Dr. Plowhead began her career as a signals intelligence analyst with the U.S. Air Force. She earned an associates degree in applied science at the Community College of the Air Force, majoring in Communications Applications Technologies, then went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Education from Wayland Baptist University with a major in human services and minors in business and communications applications technologies and an M.A. and Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from George Fox University. She completed an internship at the Vanderbelt/VA consortium and a postdoctoral residency program at the Portland Veterans Administration (VA). She is a Clinical Psychologist with a specialty in Geropsychology.

Throughout her training and early career, Dr. Plowhead served fellow veterans as a Psychologist at VA Medical Centers in various capacities for 12 years, including as a supervisory psychologist and mental health director of the home-based primary care program. In 2014, she became a small business owner and opened her own private practice where she continues to serve veterans and others who might otherwise not have access to care and provides investigation and expert testimony in court proceedings in multiple counties.

She is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and actively serves the community as a Precinct Committee Person, a member of the Marion County Indigent Guardianship Program Advisory Committee, Vice Chair of the Northwest Senior and Disability Services (NWSDS) Senior Advisory Council which advises and approves on policy and budgets for Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Clatsop and Tillamook Counties. She has also served on the Clackamas County Senior Advisory Council. Since 2011, Dr. Plowhead has also been a servant leader in several different ministries at her home church, to include serving as a lay preacher in Care Home Ministries from 2017 until Covid closed those opportunities.

Dr. Angela Plowhead is currently a candidate for Congress in Oregon's 6th district.