From farm life to the boxing ring, Revere Firefighter Tyler D’Angelo shares her struggles and successes

By Melissa Moore-Randall

Whether battling fires or boxing opponents, Revere Firefighter Tyler D’Angelo certainly seems to be climbing the ladder of success. D’Angelo grew up on a farm in Maine until the unexpected death of her mother when she was eight.“I was eight years old and completely lost. My dad was struggling as any parent would from such an unexpected situation. I started spiraling in school, and at one point I was essentially homeless and house hopping with friends.”

In 2010, she moved to Revere with her family. “I fought tooth and nail because I was a teenager that thought she had the world on her shoulders. When I started at Revere High School, I was basically thrown into an entire new world with no friends and a very different lifestyle.”

Eventually, Tyler ended up in honors classes and on the varsity field hockey team. From there, she took an early admission to UMass Boston.“I started at UMass in the summer directly out of high school. At this time, I was working three jobs trying to be financially stable on my own. Tending to bite off more than I can chew, I took five classes, and worked three jobs. This ultimately led to me dropping out of college. I was too embarrassed to tell my family what I did, and knew that I needed to find something else that would help my future self. I knew that in life I always wanted to be successful, just never knew WHAT exactly I wanted to do.”

“After seeing a National Guard commercial, I thought the military provided structure, and I think that’s I needed. Without telling my family that I dropped out of college or joined the military, two months later I left for the Army National Guard.”

“The National Guard truly did change my life for the better. I joined in January, 2015 as a Motor Transport Operator. I left for basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina in March. While there, I fractured my hip eight days from graduation, ended up on bed rest and then in a rehab facility for four months. I refused to quit and completed all my training in November of 2015.  Once I came home from training, I quickly began being a part of the community.”

“I joined the Honor Guard which provides military funeral honors for past Army members. This led me to a full time position with the Recruiting and Retention Battalion while also being in the 1058 Transportation Unit. I was a gunner for the 1058th Transportation Company, and we went through gunnery school while being a marketing assistant to the recruiting battalion. I also volunteered for natural disasters, one being high water rescue missions.”

“Once I got promoted to Sergeant I left the transportation world for a full-time position with recruiting as their Marketing Assistant which allowed me to work large profile events, advertise and help the community directly within our schools and community outreach programs. Eventually, I resigned from active duty to begin my career as a firefighter.”

“Being a firefighter truly is the best job in the world. The reason I chose it was because there’s always been three constants in my life when choosing a career. First, be successful in whatever I do. Second, help others. And third, love what I do. I knew that if I did those three things with whatever I do, then I would be happy. Firefighting is truly the spearhead for those constants, and I am very grateful for my job. I didn’t know at a young age this is where I would end up but I followed those points and it led me to this job. At first, I was extremely intimidated because it’s a primarily male dominated field but after taking that chance decision I found a second family. We work hard, help people, provide for our community, and are all role models for our generations to come which is so important.”

In 2018, Tyler took on another adventure as a boxer as an outlet to stay in shape but also for fun. “I quickly fell in love with it but I unfortunately blew my knee out during active duty which required two knee surgeries in 2019/2020. Boxing helped me rehab my knee while still training with crutches. Without boxing I’m not sure I would have healed as quickly as I did. This got me back in shape to attend the Massachusetts Fire Academy in December of 2021. Since then, I have fought in the Massachusetts State Police Boxing Match and the Golden Gloves Championship.”

“Boxing changed so many aspects of my life for the better and that’s why I find the Revere Boxing and Outreach Program to be so important. This program provides stability, discipline and structure that I wish I had at a young age. Officer Singer asked me to be one of the coaches, and I try to be involved as much as I can. However all the credit must go to Officer Singer,  Greg Vendetti and Travis. Without them this program wouldn’t be what it is. I’m so grateful to be able to help coach beside all of them and hopefully change these kids’ lives for the better.”

Her National Guard and RFD colleagues spoke highly of D’Angelo and her determination.

“Tyler is a determined and motivated individual who sets goals and exceeds them every time. Her goal was to make staff sergeant in six years, which is a feat in itself. She accomplished that in just under six years. Every job or role she took on in the Recruiting Battalion she has redefined and created standard operating procedures that we still use today. There are very few people I would trust my life and my kids with, and she is on that shortlist. Tyler has accomplished so much in such a short time and she’s only getting started,” said National Guard Senior RRNCO Jamie Chambers.

Similar sentiments were shared by Revere Fire Captain Kevin O’Hara. “Tyler comes to work and handles the pressures of being a firefighter inside and outside the station. She has a heart of gold and cares for all of her firefighter brothers and sisters. She has a bright future with the RFD.”