Angela Hodge, Founder & CEO, is an accomplished Investor and Real Estate Agent with more than 29 years of experience serving the Houston metropolitan area and its surrounding rural communities. Raised in Giddings, Texas by her grandparents, Angela has demonstrated a lifelong dedication to service and excellence, reflected in her dual career achievements as both a Realtor and a Registered Nurse.
Her entry into real estate was facilitated by participation in a minority-focused program, which led to her initial position as a leasing agent at Republic Management, overseeing HUD properties. Since obtaining her Realtor license in 1993, Angela has earned recognition for her integrity, efficiency, and active involvement in her community.
As the Founder and CEO of Fresh Beginnings, Inc., a nonprofit organization, Angela is committed to supporting survivors of domestic violence and mental health crises, especially those over the age of 50. Fresh Beginnings provides rental assistance, utility support, and resource referrals, empowering individuals through sustainable aid. The organization also rehabilitates properties affected by trauma, furthering its mission by symbolizing hope and renewal.
Angela resides in the Houston area near her children and 14 grandchildren. In her personal time, she enjoys activities such as walking, biking, reading, and dancing, while maintaining a positive and purposeful outlook on life.
Why for Founding Fresh Beginnings, Inc
As a “Victor” “Survivor” of domestic violence and mental abuse of 23 plus years, I, Angela Hodge, founded Fresh Beginnings, Inc. to help people over 50 years of age to start afresh.
Living in survival mode while trying to maintain a productive life was nearly impossible.
In 2010, after being strangled by the one who claimed to love me, I set out to safely exit the hellhole I lived in with my two children, who also suffered in silence with me; however, I did not recognize their suffering.
To exit this volatile relationship and provide for myself, I inquired about nursing school and set out to become a Nurse, successfully completing six years of nursing school in a span of three and a half years. Reflecting on the determination and will that left me with no other option, I relentlessly completed my studies.
Fast forward to November 2018, and I was hopeful that maybe our relationship could survive the volatile storms. I attempted to open Forever Homes for Children by attending an information session to begin training through Buckner Christian Foster Care, with the goal of fostering children who needed someone to love and nurture them. During this process, I found that the person I had been married to for twenty-two years, whom I barely knew at all, yet I said nothing for the next three months. It wasn’t until I broke my silence to a beloved friend that I realized I had been holding back. Still, I remained and said nothing to the person I was yoked with as I did not desire to hear any more lies. Then it happened, the needle that broke the camel’s back.
On a Friday in July 2019, this person came home and said, “You deserve to be treated the way I treat you,” and my only response was, “You believe that, don’t you?”.
This was my sign that prayer, hope, love, or anything could not help this union. In medical
terminology, “call-it” and “it’s futile”. This relationship is DEAD beyond resuscitation.
The next morning, which was Saturday, I set out to find myself a place to stay. I started making calls, telling family members to come and get anything they wanted, without explaining anything except that I was going to get different furniture, etc.
It was during this trying time of the 2019 to 2021 years of complicated mental challenges, struggling to survive, family dynamics, etc., that I realized in 2023 when I was finally awarded my last name of Hodge. It dawned on me that if I had not been given the gift of nursing school and the profession as a Nurse, I would be homeless and hopeless. Living in survival mode for over 23 years caused me to think about others who could possibly be going through the same atrocities, yet without an education, who chose to be a homemaker, unskilled, with no work experience, no resources, filled with shame, fear, and hopelessness. How could I possibly help them with a hand-up and not a hand-out? This is how and why Fresh Beginnings, Inc. was birthed and founded.
I wanted to be able to help women over 50 as I was a 53-year-old woman who had dedicated her life to a person who was persistent in tearing me down. Love builds and does not tear down, and I wanted to get this message out to the masses and Fresh Beginnings, Inc would be the vehicle to help get that message out through fundraising efforts. To assist the population of Victors 50 years and older with, assistance with rental, attorney fees, referrals to counseling services through a vetted application process.
Also, Fresh Beginnings, Inc can partner with other local and nationwide non-profits to have an extended arm to help with a hand-up, not a hand-out. I as a public speaker can go on to help young women, young men learn what true love looks like and behaves. With the hopes of changing the narrative of love hurts, injures, harms. NO!!! Love does not do any of those things, and it’s important to impart the knowledge I have gained through my personal experience.