La Gaceta Newspaper

Angelique Lenox

By Tiffany Razzano
Published Jan. 17, 2025

Born in the Bronx, Angelique Lenox was raised in a large family in York, Pennsylvania. As a girl, she dreamed of attending Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C., but she knew it would be difficult to find the money for it. “It just didn’t seem like it was adding up for me,” she said.
So, she eventually turned her sights on joining the military after high school graduation. “Education wasn’t cheap and I came from a big family and I knew my family wasn’t going to be able to really pay for that education,” Lenox said. “I had to look at other options and the military seemed like a great way to get that education.”
Initially, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, but the process was taking too long for her and she was eager to leave her small town. At the time she signed up, her recruiter told her it would take about a year-and-a-half years until she could leave for boot camp.
Then, one day, she happened to walk by a U.S. Marine Corps recruiter. He told her that if she wanted to leave sooner, he could make that happen for her. Lenox was sold on making the switch when the recruiter took her to see the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, a 24-person precision drill team. “I was like, ‘Sign me up,’ oh my goodness,” she said. “It was just so impressive and so regal and I just thought, ‘I need to be a part of that.’”
She left for boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina in August 1987. From there, she was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, also known as 29 Palms and eventually, Camp Pendleton in California. Among her duties were serving in communications support as a radio operator and an embarkation non-commissioned officer.
She was based in San Diego with the marines for five-and-a-half years and lived there for 15 years total.
After leaving the military, Lenox attended San Diego State University, where she studied speed communications. “I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do, I just knew that some form of communication was in my future; but I didn’t have it all figured out,” she said. “I gravitated to things that had to do with people. I liked communicating with people and I always wanted to leave people better off than when I first encountered them.”
Her time in the Marines prepared her well for entering the workforce, she said. “I got my work ethic from the Marine Corps, most definitely, because it taught me dedication. It taught me commitment. It taught me how to focus. It taught me how to dig in. It taught me mission. That work ethic from the military still serves me today.”
Lenox dreamed of being an actress, which also factored into her choosing to serve at Camp Pendleton. “San Diego is one step closer to Hollywood,” she said. She pursued entertainment after leaving the Marines, including community theater, extra work and roles in commercials. “I was even chosen to be in a well-known movie, but I was not able to do it because of some family commitments,” she said.
At the same time, she pursued her career in communications. Her father, a pipefitter, always told her, “Never do anything without a job,” she said. “Make sure you have a job. It’s all great to pursue your goals and dreams, but being a starving artist, I don’t think I could be that. Still, I never gave up on my dreams.”
She worked as a server at a restaurant and as a recruiter for a modeling agency. Lenox went on to work for a small independent news station in San Diego as a camera person on the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. news programs.
From there, moved into producing news and marketing for KGTV, the local ABC station and started her own production company.
Lenox moved to Florida in July 2001 and continued to work in TV and radio, including MOR-TV in the Tampa Bay area and WESH in the Orlando area. She decided to go back to school in 2016 and earned a master of business administration from Argosy University while working full time for WFLA as a senior multimedia account executive.
After earning her MBA, she wanted to “put it to good use” and accepted a job with Vistra Communications, a marketing and public relations firm, as senior director of business development, a role she started in January 2020.
It was through this position that she got involved with the North Tampa Bay Chamber. Lenox, a member of the executive leadership committee, is in her fifth year serving on the board and earlier this month, started her term as the first Black woman to chair the chamber, a feat she’s incredibly proud of.
“What an honor to be the first Black woman to chair the North Tampa Bay Chamber and to know that I’m opening doors, opening awareness to show that we’re all human, all part of the community and we live our core values,” she said.
During her year leading the chamber, the organization will “stay committed to our core values,” she said. “We focus on collaboration, innovation, inclusivity and integrity. Those are our core values and we want to stay true to those. They’re also important to me.”
She hopes to focus on the entrepreneurial business community by creating a mentorship program for small business owners and start-up companies.
She also wants to get more nonprofit organizations involved with the chamber. Lenox feels that for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations can better support each other and form mutually beneficial relationships.
This interest in area nonprofits led her to discover Tampa Family Health Centers, which serves “the uninsured, the underinsured and the underserved,” she said. She joined the organization’s team as vice president of marketing and new business development in December 2023.
The Tampa Family Health Centers work closely with local businesses, particularly in fields where many workers are uninsured, such as the hospitality industry. “So we support business communities by collaborating with them and educating them about our services,” Lenox said. “A lot of people don’t have insurance. They can come to us as a community health center and receive everything from family practice, senior care, dental services, pediatric care, women’s care. We do it all.”
She added, “We’re federally funded and we don’t turn anyone away.”
Community engagement is also key to her role with the nonprofit. “We try to get out there and let people know about our services, and see how we can collaborate and partner with (other businesses and organizations,)” she said.
The Tampa Family Health Centers has seen continued growth in the community since forming in the early 1980. The health care organization opened its first infusion center at the end of last year. “We’re always looking for how we can better serve the community,” she said.
Lenox is also involved with the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, serving as the first vice president for the Tampa Bay chapter.
She loves being so involved in the community and is proud of her adopted home. “Officially, I’m a Floridian. It’s the longest place I’ve lived now,” she said, adding, “Tampa Bay is home to me.”