Fostering Empowerment through Innovation!
In the dynamic landscape of modernity, where change is the only constant and innovation reigns supreme, there exists a realm that pulsates with boundless potential: Entrepreneurship. Here, amidst the swirling currents of creativity and ingenuity, individuals forge uncharted paths, daring to defy convention and carve out their destinies.
A pioneering figure in this vibrant ecosystem is Ashley M. Wilson, recognized for her role as an advocate, visionary, and entrepreneur. With a steadfast devotion to driving positive change and empowering communities, Ashley embodies the spirit of purpose-driven leadership, leveraging her platform to address pressing societal issues and foster holistic well-being.
Throughout her illustrious career, Ashley has left an indelible mark on the entrepreneurial landscape, founding ventures that resonate deeply with her values and aspirations. From initiatives focused on wellness and empowerment to endeavors dedicated to supporting vulnerable populations, her journey exemplifies the transformative power of entrepreneurship in creating meaningful societal impact.
Let’s delve deeper to learn more:
Navigating Challenges, Inspiring Change
Ashley traces her origins to Staten Island, NY, where she spent her formative years. Born into a family that later experienced divorce, Ashley navigated the complexities of blended families, relocating to Pennsylvania with her mother and stepfather at the age of 10. Despite the challenges posed by shifting family dynamics, Ashley’s parents instilled in her a relentless pursuit of excellence and resilience, fostering a strong work ethic and a pledge to personal growth.
Education held paramount importance in Ashley’s upbringing, with her family emphasizing academic achievement and the pursuit of higher education as non-negotiable priorities. Her close relationship with her grandmother, whom she affectionately called “Nana,” exposed her to the value of creativity and hard work, whether through crafting intricate doll outfits or nurturing gardens.
From an early age, Ashley displayed maturity beyond her years, earning her the moniker of having an “old soul” due to her preference for adult company and her keen observation of the world around her. This early exposure to diverse environments and life experiences shaped her worldview and laid the foundation for her future leadership roles.
During her college years at Kutztown University, Ashley’s focus on leadership and her innate desire to assist others became evident. Eager to embark on her career journey, she accelerated her studies, graduating six months ahead of schedule with a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Psychology in 2009. Continuing her educational pursuits, Ashley pursued online courses and obtained a Master of Arts in Management and Leadership from Liberty University in 2014.
Throughout her career, Ashley dedicated herself to serving marginalized communities, particularly youth and women facing adversity. Drawing from her personal experiences and guided by a sense of calling, she approached her work with compassion and empathy, viewing each individual not as a statistic but as a person with a unique story deserving of understanding and support.
As a leader, Ashley prioritized fostering environments of trust, growth, and collaboration within her teams. Drawing from her own experiences under both positive and negative leadership, she curated spaces where team members felt valued, empowered, and heard. Embracing a continuous learning mindset, Ashley welcomed constructive feedback as an opportunity for personal and professional growth, recognizing that effective leadership is a journey of perpetual self-improvement.
Through her commitment to advocacy, visionary leadership, and entrepreneurial spirit, Ashley emerges as a transformative force dedicated to creating positive change and empowering those around her.
Empowering Through Entrepreneurship
In her teenage years, Ashley found herself engrossed in creative pursuits, sketching shoe designs and contemplating poetry books for publication. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she often envisioned various projects and future endeavors. Inspired by her mother’s success in a Mary Kay MLM business, Ashley explored entrepreneurial ventures, ultimately launching her own traveling makeup artist business.
Drawing from her experiences in modeling and local fashion shows, Ashley’s makeup artistry business flourished, offering services for weddings, parties, and fashion events. Despite her demanding full-time roles working with marginalized populations, Ashley’s side businesses reflected her core values of care, creativity, and impact.
Driven by a deep sense of purpose, Ashley’s journey led her to establish AMW Wellness, LLC, dedicated to addressing the root causes of health issues based on her own health struggles. Additionally, A. Wilson Creates serves as her personal “art therapy” outlet, repurposing preloved beads into unique pieces of jewelry.
Expanding her entrepreneurial footprint, Ashley founded FREED Communities, LLC, with a mission to support vulnerable populations and promote awareness of resources for their well-being. Informed by her background in nonprofit work and advocacy for social issues, Ashley is committed to breaking cycles of trauma and poverty to empower future generations.
Navigating Challenges with Purpose
Ashley emphasizes the importance of effectively managing challenges in both her professional and personal lives. She advocates for proactive approaches to addressing difficulties, prioritizing open communication, and strategic planning.
As a leader, Ashley believes in preparing for potential challenges by discussing and strategizing solutions in advance. She stresses the significance of building networks and seeking advice from outside consultants or mentors with relevant expertise. Drawing from her experience in the nonprofit sector, Ashley highlights the value of having a life coach to provide guidance and support during times of transition.
In her personal life, Ashley underscores the significance of regular communication with her family members, fostering an environment where issues can be addressed promptly and openly. By engaging in intentional conversations and understanding each individual’s communication style, Ashley navigates challenges effectively and maintains harmony within her family.
Furthermore, Ashley emphasizes the importance of mentorship and seeking support from like-minded individuals who share similar values and motivations. She emphasizes the need for discernment in selecting mentors and support networks, ensuring alignment in goals and principles.
Through her proactive and open-minded approach, Ashley demonstrates her commitment to effectively managing challenges and maintaining balance in both her professional and personal endeavors.
Empowering Through Entrepreneurship
Ashley’s passion for business arises from her desire to authentically express herself while pursuing endeavors that hold deep personal meaning and impact. Central to her motivation is her belief in the importance of financial independence for women, driven by her experiences working with vulnerable populations, particularly girls and women facing abusive situations.
Having witnessed the struggles of individuals trapped in abusive environments due to financial insecurity, Ashley advocates for economic empowerment as a pathway to freedom and choice. She believes that financial stability provides individuals with the means to rebuild their lives and pursue opportunities for growth and self-improvement.
Despite the reluctance of many to engage in conversations about money, Ashley emphasizes its fundamental role in navigating the world. She envisions a future where resources are directed into the hands of compassionate and visionary individuals, driving positive change and innovation to address pressing global challenges.
With a steadfast commitment to making a difference, Ashley remains dedicated to leveraging her entrepreneurial spirit, resources, and network to contribute to meaningful solutions and empower others to thrive.
Driven by Purpose and Family
Ashley’s entrepreneurial efforts are driven by a deep sense of purpose beyond just financial gain. Her strong faith and belief in Jesus Christ guide her direction and decisions as she strives to live out her calling and achieve success in a way that aligns with her spiritual values.
For her, being an entrepreneur means having the freedom and creativity to prioritize family while pursuing what she is passionate about. She sees endless opportunities in business ownership to solve problems, create valuable products, and build communities that positively impact others. This ability to make a difference is immensely rewarding to her.
Entrepreneurship represents independence and limitless potential for personal and professional growth. Ashley embraces the journey, knowing each challenge provides valuable lessons for improvement.
Above all, her commitment to her family fuels her drive. Contributing to their well-being, whether financially or through enriching experiences from her work, brings her fulfillment. Her faith keeps her grounded as she directs the entrepreneurial path, ensuring her purpose aligns with her spiritual beliefs.
Seizing Opportunities, Embracing Growth
In the month preceding the pandemic, Ashley formed a new board for her nonprofit organization, necessitating a shift to virtual meetings via Zoom amidst the challenges of the pandemic. Concurrently, she discovered a newfound passion for bracelet-making, initially as a calming hobby, which later evolved into a business following its promotion on social media platforms.
Amidst the upheaval of the pandemic, Ashley’s interest in holistic health deepened, prompted by her observations of the body’s resilience during challenging times. Drawing from her personal journey with infertility and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), she pursued further education in integrative health, completing an online program and obtaining certification as an Integrative Health Practitioner in November 2021.
During this period of personal and professional growth, Ashley also seized the opportunity to update her professional image by arranging for headshot sessions with a photographer. These headshots, captured outdoors near her residence, proved invaluable for future speaking engagements, underscoring the importance of strategic preparation and leveraging opportunities well in advance.
Through her experiences, Ashley emphasizes the significance of prudent time management and foresight in maximizing the impact of one’s endeavors.
Navigating Growth
Ashley attributes her success to a combination of deep care for people, authenticity, dedication, and hard work. However, she acknowledges that these traits, if not properly honed, can also pose challenges. As a visionary, Ashley possesses the ability to see potential in individuals, organizations, and ministries, sometimes even more than they see in themselves. This propensity occasionally led to frustration when desired outcomes were not achieved.
Recognizing the need for a shift in her approach, Ashley sought guidance from trusted advisors to navigate her tendencies and establish healthy boundaries. Through this process, she learned to manage expectations, clarify her role, and accept situations as they were without feeling compelled to fix everything herself. By prioritizing self-care and discerning where to invest her energy, Ashley emerged as a stronger, more liberated individual and leader.
These lessons enabled Ashley to focus more effectively on her own growth and areas where she could make the greatest impact, ultimately enhancing her leadership capabilities and overall well-being.
Continuous Growth Through Self-Investment
Ashley advocates for a daily commitment to self-investment to foster continuous learning and growth, thereby enhancing one’s ability to positively impact their spheres of influence. She recommends joining mastermind groups, attending conferences, participating in online training sessions, and listening to audiobooks relevant to the business or specific areas of interest.
Ashley emphasizes that these investments are invaluable, as they provide insights that can be shared in conversations, utilized in seizing opportunities, and applied to problem-solving endeavors.
Wisdom for Success
Ashley encourages turning life’s challenges into opportunities for personal growth and teaching. Whenever faced with adversity, Ashley resolves to overcome it and become an advocate for others facing similar issues. Professionally, she reflects on both successes and challenges, seeking input from her board, committees, and trusted networks to excel in her endeavors.
Ashley emphasizes the value of collaboration over competition, recognizing that partnering with individuals who possess complementary skill sets accelerates progress and the achievement of shared goals. She advocates for delegation, understanding that focusing on strengths and wisely allocating resources optimizes productivity and effectiveness, especially during different seasons of one’s career.
With discernment, Ashley advises carefully selecting opportunities, considering their impact on time, energy, and resources. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing when it’s time to transition to new roles or endeavors, whether to pursue growth or to maintain integrity.
Maintaining a balance between career and personal life is paramount to Ashley. She stresses the importance of nurturing relationships with family members, as a harmonious home life positively impacts professional endeavors. Additionally, Ashley advises discretion in sharing work-related details with the world, advocating for focusing on essential input and sharing progress when appropriate.
Navigating Entrepreneurship and Motherhood
Ashley reflects on the challenges she faced while building her nonprofit, Rewritten of Tioga County, amidst limited time constraints. Juggling her responsibilities as a mother and wife alongside her entrepreneurial endeavors, she strategically allocated her time, primarily dedicating Fridays to developing the organization. She emphasizes the necessity of balancing negotiable and non-negotiable aspects of life and business, highlighting the importance of protecting personal and home goals while pursuing professional success.
Despite the challenges, Ashley and her dedicated team made significant progress in raising awareness about human trafficking and providing support to survivors through Rewritten. Through strategic collaboration and conflict resolution mechanisms, her organization became a model for anti-trafficking efforts in rural communities. Rewritten’s commitment to being donor-funded and debt-free operations contributed to the accolades and recognition received for the meaningful impact made on the lives of those served.
Now, with her appreciation for pivoting when appropriate, Ashley is transitioning this impactful work from her nonprofit to her LLC, FREED Communities. Navigating opportunities and adjusting strategies as needed, she further acknowledges the grit required to balance entrepreneurship, leadership, motherhood, and marriage. Despite the challenges, she finds solace in the meaningful purpose behind her endeavors, recognizing that each assignment contributes to her calling and prepares her for what lies ahead.
Pursuing the Root: A Holistic Wellness Journey
Ashley M. Wilson announces the upcoming launch of a course titled “Pursuing the Root,” aimed at addressing various aspects of everyday wellness from a holistic perspective. This comprehensive course is designed to assist individuals in enhancing their overall well-being.
Ashley anticipates that “Pursuing the Root” will resonate with a wide audience, as prioritizing holistic self-care contributes to sustained effectiveness and impact in both personal and professional spheres, particularly for leaders and entrepreneurs. She looks forward to empowering individuals to optimize their health and well-being through this transformative course.
About the Leader
Ashley M. Wilson is an advocate, visionary, and entrepreneur with a common theme: helping others feel seen, cared for, renewed, and inspired. Ashley founded a nonprofit ( Rewritten of Tioga County) that addressed human trafficking issues for a number of years but recently pivoted her focus to the creation of her new LLC called FREED Communities, which is due to launch soon and will help a number of communities and organizations care for vulnerable populations well by having an emphasis on trauma-informed care and economic empowerment.
Simultaneously, she creates content for several social media platforms, is an integrative health practitioner at AMW Wellness, LLC, and is an artist of different mediums through her business, A. Wilson Creates. Beyond these roles, her most important ones include being a proud mama bear to her three children and being a wife to her favorite guy, Jason, of 13 years.
Leadership and Awards
- Anti-Trafficking Advocate
- 2024 Marquis Who’s Who Honored Listee
- Member of the Regional Interdisciplinary Collaborative
- Tioga County Change Maker Award in Recognition of Outstanding Service to Educate & Protect ( presented by Develop Tioga)
- Former AHEC board member ( resources for health education/health careers)
- Former HAVEN board member ( domestic violence awareness & assistance)
- Former Task Force Member to Bring a Pregnancy Center to Tioga County
- Former Ansamn Board Member (rebuilding family relationships in Haiti)
- Tioga County IF Gathering 2017 – 2018 Team – Public Relations
- Former MOPS Member/ Former Discussion Leader
- Dearden Leadership Academy Program ( while at MHS)
- Former Speaker at Tabor Community Services, Inc.
- Who’s Who Amongst Colleges and Universities Award
- Kutztown University’s Commencement Speaker to the Class of 2009
