Citizen of the Week: From Runaway Teen to Mental Health Advocate, Angilee LeConte Inspires Others to Dream Bigger

At 16 years old, Angilee LeConte was living alone in a one-room efficiency, working at Taco Bell, surviving on leftover bean burritos, and wondering if life would ever offer more than minimum wage jobs and daily survival. Today, the Tyrone resident is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, owner of two businesses, a wife, mother of three, and this week’s Citizen of the Week.

Her journey from high school dropout to healthcare professional didn’t happen overnight. It was built one small step at a time, each job and each educational milestone carrying her farther from the life she once believed was her only future.

“I firmly believe, as long as you’re still alive, you can obtain any dream, any goal,” LeConte said. “You just have to set that goal for yourself and work towards it. Don’t procrastinate. Stop blaming your past, because that’s your past, and you cannot let your past dictate your future.”

Born in Jamaica, LeConte immigrated to the United States as a child. She describes growing up with parents who worked constantly but were emotionally absent as they tried to build a life in a new country. Feeling unsupported at home, she left at 16, eventually earning her GED after leaving high school during her junior year.

Those early years were marked by poverty and uncertainty.

“I was taking the bus,” she recalled. “Honestly, I was taking food from work. I was going home with so much bean burritos, tacos, just things of that nature, because it was the only food I knew I was going to have.”

She remembers earning just a few dollars an hour while paying weekly rent on a tiny efficiency apartment. Every paycheck went first toward keeping a roof over her head, and she often relied on food from work because there was little money left for anything else.

Rather than allowing those circumstances to define her, LeConte made a promise to herself that every opportunity would be better than the last.

She moved from fast food to telemarketing, then into customer service positions before landing a job with BellSouth, which later became AT&T. That stable position allowed her to buy her first home in Fort Lauderdale—an accomplishment she still considers one of her proudest moments.

After marrying, she returned to school, earning an associate degree in nursing, followed by a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in healthcare policy, and eventually a second master’s degree to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.

Today, LeConte practices at Avant Interventional Psychiatry in Fayetteville, where she provides in-person and virtual care for patients across Georgia. The practice accepts most private insurance plans as well as Medicare and Medicaid, helping make mental health care more accessible for local families. The office also offers therapists and specialized treatments for patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Her passion for mental health is deeply personal.

Growing up in Jamaica, she said conversations about mental illness simply didn’t exist.

“I want people to understand that mental health is a disease, just like you have hypertension, you have diabetes,” LeConte said. “It is another disease, and there is help out there. It’s not something that you have to be ashamed to say that you need help with. It’s actually a sign of power and strength that you’re able to say, ‘Hey, I need help with this.'”

In addition to her healthcare career, LeConte is also an entrepreneur. Four years ago, she launched Photo Glam 360, a luxury photo booth business that has grown from two booths to a fleet of 12 serving events throughout Georgia.

“My motto is, we’re not just a photo booth, we’re an experience,” she said. “When we come to your event, we’re going to be that wow factor.”

More recently, she also founded LeConte Behavioral Health Services, a telehealth psychiatric practice serving patients in Washington state.

Despite balancing two businesses, a demanding healthcare career, and family life, LeConte says she intentionally protects time for her husband of 19 years, their three children, and herself.

She schedules date nights, cooks dinner most evenings, enjoys gardening, and believes self-care begins with getting dressed and preparing for each day with purpose.

“I do a lot,” she said, “but I do a lot of things that I love.”

Perhaps the deepest lesson from her childhood is one she still carries.

As a teenager, she often heard adults tell her to “get out” or question how long she would be staying in their homes. Those memories became fuel for building financial independence.

“I never want to be in a position where anybody can ever say, ‘Get out,’ to me again,” she said. “I always have to be financially secure on my own.”

Now, LeConte regularly accepts invitations to speak at schools and organizations, sharing her story with young people who may believe their own circumstances determine their future.

“If I came from where I came from, if I can achieve this, anyone can achieve this,” she said. “It’s not unobtainable. It’s not impossible.”

For a teenager who once believed life would never amount to more than surviving from paycheck to paycheck, Angilee LeConte’s story is living proof that determination, education, and hope can change the course of a life—and inspire others to believe theirs can change, too.