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Angela Klopf, President/CEO, Habitat for Humanity of Bay County Florida
How long have you lived in Bay County? I moved from Upstate NY to Bay County in June of 2018. It was just 4 months prior to Hurricane Michael. I never want to experience that again, but I truly feel that there’s a reason I was placed here at that time. I had prior disaster experience and lot of grant experience. That allowed me to play an important role in acquiring grant funds for non-profit agencies to respond to the most pressing needs of the community. It also allowed me to develop some pretty close bonds with others as we all struggled together with recovery.
If you could acquire one skill or hobby instantly, what would it be? I’d love to be able to memorize and retain everything. I enjoy learning and there’s so much more to learn about how to do things, different cultures and languages, history, and life in general. I wish I could just easily absorb the knowledge of others and have more experiences. Education and experiences bring so much into our lives.
What is your current career &/or what brought you to this profession? President / CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Bay County, FL. I’ve always worked in the non-profit field. As a former foster child, I know first-hand what an impact we can all make in someone else’s life. I had foster parents, youth programs, teachers, and others that supported, encouraged and impacted the trajectory of my life. I love being able to engage the community and give them opportunities to strengthen individuals, families, and our overall community.
What’s something everyone should know about our community? It’s a beautiful community. Too often people don’t take the time to enjoy the great natural beauty and activities we have here. We have the beautiful beaches, awesome springs, great hiking and biking trails, excellent food, and so much more. I have loved exploring all Bay County has to offer. If you take the time to get out, it doesn’t disappoint!
What’s one project you’ve been a part of that people might not know about? I’m a Lynn Haven Rotarian. Life has a way of changing things, so I don’t get to make meetings like I use to. However, I try to stay involved because I strongly believe in their motto of “Service Above Self”. Plus, it’s made up of a bunch of great community members. I work with the community every day, but I still enjoy being a part of Rotary Service Projects in the community. It gives me another way to give back while working alongside like-minded individuals.
What’s a wild idea you have for a future community project? It’s a work in progress right now! There was this crazy idea to not just build Habitat homes, but to build an entire Habitat Village from the ground up. I like a good challenge, so we have started a subdivision where we will build 15 single family homes, community, and hope. The infrastructure will soon be competed and then the real work needs to start. There’s a lot of truth in the quote “It Takes a Village”. It will take the community investing in not just bricks and mortar, but in families, future, and the fabric of our community. We need time, talent, and treasure to pull this off. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity for anyone and everyone to be a part of transforming the lives of these 15 families for generations to come.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? To “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. Some call it the Golden Rule. Isn’t it a great guideline and way to live your life. It creates a better world when we are considerate and caring with all our interactions with others. Kindness doesn’t cost anything and what you give out you will always come back. I think it’s a powerful principle that we all need to demonstrate in order to have a more compassionate world.
What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled and why? Cape Town in South Africa! The natural beauty is indescribable. It transitions into different landscapes. You can be standing on a beautiful beach, climbing a steep mountain, or under a colorful canopy of trees and unique flowers. There’s so much interesting history and culture that I wished I had more time to stay. There’s a lot of great historical sites and stories. I booked daily activities on TripAdvisor and each tour guide was full of knowledge and went out of their way to make sure you had a great experience.
What’s something about you that might surprise people? My best friends are two guys named Ludo and Gino. My world kind of revolves around my dogs. They might be a little spoiled, but they deserve it. They don’t ask for much but get over the top excited when they get to go to work with me, ride to the store, walk to the park, or chill on the couch. I’m pretty sure I stay single because I couldn’t be anymore loved.
What’s your go-to source of inspiration when you need a boost? YouTube! If I need a breather, I can always find great content on YouTube. Sometimes it might be just funny videos or pranks to lift my spirits. Other times it might be podcasts by people like Mel Robbins or the Tim Ferriss Show.
If you had to describe our community in three words (or one quote), what would they/it be? Resilient, Social, and Active
What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet? Go scuba diving. I need to find someone that’s patient enough to slowly get me use to the mask. Then get me use to the boat going further out than I’ve been. Then get me use to being in the open water where anything can come swimming up to me. I admit it’s highly unlikely I will ever actually scuba dive, but I’m keeping it on my bucket list =)
What is your favorite music? Everything! What I listen to will depend on my mood and how well Alexa follows directions. =) If I’m running it needs to be face paced. If I’m working, it needs to be mellow. If I’m on a road trip I like to listen to older music that I haven’t heard in a while.
Margaret Paul, Licensed Mental Health Counselor/ Life and Health Coach & Owner of Mindfully Healthy, LLC
How long have you lived in Bay County? I have lived in Bay county since 2024, but I have been coming to Bay County since 1985.
If you could acquire one skill or hobby instantly, what would it be? I would love to be more artistically creative.
What is your current career &/or what brought you to this profession? I am a Life/Health coach, and a Grief/Loss coach and companion. What brought me to this profession. I remarried in 2020 and he was retired and we wanted to spend more time together. So I was considering a profession change. I was not sure what I wanted to do so I thought I would talk to a life coach for some insght. I couldn’t find any in this area, but found one in Pensacola; that did not work out and I continued with my previous profession. Then in September 2021 he succumbed to COVID pneumonia. I was working as a licensed counselor at the time and needed to find alternative employment while I processed my grief. I was able to return to counseling but I still struggled and started thinking about a career change. A life coaching program appeared on Face Book so i did some investigating and found Health Coach institute. I loved that it was integrated program and I enrolled in the program. Fast forward to 2024 when I started grief coaching programs. I created my own business in 2022 due to some contract issues,.
What’s something everyone should know about our community? That it still retains a small town feel to it despite the tourism.
What’s one project you’ve been a part of that people might not know about? I am such an open book, i talk about all the things that I do.
What’s a wild idea you have for a future community project? I would love for there to be more grief and loss agencies/services here.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Always do your best, with the understanding that your best may vary from day to day.
What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled and why? OOOHH, this is hard. I’ve been quite a few places that I have loved. Iwakuni Japan is the one that stands out the most. I lived there for htree years, it was the best duty station we ever had. The food was amazing.
What’s something about you that might surprise people? I am not a very neat or organized person
What’s your go-to source of inspiration when you need a boost? I love to journal and walk in nature; both of these give me inspiration and an energy boost.
If you had to describe our community in three words (or one quote), what would they/it be? Sun, sand, and saltwater
What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet? I want to do one of those wind tunnels that simulates jumping out of an airplane.
What is your favorite music? I love classic rock and country, some classical, blue grass, and folk.
Anything else you’d like to share? We all need someone to talk to during our lives. Seeing a coach, counselor, or similar profession should never been seen as a sign of weakness or something to be ashamed of. We take care of our physical health by going to a doctor, we also need to take care of our emotional and mental health. I wish mental health services were more affordable and more readily available.
Randy D. Geren, General Manager at Highgate Hotels
How long have you lived in Bay County? 3 years
If you could acquire one skill or hobby instantly, what would it be? Playing an instrument
What is your current career &/or what brought you to this profession? am a General Manager in Hospitably (LaQuinta Inn and Suites Panama City). I worked in a Regional Sales position with Marriott for 13 years in Lexington, KY, but then went into operations and worked with Hilton, Marriott and Wyndham Hotels in several southeastern US locations.
What’s something everyone should know about our community? The people are hardworking and considerate. The beaches are exceptional when Red Flags are not waving.
What’s one project you’ve been a part of that people might not know about? Eye Soar and The Jazz Festival.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? It would be to always give people a second chance, especially if they have shown effort to do the right thing.
What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled and why? Oregon was a fascinating place to me, particularly Pacific City.
What’s something about you that might surprise people? I am a published children’s book author and a poet. My published children’s book is call Bloopers, Blunders and Colossal Mistakes, and I have another being published currently.
What’s your go-to source of inspiration when you need a boost? I am from East Tennessee, so the mountains are my inspiration as far as a place. My faith in God has always been a source of strength to me and my 3 children and 5 granddaughters are my joy.
If you had to describe our community in three words (or one quote), what would they/it be? Kind people with big hearts
What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet? Tour the Serengeti in Africa
What is your favorite music? 80’s Alternative (The Cars, Talking Heads, The Cure, etc.)