Angela Samata CF

  • Roger Philips alongside Angela Samata after she received her honorary fellowship from LJMU. Both wear graduation gowns.
  • Angela alongside Selma Bazara and Beth Tweddle as they recorded an 1823 podcast episode on Inspirational Alumni around International Women’s Day.
  • Angela on stage as she delivers a talk at Tedx Manchester in March 2023.

Angela is a psychology graduate with a master's in art history and curating. She’s an Arts professional and presenter who led on the John Moores Painting Prize and is hoping to return to LJMU in our bicentenary year to begin a master’s in psychotherapy. Angela was given an LJMU Honorary Fellowship in 2018 for her work in the public eye using her immense skills, courage, talent and sheer force of personality, in the face of personal tragedy.

Twenty years ago, the lives of Angela and her boys, changed completely when her husband Mark took his own life. Over the last two decades, Angela has continued to work in the Arts and has also become a regular and impassioned campaigner advocating for speaking up and encouraging people to talk about their feelings, their health and emotional state.

She was named Merseyside Woman of the Year 2015, for presenting the BAFTA nominated BBC documentary ‘Life after Suicide’ which became a touchpoint for so many individuals and families. She also took to the stage in Manchester in 2023 to deliver a TEDx Talk on the subject to an audience of over 2,000 people.

“Angela has shown extraordinary courage in speaking out, being open and using her voice to help others. Her family, and her boys, must be immensely proud of what she has achieved and so are we.” 

– Professor Roger Phillips at the presentation of Angela’s Honorary Fellowship at Liverpool Cathedral, 2018

Angela was recently a guest on LJMU’s 1823 Podcast: 200 Years of LJMU: Inspirational Women. An International Women’s Day celebratory episode with some of LJMU's most notable and influential graduates and fellows. She discussed her career, challenges, and her own role models.

“As time’s gone on, I realise I’m inspired by those women around me. I have a dual career in the art world and in mental health and it’s thanks to those women in the early stages of my career, who enabled me to do both, while raising two children. It’s those enablers, those women who’ve done so much more for me, than anyone I had a poster of in my bedroom, ever could.”

Angela is the founding member of Speaker’s Collective, a social enterprise that challenges stigma’s and facilitates conversation and learning on a variety of social issues. She is also a Board Trustee at Hospital Rooms, a Board Member for the Tate Liverpool Fundraising Advisory Group and a Suicide Bereavement UK, Advisor, Trainer and Creative Consultant.

Angela has continued to work with LJMU over the years alongside Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Power, and Student Advice and Wellbeing services, to discuss the importance of health and wellbeing for university students and staff.

Using her considerable gift, and drawing upon her psychology training, Angela has ensured that her own family have not become defined by Mark’s death. They celebrate his life and Angela’s work has helped create a more nurturing environment where individuals of all ages and backgrounds can feel able to talk about how they are feeling and their emotional wellbeing.