Angelica Kapsis is a dedicated professional with a diverse background in forensic science, psychology, and human services. A Navy Veteran, holding a Master of Science in Forensic Science from National University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Stony Brook University, Angelica demonstrates a strong commitment to education and continuous learning. Currently serving as the President/Owner of VotRite, she is instrumental in developing strategies to enhance voting software accessibility, particularly focusing on ADA compliance and preferences for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, as her work as Founder at Scorpion Fitness Centers reflects her passion for promoting health and wellness, where she designs tailored fitness plans and leads classes, including those catered to individuals with disabilities, to facilitate positive outcomes for clients.
Beyond her professional endeavors, Angelica’s dedication to community service is evident through her involvement in various volunteer activities, including firefighting, mentoring, and advocating for at-risk populations. She is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and holds CPR & First Aid Certification. Angelica’s multifaceted skill set, coupled with her unwavering dedication to social causes, positions her as a versatile and compassionate professional dedicated to making a positive impact in her community and beyond.
Company: VotRite
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Angelica Kapsis: I had worked for years, while in school, shadowing the election company my father had. He invented some of the coolest looking electronic systems, just after the time the lever machines were retired. Baby blue cases, really futuristic for the time.
I participated as a technician, poll worker, and secretary. Once graduated from my masters program, I chose first to give back some of the specialized experience I had attained and created a business working with special needs, which we call the uniquely abled.
I began using fitness to build the athlete similar to how I was built, through many different experiences and masters. “The freedom to choose what you want,” that became our motto. Something this population deserved, and earned, with Scorpion Fitness.
Co-founder of Votrite, I planned to generalize one step further – freedom to make informed choice for any eligible voter. The right to vote, once one can make informed choice by learning how, is the very definition of freedom that has allowed people like me to create such success in my former business and by doing so, assisting to serve the total population and include all on my team, my democracy.
Can you share a time when your business faced a significant challenge? How did you navigate through it?
Angelica Kapsis: There was a time when we had a part-time, maybe even per diem, employee that fell ill and required significant medical care. Her family was so large, that she did not have medical coverage nor support this way. In addition, she had a special needs child.
At the same time, as Murphy dictates, we had an encounter with an employee that we did trust, who unfortunately attempted to take our information elsewhere and burden us financially and socially, depleting the foundation to the point of real concern.
The cost of medical care for an individual with cancer during that time with insurance was around $900 per week. We were a small, small company at this time, and nonetheless, we were going to ensure our worker was protected.
She went for treatment 4 separate times, as it came back. She beat it each time, and we ensured she did not worry. She beat it and we beat that circumstance, as we always will.
How has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success?
Angelica Kapsis: With the new age marketing tactics and expectations, apparent failure appears more often than expected, and it appears to millions at a time instead of one at a time, like many of us were used to.
Apparent failure, I have learned, can be useful for some in achieving, where competition may dictate success. Apparent failure is no more than perception. Perception is not reality.
Fortunately for us at VotRite, reality is always in our favor. We are always willing to take the time to perfect the system, this way, no matter how apparent things appear in this trying time our country is experiencing, the reality will be perfect enough for our majority, and the success will outweigh any perception not aligned with our democracy’s success.
That happens to be the current trajectory we are on, and it will lead us to inevitable success, as we succeed everyday.
How do you build a resilient team? What qualities do you look for in your team members?
Angelica Kapsis: Resilience is a bit more to me than the qualifying characteristics that make it up. I had even written a dissertation on it, taking a look at gender and trauma. The impetus, to move a team of individuals in a positive direction, no matter what adversity, as quickly and cohesively as possible. Which came in handy later on.
Resilience is first developing the skills to produce toughness. It is not toughness, however. The next component is tolerance. Pairing these things, produces a human being worthy of what it wants. It has the ability to adapt, it has the ability to wait for the perfect time to move, and it has the ability to understand others and move alongside them, when it chooses.
It is a choice to commit to the positive outcome, and the person showing resilience can always continue to move once the outcome is achieved. Us mentors and experts can then work to decrease downtime in-between events. That’s how to master it, really.
We choose teammates that choose this. There are many of us capable this way, and we’d choose them all if they’d choose us.
How do you maintain your personal resilience during tough times?
Angelica Kapsis: I still take the uniquely abled athletes, some of our future workers, and we work on the skills. All of us require maintenance and continued effort.
I read that one that writes things down to study memorizes about 18%, but one that teaches remembers 90%.
Therefore, I teach. It is an objective protocol that can be taught, once the individual is treated with decency using an accurate perception. It is something all of us can achieve and then maintain, proven.
So, I help other maintain and I come in at around 90% for myself. Since we practice resilience, not much seems so tough after.
What strategies do you use to manage stress and maintain focus during a crisis?
Angelica Kapsis: I use the training I have gained from my upbringing. These are protocols I have been successful at teaching any level of functioning later, when I have tried, which is very interesting come future implication after VotRite’s financial success.
If we take a little care in our team, and allow them to develop as they intend to (which is usually perfect enough if we perceive it right), we are also usually afforded an opportunity to create a reasonable expectation.
This is what I do with my team, I teach them simple protocols to facilitate independence along with sportsmanship, which is simply etiquette. We stress less, they usually know what to do. My focus never wavers.
How do you communicate with your team during a crisis?
Angelica Kapsis: I communicate with my team empathetically. I have an immense amount of experience with “real-life.” I was a first responder, a teacher, a counselor, a behaviorist, a student, a patient, a daughter, a significant other.
Many of us forget just how qualified we are at handling crises. I happen to have some objective training, but the reality still is, I am a human being, and I choose to understand more deeply to resolve each crisis permanently, each time.
What advice would you give to other CEOs on building resilience in their organizations?
Angelica Kapsis: CEOs building resilience within their organizations may see success when they look outside of the organization for learning opportunities.
I have created an environment in Scorpion Fitness Centers, purposefully, to provide for any successful parent with this circumstance or willing to support this circumstance. This means that, any master of any trade has the opportunity to join Scorpion Fitness and learn the skills for how to adapt and overcome that which we classify as special needs, in a reasonable time frame. I had also designed it so they, themselves could tend to other obligations with most of the day available and flexibility.
The skills I have learned doing this job to the best of my ability are more valuable than any dollar amount I may accept during my professional career. I can now build resilience in any individual, at any level of functioning, and I understand exactly what to do without oversight.
That’s how a CEO can build. They should find something that isn’t usually aligned with their daily routine or interest, and they should go for mastering it, practically. Something similar to crosstraining when we play sports. It is one of the best kept secrets I think.
How do you prepare your business for potential future crises?
Angelica Kapsis: I put an emphasis on quality over quantity. My executives are very focused on the essential processes, while I stay very focused on building cohesion and a quality experience for VotRite and it’s future.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about leadership in times of crisis?
Angelica Kapsis: Leadership is alike to a silhouette painting from Louisiana. Your position is just that, you make an impact based off what you do and not your identity.
I’ve learned to create roles for leaders within my infrastructure that any qualified and eligible individual can do, nearly perfectly, without having to be perfect. It is a lesson I have learned from experiences that felt real to me, with real outcomes, sometimes unavoidable.
When you build something this beautiful it is meant to last, and the success is no longer contingent upon how long one leader is meant to last. Too beautiful to quit that easily.
That applied generally has lead to many smooth transtitions through crises. I encourage more leaders to focus on the quality and viability of the silhouette that leader is producing, to carry on the legacy of the achievement.
