Four Inane Questions with Stroke Sisters’ Angie Read
Courtesy of Pitts Photography
We’re betting if you look up the word perseverance in the dictionary, you’ll find a teeny-tiny picture of Angie Read next to the definition. For years, Read was a successful PR wonk in the metro before nearly being felled by two massive strokes when she was in her 40s.
During her recovery, Read decided to pivot—big time. She started focusing on empowering women who, like her, were stroke survivors. Along the way, she became a certified life coach and has authored four books about her experiences with post-stroke anxiety (PSA) and post-stroke depression (PSD).
Courtesy of Pitts Photography
Read recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Stroke Sisters—a new organizational endeavor she founded last year. “It’s an emerging digital platform/mobile app supporting female stroke survivors,” she says. “We will offer trusted resources, community support, and mindset coaching. Through my coaching programs and Stroke Sisters, I’m dedicated to helping survivors rebuild their confidence, reclaim their identity, and find hope for the future.”
We caught up with the ever-busy Read in-between meetings to inundate her with our insipid questionnaire. “You made for an interesting stroll down memory lane,” she told us. (Goal achieved!)
The Pitch: What’s your favorite foreign film?
Angie Read: I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t watch many foreign films. I recall liking Roma a few years ago but can’t remember why or what it was about, to be honest.
Oh wait, I just cheated and Googled the top foreign films of the last decade. Parasite is my favorite, probably because of the shock value and it kept me on the edge of my seat. It was just so unexpected. I’d love to give you a more profound, scholarly answer, but I just don’t have one.
Growing up, what TV show/sitcom would you have wanted to star in?
This will age me, but, without a doubt, it would have been Happy Days! The Cunninghams had such a great family dynamic and The Fonz just oozed cool. Who knows, maybe I was a little jealous of Richie and Joanie for having a two-parent household when my own parents divorced when I was four.
I would vacillate between pretending to be either Leather or Pinky Tuscadero. I thought they had awesome names and wore cute outfits. The Tuscadero sisters were tough and had it going on!
Courtesy of Pitts Photography
You can only eat one kind of pastry/donut for the rest of your life. Whaddya choosin’?
A warm “Swannie’s” Back Door Yum-Yum from the alley of Swanson’s Bakery in Manhattan, Kansas. Swanson’s Bakery would open their back door late at night and sell the most incredible warm donuts (a.k.a. Yum-Yums) to drunk college students. (Or, in my case, high school students pretending to be cool and hanging out in Aggieville after hours.)
Yum-Yums are hard to describe, but I think they were a variation of a fried Danish roll. If you know, you know.
If you could own one piece of nostalgic pop culture memorabilia, what would it be?
Anything Prince-related or from the movie Purple Rain. Prince was a musical genius and cultural icon beyond measure. I’m still obsessed with Prince, and just this past June, I went to see the Revolution reunion for the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain. They performed at First Avenue in Minneapolis, and I swear I was transported back to 1984.
I’m such a devout fan. I finally got my long-planned tattoo of the Prince symbol on my right shoulder. And it’s not some dainty little girlie tattoo, either. It’s large and purple and makes me happy every time I see it in the mirror.
