (those emergency workers) had Narcan (Naloxone) on hand,” Angela says, “Victoria might still be alive today. The Siegels started getting Narcan into the hands of emergency workers across the country and have helped save a lot of lives.” The Foundation also advocates to influence drug policy changes at national, state and local levels.

Angela believes that becoming Mrs. Florida American will give her a greater platform to inspire hope and faith, educate and support others, especially those who have been affected by substance abuse.

“I currently am setting up times to provide anti-drug campaigns in local schools on behalf of Victoria’s Voice,” she says. “I also randomly drug test my own kids — Riddyk, Emma and even Ehijele’s

12-year-old son (her stepson) Izehi. “This way, our kids can tell anyone who tries to get them to do drugs that they can’t, ‘because my mom drug tests me.’”

She encourages all women to reach for their goals no matter what obstacles they are facing. She believes it’s her heart that sets her apart as she leads with love in all aspects of her life.

“To me,” she says, “it’s not about how much you give, it’s about how much love you put into it.”