When you hear the words “Wellness Influencer” - who do you picture?

As a music publishing executive for 20 years, Angelique Miles signed some of the most well-known names of the 90s - do the names Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Busta Rhymes ring a bell? In a high profile industry known for its excess, money wasn’t an issue. As the industry evolved, Angelique’s career came to an abrupt end in her early 40s. “You acquire things when you're doing well, like a house and car and things like that. My life no longer provided finances for that, so I was very depressed."

"I can't say I lost everything, but I lost a lot.”

Around the same time, Angelique began to notice shifts in her body. "Over a certain age, my body just decided - ‘Yeah, we want to be bigger now.’ I told my mom, I was like, ‘Yeah, mama, I'm starting to pick up weight, I've never been over 145 pounds in my life, but I'm really happy.” And she told me - ‘That's how it starts.’ Sure enough, I went to the doctor a few months later and I was 20 pounds heavier."

"It didn't happen to me slowly. It happened to me all of a sudden."

With her life hurtling towards what felt like rock bottom, Angelique chose to take control of just one thing - her fitness. “It gave me a purpose. I felt like, even though I feel down and out, I'm not gonna look down and out. I even took it to the point where I worked part-time at a barre studio so I could take barre classes.”

"Back then, my life just felt so out of control. It was the one thing I could control - my body and being fit."

Ten years later, she has managed to turn her passion into a new career and inspires thousands of people to live their best life at 50+. With confidence shining through in everything she does, Angelique is proof that there is no age limit on pursuing your goals and dreams. I hope you enjoy our conversation about reinvention and feeling your best, no matter what your age is.

Hi Angelique! After hearing your story, it sounds like by choosing to focus on your fitness at a point when you were feeling very low, your whole life transformed. Can you tell me about how that happened?

“Back then, I started doing CrossFit. I was weight lifting and running and doing all of these things I'd never done before. Because the workouts were so difficult, I was like, ‘Someone needs to know I just did this.’ That introduced me to the whole fitness community.”

“I started sharing it because I was so proud of myself for accomplishing the workouts that I did, and before long it started resonating with people, especially people my age. They were like, ‘You know what? My body's changing. I'm in my forties as well and I need to get in the gym too. You really inspire me and motivate me to get into the gym.’”

“That's how this all started. In addition to that, with the loss of my career I felt like I'd hit rock bottom. So I just said to myself, ‘You're already at rock bottom, so you might as well do what you want to do and start from there.’ And here we are today - I am making a living doing something that I love so much that it doesn't feel like work.”

"I am making a living doing something that I love so much that it doesn't feel like work."

So you’ve completely reinvented yourself, all after the age of 45. There is a stigma that as you get older, paths close. How do you feel about the perception around aging?

“It’s very silly. I'm of the belief that you can do whatever you want to do no matter what age you are. I am in the social media / digital world at my age and my peers are mostly much younger than me, in their 20s and 30s. I didn't even think about my age when I embarked upon this whole journey. I just thought - I'm going to do it. And I think more people should feel that way. Not feel like, 'Oh, I'm 50 something so I'm not supposed to do this.' There is no age limit on pursuing your dreams and your goals."

"Growing older is a blessing that everyone gets to live another day. There's a commercial, I think it's a hospital commercial and the lady says, ‘The alternative to growing older is your dead!’ So when you think of it in those terms, it's a blessing to wake up every day.”

"There is no age limit on pursuing your dreams and your goals."

And what do you think some of the biggest misconceptions around aging are?

“People think at 50 you stop having sex, which is of course not true. They think that you're supposed to be kind of out of shape. Granted my body has changed, but it doesn't mean that I can't be my best self wherever I am. I just want to be the best 53 I can be. And I think people give up, say ‘I'm never going to look like I did when I was 35’. That's not the goal. The goal is just to be the best where you are.”

"The goal is just to be the best where you are."

What does that mean to you? What is the best thing about where you are in life?

“The great thing about being my age is that I know myself, and there's power in self-awareness. I don't make any excuses, I don't care what people think (within reason of course). It's such a liberating feeling. It's not how I've always felt, especially when I was going through a tough time. It's something that I had to build and reaching rock bottom helped build it, because going through things and losing things, you find out who your real friends are and you really find out who you are.”

“So even though it was terrible what I went through, it was necessary for me to be where I am now. Necessary for me to feel the way I feel about myself.”

"I know myself, and there's power in self-awareness."

As you’ve gotten older, how has your understanding of health and wellness developed?

“I definitely eat differently and work out more than I ever did because I understand that nutrition and staying active are a big part of health. I have psoriasis, so that plays a factor in my health too. That's what's great about the product, turmeric is a big part of my diet because it helps with inflammation.”

“There are things that afflict women my age, like heart disease and hypertension, especially African American women. I want to head those things off at the pass - I don't have those issues and I don't want to. I was recently at an event and someone said ‘The new midlife crisis is wellness.’ Instead of going out and buying a new car, people are hitting the gym and just finding ways to feel better.”

“You have to take care of yourself. Fitness is a fountain of youth. You take care of your skin, your hair and your body, and you'll feel great.”

In terms of finding ways to feel better, are there any specific daily rituals that set you up for success?

“The first thing I think about, the first thing I do when I get up is I put on my activewear and I go work out. It became a habit back when I was feeling lost. I don't even think about it anymore.”

“I also have a Bible app, so I go into the scripture of the day and there's a daily devotional that I read. And then I go into my affirmations. I've started to focus on my desires, I picture them in my head, and then I say to myself, ‘I expect great news within the next 24 hours’, which is something I learned from a friend. That, and gratitude. Anytime I start feeling like I wish I had that something else, I make it a point to be grateful for where I am and what I have, and that attracts abundance.”

I love that! Final question - What are you excited for in the future?

“I'm excited because I don't know what it's going to be yet. Some people have these five year plans. I could never have planned what I'm doing now because it didn't exist when I first left the music industry. What's to come probably doesn't even exist yet, but if this is any indication, I'm excited for it, whatever it is.”

Follow Angelique on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angeliquemiles/