Our spotlight (FRESH)man Voices this week is Anjeliah Chiodo. I had the wonderful opportunity to write a story about her. She is an iconic Instagram influencer with 25.1k followers.
This first-generation college student let us have the amazing chance to get some insight on herself, her lifestyle and her opinions on some topics. Her major is Entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so. So cool, what a great goal!
Her hometown is Pine Hill, NJ (Camden County) … which is not too far from Glassboro! Anjeliah is also 18 years old.
She chose to live on campus. She lived in Evergreen Hall before they shut the campus down due to coronavirus.
Sometimes freshmen have a hard time transitioning into college, but not Anjeliah! She went through a six-week program in the summer before starting her first fall semester called the Pre-College Institute (PCI), a program to help students financially and academically. In this program, a student can be considered an EOF student or a RISE student, and she was considered a RISE student. She stated how this program gave her a lot of structure, it taught her how to prioritize, manage her time with a full schedule (with classes, study sessions, meals, meetings, extra activities), how to become organized, and also helped her get used to the campus life. She also met a lot of people — people who she is still friends with to this day and also very important people that helped build her network … how awesome? During these six weeks, they took everyone’s phones, which many students were mad about, but she didn’t mind at all because it forced her to talk to other people (which built genuine relationships without the social media). This brought her out of her shell, and helped her look elsewhere for fun activities rather than social media!
Anjeliah’s goal is to be a successful serial entrepreneur, she wants to own several different businesses, like a coffee shop, tattoo shop, nail salon, restaurant, and most importantly a retail store (clothing brand), while also modeling for her very own clothing brand. She has decided to take a step forward, start small by taking baby steps, and start her own lip gloss line, called Anjel Allure, (right now it is under construction). So please, stay tuned!!! I’d love to try it myself. For her short term goals, right now she is working as a bank teller at TD Bank, and she also hope to get promoted as much as possible before she started her own future business.
Anjeliah has many hobbies such as shopping, having photoshoots, exercising/lifting, eating, taking pictures to post on Instagram/promoting brands as an ambassador, making lip gloss, coming up with creative ideas for a future business, drawing self portraits with charcoal and chalk, playing the piano, saxophone, and clarinet, working on hair/skin care, playing tennis. Talk about well rounded!!! A successful student, and someone who loves her hobbies. 
Rowan was always her third choice when picking where to go for college, but it turned out to be the best decision she’s ever made because of the great people that she’s met, the opportunities she has come across, and the events that she has got involved in that exposed me to a lot of publicity. The reason she came to Rowan was because they offered her more money than the other universities, especially when she became a RISE student. At first, she was told that she was not eligible to be an EOF student (when grants are given to low-income students, and their grades are high enough, so they can attend school), she realized that because of that, she won’t be able to afford to go to Rowan…and she felt lost, like the only other option she had was community college. However, ONE very important person at Rowan went above and beyond to help her become a RISE student (when a scholarship is given to students whose household income is too low, but too high to meet the requirements of an EOF student, and their grades are superior and exceptional). Therefore, she made it into the ASCEND program for the summer, and was able to afford to go to Rowan. This showed her how one person can make a great impact on her life, and it showed her how much they cared for her to do that. How wonderful!
She is also involved in the Beauty in Distress Club, CEO Club: Collegiate Entrepreneur Organization, Society for the Advancement of Management club, Student University Programmers, MOCA: Men of Color Alliance Organization, Keep the Code Organization (she is the Event Coordinator), Harley Flack Mentoring Program, and the Bronze Leadership Program. These clubs are definitely something for any one at Rowan looking to gain some more opportunities with campus.
I also wanted to ask Anjeliah about her opinions on this pandemic going on in the world right now. She honestly feels like people want to get sick because no one is staying home. Working at TD Bank, she is constantly being exposed to people all time, and it is not helping when people like to be out of their homes and endanger their health & safety and her own. She also believes that people should take advantage of this time of staying at home and pick up a hobby, eat healthy, exercise, start a new routine, read a book, etc. People can be doing anything else besides leaving their home. They do not realize that this virus spreads fast, and by being out, they are also threatening the health & safety of others. And for the people that are sick, she is sorry for their struggles and for their pain, and she hopes they are fighting with all of their strength to stay strong. As far as for the people who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19, she is very sorry for their loss and she cannot imagine what they are going through. And for the people that are still living healthy, she hopes they are appreciating that, she wishes for them to recognize that they are helping prevent the virus by staying home, and that we are all alone in this together. #alonetogether
Anjeliah, you are amazing! Keep up with your hard work and dedication to success. You have given us a story that holds leadership, dedication, talent and enterprise. For all you readers, check out Anjeliah’s Instagram and give her a follow.
Like what you see?
Story organized by:
Devon Graf, senior Communication Studies major
Photography and story contributed by: Anjeliah Chiodo