Angelica Bašić is a native of Lansing whose parents are both of Mexican decent. Her mother was born in Mexico. Her father was born in Texas as a child of a migrant worker. Growing up, Angelica’s parents demonstrated their humility, a strong work ethic, faith, and gratefulness. Embracing her heritage, it gave impetus to continue her education and advance issues in both Latino and migrant communities.

Angelica attended Catholic grade school and high school. During those years, she was involved in Girl Scouts and was a United States Marine Corps Cadet (USMCC). A student at Lansing Community College, she then transferred to Ferris State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. A few years later, Angelica returned to Ferris State and gained her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration with highest distinction. Go Bulldogs!

Shaping her career path, Angelica worked in property management, customer service, and the hospitality industry. Recalling her experiences during high school as a volunteer at the domestic violence shelter as support staff, she had a passion then to help people. With that passion, in 2012, she became a Domestic Violence Advocate for the Capitol Area Response Effort (CARE), which is an arm of the Lansing Police Department. Serving at CARE for 7 years, little did she know that she would someday be working there.

In her sixteen years of combined experience in the public service field and community service, she has had a wide variety of roles. Prior to joining the Lansing Police Department, Angelica held another position in public service with the Department of Homeland Security as a transportation security officer (TSO) and was a part of the Deputy Federal Security Director’s (FSD) Advisory Council at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW). This council served the Senior Leadership Team in addressing DTW workplace issues between co-workers and management. Part of this work was in communicating views and concerns of the workforce to the management team. This experience helped prepare her for her role as a supervisor. Returning to Lansing, she was ready to bring her experience and knowledge back to the community. Angelica joined LPD in 2018 as a Police Technician. Within three years she was promoted to LPD’s FOIA Coordinator and Central Records Supervisor. Since then, the requests for FOIA increased and as a result, FOIA staff doubled to meet the demand. Applying her leadership talents, the FOIA unit has been effective.

Recently, Angelica also initiated the Proclamation for “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on October 14, 2024, for the City of Lansing. Recognizing the importance of the history of Native Americans, she is proud to support indigenous peoples in promoting equity, social justice and respect for their cultural heritage.

Most importantly, Angelica is a proud mother and the wife of an amazing man who comes all the way from Derventa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, whom she met in college (fellow Bulldog).

Lastly, I always live by the proverb by George Herbert, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”.