Sometimes what makes you appreciate new spaces and places is moving around and making those places for your career. My guest this episode, Ashley Dash grew up in the South, but also traveled the world at an early age as a military brat and to visit family. Because of her parent’s service in the military, she was even born outside of the United States in England. However, she actually grew up in South Carolina stayed near their to attend college and the first job she could get after her high-achieving college career was near her then home in South Carolina.

It was during that college career that I met her at a Monster.com career accelerator for high achieving college students. We reconnected recently over a Facebook video I happened to catch on a layover during one of my many recent bouts of domestic travel. I told her she had to come on the show after listening to her video where she talks about her many moves and I’m thrilled to feature a migration story and introduce how that ties into how we experience black urbanism.

You can listen and check out the transcript of our main conversation below.

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And here’s the full transcript of our interview, with show notes embedded.

[00:00:00] Ashley Dash: So I am Ashley Dash and I am a Career Branding Expert and I have been around the country going crazy over the last several years just really learning how to build my business build my career and really move forward in a way that is hopeful for me.  A lot of times people ask me;  how do I get started? And the way I got started actually was after I graduated from college.

I was actually an unemployable college graduate. I had a brand-new shiny degree that no one really wanted. I had several corporate internships under my belt and just for a period of months, no one would hire me and no one would I always say touch me like a 10-foot pole so better word.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah.

Ashley Dash: All of the traditional advice and people normally say like, you know go to Career Services, I was doing. Get internships. I was doing you know graduate I did that it just didn’t work. So it is from that place of like, you know, being out of money out of interviews. I really had to rebrand and change my life and I was able to do that in 30 days. So it’s from that place. I actually helped my clients and help other business professionals and entrepreneurs really move forward with their lives and what their career so they can increase their confidence, make boss money and really good get unstuck at work, because that’s something I get a lot is a lot of people feel stuck. So those are things that I focus on as I’m working through clients and I’m talking with people.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah, so you talked about just in that little bit, you know being you know, you have all I know when I came out of undergrad I had a ton of internships and club memberships and running things and you know one case I had run a concert festival, I had managed money, I done all these things but often that resets when you leave the college setting and you go out to quote unquote the real world. So I definitely relate to that. I’m not sure how I cannot remember how close to [00:02:00] like the 08 recession you graduated out of but I know that was a factor with me. I had a job when I walked across the stage and December of 2007 and I was that was early for me.

That was a semester early. I was one of many of my classmates that I knew of who took advantage of the fact that our degree was a little lighter at least as far as coursework it was made for a lot of people to transfer into after other options. And so I took advantage of that. I was like yay, I’m getting out here.

I’m out of the gate. Yeah, there might be a recession but doesn’t matter I have a job and I guess I have an apartment and I finally have a car, you know, the life has started and actually the life truly has started. You know, like I said, I’m just 22 and pretty soon, I’m going to make this decision about law school and there’s gonna be a magical partner that’s going to appear we’re going to take over the world together babies, big house.Like even though I’ve always known that I wanted that big house to be like in a major city , it probably was going to be a big town house, but nevertheless all these wishes were there, but then six months into my working, at this organization I get laid off with four other people on the same day.

So essentially it was a reduction in force. It was  eligible for unemployment, but that was still something. I didn’t understand

And so yeah, I it’s July 1st of 2008 and I am unemployed. For the first time in my life is not my choice. It was definitely a learning experience and there were definitely things that happened at that position that I wish that I could learn better. But and also just as far as like how I conducted myself in the office like everything from like the junk on my desk to just bouncing around in the energy that I had in that office, but yeah, [00:04:00] definitely took it as a firing and

Ashley Dash: but it’s all lessons learned like It’s like 20/20 hindsight or so many things that I would have done different had I known but a lot of times you don’t know so I’m excited to hear about your experience at least initially because like I was not that person who had a graduation had a job after graduation, right? So I actually graduated late a semester in December. And the internship I had they let me stay on a couple months after graduation. But after that was kind of like I was unemployed, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: But, I coudln’t qualify for unemployment. So I was living off of savings.

Kristen Jeffers: Mmm Yeah,

Ashley Dash: you know going through that process. I learned a lot about myself there was some personal things that had to happen and just but during the period 2008. I did land like I called my first real job, right? So you can’t see me but my air quotes my first

Kristen Jeffers: yes. Yes. Yes

Ashley Dash: with like you would benefits and you know, I can get my car and I can get my own apartment and and like really living the life, but that was dampened because the Great Recession did come. And while I want to say our organization that I was with at the time did not lay anyone off. Everyone had reduced hours.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm.

Ashley Dash: So and at the time I wasn’t salary right? It’s my first time I was an hourly person. I’ve still making good money, but you know,

Kristen Jeffers: yeah, yeah,

Ashley Dash: really. So every other week, you know, we had to get like a Friday off.

Ashley Dash: So part of it was like I could feel you know, the impact to my paycheck.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm

Ashley Dash: on the one hand but on the other hand I was. This is amazing because every other weekend I had like a three day weekend. So I was traveling I was busy.

Kristen Jeffers: Yes,

Ashley Dash: making all these road trips, you know, I was planning like two major trips twice a month because I knew that I had this, you know extra time, although my pay was impacted, you know, you know, I was I was able to deal with it. Wasn’t that big of a deal? But just [00:06:00] before everything kind of like during that time of the Great Recession if you survived, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: it was still this just level of uncertainty. Yes level of the Doom and Gloom on the news on the radio. So I definitely learned how to have conversations how to have uncomfortable conversations how to ask really tough questions when bby no one has answers. I’ve had some really good experiences during that time professionally where I could like Leverage for like interview questions in the future. So I want to say at the time I worked for a commercial trucking and organization and I was responsible for reporting, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: for the reports I was responsible for showing them, okay. How many trucks do you predict will be bought, you know on a on a monthly basis. So it’s like a rolling report and I remember sending this report. That was 0 for weeks at a time, months at a time to the Vice President of Sales vice president marketing saying hey, yeah, no one’s buying trucks and it was just these experiences that I was able I didn’t understand at the time but I was able later able to leverage these conversations into like interview questions.

Have you ever had a tough, you know conversation with someone? Yes. I mean who tells you know your first job your entry-level, right? Who tells the Vice President of Sales that no one’s buying trucks.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah

Ashley Dash: The last month or two right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah.

Ashley Dash: So yeah. Hi, like looking back. It makes so much sense. But when you’re in the moment, you really can’t predict what’s going to happen and where it’s going to go.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah, I’ve been through so many career transitions.  there been times where I’ve been unemployment eligible as well as times when it’s just been I’ve been fired and it always been times. I’ve had to walk away from positions  I feel like. Is something to be said about that flexibility and also being somewhere that you can be flexible,

but I want to go back to talking through that experience of even though you weren’t necessarily [00:08:00] making a whole lot. But in those early days before bills and like things of that nature really piled up being able to travel so much like I worked a $11 an hour job.

I worked it 40 hours a week. I was able to. Take a then-boyfriend on a plane up to DC. Which again is something you know, . I was back in Greensboro at this point, even if I had been in Raleigh, this is something you kind of just drive it, we did a hotel and all these things and I was like.

I was able to do that.  I was living at home. rent free. All I did was I went home. I pay my car note, which was very low  I had no credit cards back then credit cards did not become a factor until much later into my adult life.

And now let’s do it and now it’s like I’m that’s a. Yeah, it’s very much a monster. And I wish I can burn it send it back to work from where it came from but it happened  I sense that you’ve always had a bit of Wanderlust. Maybe

Ashley Dash:I do

Kristen Jeffers:You know, when did like what when you were coming up as a kid like would I know if my family was always a running joke, you know my grandparents live out on some property out in the country, but I grew up in Greensboro proper and I was like I have to go. Home and there’s got to be action going on. Part of the reason I live in the DC area now because it’s always been a city that was a goal City. And I was at person that would cry when company would leave.

Ashley Dash: Me too

Kristen Jeffers: like I just loved having a lot of action and energy in the house.

You know, my first train trip it took. Years for me to fly for the first time and now that I’ve been flying like I try to fly as much as possible, I’m the person that folks come to for directions. I am definitely not directionally challenged. So, when did you start to notice that about yourself that there was something where you just didn’t mind a lot of travel and a lot of moving.

Ashley Dash: Well, it’s [00:10:00] not myself. It’s actually my family. So I do have Wanderlust probably more than. All of my family grew up in a military family.

Kristen Jeffers: Ah,

Ashley Dash: so I am a military brat. I was actually born in England. So my first flight I don’t know.  So travel has always just been a part of my life.

It’s just something that. That we did now I actually grew up in a very small town called Jackson South Carolina. Very small very country.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: but I was always visiting like my aunt she had three three girls my cousins and I was my mom’s only child. So I was always like visiting them and because.

My uncle, you know that family they were military. So he was in the Army so they would be traveling across the country for his job. So every summer basically I would go visit them and they will be in a different part of the country. So when summer I was in Louisiana, another summer, I was in Texas

Kristen Jeffers: Um-hum

Ashley Dash: I was in Georgia another summer. I was in Maryland like that was just what we did. So for me, it’s just a natural part of my life and like my family and even now like my grandmother would jump on a plane. Like that’s just we go to Maryland for Thanksgiving and we’ll fly her out and she has no problem, you know jumped on the plane picking her up like our whole family is like that so I think that’s just something that we do as a family and that I just inherited now, my mom has always been a really an advocate of what she calls culturalization right?

She wants me to experience the world. She wants me to see. Where people live and their other perspectives, so I was always going on different trips or or opportunities, whether it’s like going to the Opera or going to a symphony or band is exposing me to other cultures so that I wasn’t I guess in her words be like, it’s Country Bumpkin.

She wanted me to experience life. So I think just. Even though I live in the country having these experiences where every summer I was leaving and seeing new things new ways of life. I think that just kind of carried over as an adult, right?

[00:12:00] Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: as an adult I was then able to make you know decisions for myself, but I think tried to be honest.

I didn’t really mean for all the traveling that has happened in my career to actually happen.

Kristen Jeffers: Okay.

Ashley Dash: It was like an accidental thing like one thing led to another so I remember. That’s my job a couple times and I realized it was time for me to move on. Like I was just like I was getting to a point where I wasn’t necessarily happy.

I kind of feel like I learned enough, but I really didn’t know where I wanted to go. But I was just like in this angsty place if that makes sense.

Kristen Jeffers: Oh, I understand that completely.

Ashley Dash: Yeah, so that angsty place where I’m like not happy, but I don’t want to leave. I don’t know what’s next just like all these questions and I remember seeing this position opening at Mercedes-Benz and I was like, you know what I’m going to apply.

Now here’s the thing. I didn’t actually think I’d get the job anyway.

Kristen Jeffers: Okay.

Ashley Dash: So this is my mindset at the time. Okay. I was working to Human Resources, but the position was like in compliance look HR compliance.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah

Ashley Dash: ever done anything like that. Like I was a recruiter. So I was like a happy career fair lady, you know telling people a lot how awesome it is to work compliance like the opposite of recruiting right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah,

Ashley Dash: but in my mind I say, okay. I’m going to apply for this job. They’re going to see my name see my resume. They’re going to say, you know, thank you, but no. Thank you. But they’re going to have like this name recognition. So when there’s another job at opens up, I’ll apply getting like oh, yeah, she apply for X y&z.

Okay. That was my mindset. When I applied for this position. I’m not going to get it. It’s okay. It’s part of a bigger plan. Right? So I actually applied for the position and then went on vacation for like a week because I didn’t think that I would, you know, hear anything back and I heard back like they call me later.

Yeah, we want to you know schedule an interview and I was like, well, you know, I work for the affiliate organization. They’re just being polite. Right.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Ashley Dash: So then you know, I do like, you know a phone interview and you know, everything’s fine. I’m expecting to say Hey, you know, thanks for applying but blah blah blah blah. All right.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah

Ashley Dash: I do the phone [00:14:00] interview and I don’t hear anything some of the okay not a big deal, you know, I wasn’t expecting this job and like a week later. They called back there like yeah, can you fly out for interview? I’m like what is happening? You know, I talked to my mom like yeah, they want me to fly me up and you know, things like that at the time I lived in Fort Mill South Carolina, which is like a suburb of Charlotte.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: and the job was actually in New Jersey or like the greater NYC area.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: so. Everything I can it was very interesting because in my mind, I hadn’t prepared for the job the way you would traditionally think that you would and every step the process. I was like, they can’t hire me like I don’t have any experience or this is just a courtesy interview or they’re just being nice, but I think when they flew me up, He got really real like, you know,

Kristen Jeffers: yeah.

Ashley Dash: Yeah you want to play it was my first time traveling for an interview. So that was a new experience and I want to take my first time in first class on the airplane. That was awesome.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

Ashley Dash: right and just you know having those the all the interviews so just really getting immersed into these like an experience is really enough enough.

There’s not another way to describe it where you just kind of have to go with the flow you having the all the things they talked about like in undergrad. Finally came to fruition at hell. Yeah, like yeah used interview. This was panel interviews that we have to talk. We have to like interview while I’m eating lunch.

Make sure nothing in my teeth and pop these people and what do you order and etiquette and all those things? You’re kind of? Yeah, whatever. Yeah all came together and that and they actually offered me that job and it. Again, interesting because it was like this temporary job. It was like this full-time project assignment where you do this job for two years and then after that you leave like that that’s basically what it was but I felt like it was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where like who when am I ever gonna get a chance to work for Mercedes-Benz, even if it’s just temporary?

Ashley Dash: Yeah that was kind of like the beginning of me [00:16:00] moving for my career. Kristen Jeffers: I had family members that would always fly in so it’s always a lot of going to the airport but never actually getting on a plane and I’m like, well what’s on the other side of the plane like, you know, what’s you know, I hear that there’s like a I mean you can see the Jet Bridge but like it’s like you just they disappeared into a tube to go into a smaller tube and then they like get to go somewhere and come back, you know, this was back before, 9/11 like the terror attacks and like you could go to the gate.

Ashley Dash: Yes,

Kristen Jeffers: so and you could go to the gate anytime you wanted to my parents my dad, especially like he would you know, once it was clear to do as an obsession with transportation vehicles, like my dad was would take me to the airport. We’d sometimes just sit and watch the planes go and then sometimes it would just be us going to the gate.

Yeah, my aunt still lives in Detroit and she would fly say into Greensboro.Airport or maybe occasionally Raleigh airport, but at the time Greensboro airport was definitely still like a thing that people did not to say they don’t do it anymore, but it was definitely more vibrant. And so we would just show up and like at the gate.

I’m I’m both of my parents only and so my mom had siblings and they at the time I just have one other cousin who was also an only they lived in Oklahoma City. I never visited them out there, but. And they were always come in for a little bit during the summer. So that was a big thing. It was like well what a wonder what’s going on there and like I have an uncle and aunt on both sides that both at one point lived in the Hampton Roads Tidewater area.

So there were years where we would go up and visit them and that was a car trip. And it was actually that set on my mom’s side that you know, we took the train up to DC to go visit them even they looked right outside of Baltimore to time on the south south end. So, you know, there [00:18:00] was that was already kind of brewing and cultivating but I myself did not make it on a plane until I was 20 and I had all the fear that comes from flying and just hearing about it and just seeing the process over and over again and wondering what’s going on on the other end. I think my mom was excited a little bit after she got used to the idea of me going to work in Kansas City, but I think part of it.

I think everybody probably thought that I had died just having to move away. For work, I worked for let’s see a good five, maybe six or seven years in North Carolina. I mean I did both rounds of schooling. I did, you know, a lot of I started getting involved in the community, you know, I lived in you know, I live separately from my family and my parents in North Carolina in Greensboro where my parents were just a few, you know few miles away and then after just being flexible like.

It wasn’t a thing of I didn’t think I could get this job. It was a thing of I had an email in my inbox and somebody saying you should strongly consider this and then continuing and I kind of knew and The Way It Was Written that this was a we love to have you how can we make this work? Yeah, and I’ve been spoiled ever since since things like that come up.

You know anybody that’s listening and wonders why you know, you might post something and you know, I think I’m a good fit. Don’t apply you have I have to apply I’m pushing myself to do more applying and not writing myself completely off now. Absolutely. I’m happy with building building a company and building a building a stack of things to do.

But I know for me it was that was kind of my first experience of even, you know, being flown places and moving away. And then I think that just really opened the [00:20:00] floodgates. I mean that same year. The Black Urbanist had really started to get people’s attention and I started to get paid speaking and workshops and doing some urban planning work.

So I would say 2014 really started to blow up in the doors for that kind of work and then the following years like, oh well for your, like day-to-day nine to five, you know, moving away and moving and doing something might be a possibility now. I’ve been trying to work in the DC area since the end of undergrad and it’s I am I kind of want to like go back into more of your story and like walk through all the places you’ve worked before I come back to how I got to DC because it that part of the story really talks about how I took I took initiative.And I definitely leapt into what has become a net but it was a it was a long way down to get to the net so

Ashley Dash: so yeah, so I’ll definitely gonna I’ll give you the kind of like my synopsis but like one thing I really do want to iterate is what you said about taking initiative. Like I might clients probably hate me because they hate hearing the word action like so I just say that so often like on repeat like take action take action take action just because I know what action can do like I know what action will create another action is like this ripple effect in my clients.

Like they don’t believe me until they’re on the other side, but then we can trace back to the one action. They took right that one thing they did.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm

Ashley Dash: that kind of change the trajectory of their career or. Trajectory of their life. So I definitely am an advocate of that in terms of moving. So yeah, I again from Jackson South Carolina I moved around a lot.

But that’s kind of home base for me. And then I went to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. So that’s what I’ve been most of my life, you know in South Carolina.

[00:22:00] Kristen Jeffers: Yeah

Ashley Dash: Traveling places but based there. So after graduation, I found a job basically right outside of Charlotte and I was there for about four years.

I want to say. Now I was having to actually I had a remote boss and the headquarters was actually in Portland, Oregon. So I was still traveling and you know, I see year I was based in South Carolina. Now, I got promoted got a cool job. And then that’s when I applied for the New Jersey job.

Kristen Jeffers: Okay, okay.

Ashley Dash: So that’s kind of just kind of how it started and looking back. It’s kind of like their trajectory change of my career just like that taking action just really having a resume and hitting submit. That’s really what it is. But once I got to New Jersey, I had a mentor and that’s kind of how she reframed how I viewed myself how I thought about myself that’s where the word branding came from.

That’s actually where I most people could say and at least in my mind where I actually became a career branding expert because I had been doing this. branding of myself my resume having conversations interview all along when he was in New Jersey that kind of package it together and became the same like this actual process that was repeatable not kind of like just guess and check.

So I was there in New Jersey for a little over two years and the company actually was open to relocate so they wanted actually Rico relocate the entire headquarters to Atlanta and I had to have family. It’s an Atlanta was fine. Actually never place. I wanted to live to be.

Kristen Jeffers: Okay.

Ashley Dash: So when the opportunity came up to move to Atlanta, I actually shifted over to Silicon Valley.

So I moved over from New Jersey to Silicon Valley, California, which was really cool. Yeah. It’s one of those decisions one of those opportunities were it was just like you mentioned where I didn’t really formally interview. It was kind of like a conversation. I knew who the you know, the. HR [00:24:00] Director was a kind of sent an email saying hey, you know, this is what I’m thinking.

You know, what do you think? Yeah, we had a conversation and you know, we’re pretty open house. Like look, you know, I know I don’t know what’s out there but I don’t want to really move to Atlanta. I’m going to send you my resume. I didn’t ask. I told him I’m going to send you my resume and if you think I’m a good fit for this role, you know, let me know if I’m like the top two the top two I will formally apply.

Um, if not, just let me know. No questions asked no no harm. No foul and everything will be fine. He said okay and I shot him with my resume. The only thing the next day the next week, I’m gonna say like a Thursday. So maybe like a Monday or Tuesday. We had a conversation and he was like basically job is yours basically was that conversation it was like.

What he was like I’ll give you until like, you know some extra time to think about it because you know, it’s a really big move but you know, I was like, are you sure like, do you want to talk to somebody else? So like I gave him my you know managers information and I believe they had a chat not I’m pretty sure they had a chat but basically the job was mine.

It was like not like I hadn’t even flown out there. We didn’t do like a video conference. It was like a phone call.

Kristen Jeffers: Oh awesome, which is great,

Ashley Dash: which is great. So that’s actually how. Got to Silicon Valley, California, which is super cool because like it’s known for Tech and you know startups and it and I’m an HR professional so that’s not something that you would think you would end up in

Kristen Jeffers: but I but they all hire people and you would hope they’d have HR that works

Ashley Dash: They do  but in your mind least for me.

Kristen Jeffers: Oh, yeah.

Ashley Dash: Yeah feet that way. So that was really cool. So I was there I want to say in Silicon Valley maybe less than a year right at a year. I can’t remember to be honest and then they have had. Opportunity for in Southern California. So basically like Long Beach, California outside of LA

Kristen Jeffers: mhm

Ashley Dash: to have another HR business partner role and I kind of just raise my hand. I was like, well, I’ll go [00:26:00] yeah. Yeah, it was one of those things where like, you know, Guys aren’t you know looking at whatever then you know, I’m totally open and they’re like, okay send Ashley.

So then I moved yeah to LA and again learned a lot learned about culture just really cool things. Enjoy it the California weather that you know, sunny California cool a talk about and it was really really cool. But at that time I was starting to feel like the I guess the homesickness or the itch to be you know home and I was making good money.

I was able to fly home, you know to visit that I felt like I was missing out and experience and I had a lot of personal things that were changing in my life. Like I broke up with my boyfriend for like a very, you know, we had been together for like a lot on and off for like years and yeah, you know, I was in school and I just wasn’t in a happy place to be perfectly honest.

So like career-wise everything looked amazing. It was fine, but I just wasn’t happy on the inside so. Had to make some changes how to really go through some some good bad and ugly experiences and ended up moving back to California, not California, to South Carolina.  So and it was during that time where I was able to really like reconnect become like a full-time entrepreneur really do what I do now the career branding and just really transition into this new phase of life.

It really was like a transition of okay, I don’t. Work for someone else. I don’t even know what that feels. Like. What do I do?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: so there was a lot of just questions and angst and learning and I found some mentors and business and you know, there was just a lot of things happening. So for like two years in South Carolina made my home base was there but I wasn’t I was traveling literally across the country to like take these classes learn these things skills meet these new people.

So I was in Texas. I was in DC. I was a [00:28:00] Maryland. I was just traveling and then I was like, okay during that time. I was visiting my sister and I was like kind of staying at her house when because I always fly out of Atlanta.

Kristen Jeffers: Mhm,

Ashley Dash: but I would travel so I would like kind of have a trip fly out of Atlanta and they kind of hang out with her for a couple days.

Hang up my nephews and things like that and then go home. So that was that was kind of like the the deal and. But I was traveling so much. I was always at her house. Yeah, because I was always doing something and she would always say, you know what you should move here and I’m like, I don’t wanna you know, it’s not really my vibe.

You know, I’m not really open to Atlanta. And then as I was growing in my business, I started meeting people from Atlanta had like a some other opportunities pop up and in. Came a little bit more real and earlier this year almost the beginning of the year. I was talked to my sister and I was like hey, how would you feel if I moved to Atlanta and like she’s screaming? She’s like, I’d love it.

Kristen Jeffers: I feel like she probably did a bunch of dances. She’s like you’re gonna be here and you know, your nieces, nephews. How what’s the balance there

Ashley Dash: I have two nephews

Kristen Jeffers: Okay. Well nephews excited, you know. Yeah.

Ashley Dash: It’s a bend. Once she okayed it and I didn’t really have to like, you know find a place to live. I can kind of just stay with her. It was like oh this could be super simple like yeah, I could just make the transition. So I always tell everyone I am now an Atlantean I’m like kind of like still unwilling in a way because in my mind I never wanted to be here not that it’s a horrible place because unless she was always showing me a lot of love and they’ve always been amazing opportunities, but I guess in my mind, I never thought.

Of it as a place to live. I think some I think some people at least for myself. They have places in their mind. They think they will live like, you know, you want to live in [00:30:00] DC, you know.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm.

Ashley Dash: I wanted to live in New Jersey like in the you know, DC, I mean the greater New York area. I think they’re just certain places you want to live and I have to be honest Atlanta was never on the list. It was always a list of visit for never to live.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm interesting like I know for me it was either going to be Atlanta or DC. I know for me my city that I like the vibe, but I couldn’t see myself living there. Necessarily is New York City. I do feel like New York City may be in the future

likewise.I just did it Los Angeles for the first time and I’m like, you know, this could be a thing like there’s so many places that I know. When a necessarily see myself living but I really enjoyed the vibe. I honestly looking back on my time in Kansas City absolutely enjoyed it cumulatively but you know, you talked about, you know being in a long-term relationship are trying to maintain a partnership with a person and that kind of blowing up and how to kind of fell into the mix, you know for me.

I definitely was pulled between two coasts. My ex help me kind of get to DC because I knew all the time when we were talking about this. I was like, okay. Well I can lean on them being there. You know, we have friends there also in the same industry and you know, we can I can kind of flex there. You know, my I’ve always kind of been I’ve actually grown out of this a little bit.

I don’t know if you read Daily Shine but there was a reflection on like doing things for yourself in one of the recent like daily, like sort of quote unquote meditations. It sends a sort of like, you know, and I’m like it took me a long time to kind of do things for myself.

I probably would have moved away quicker, but I kind of wanted to stay nearby and I felt this pull, the need to be nearby and I know you felt that kind of on the opposite end. I also felt a smidgen of that [00:32:00] when I came back to the East Coast.  I do feel like Kansas City sort of sits on an urban island.  Granted Minneapolis is not far away and I feel like Minneapolis is also a vibrant place and I would enjoy living there but I also hated driving through the rural parts of Missouri and Kansas basically anywhere where you can see for miles and you still are nowhere near close to being where you need to be was just insane. Whereas like I drive on the East Coast. There’s the forest and they start weaving through the mountains and then we start getting  close to the coast. You start to see the the shoreline and you know, there’s just so many changes even like I said, I feel like even I would say the southernmost cities. like I said your Georgia your upper, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina. You don’t really get far into the country until before you see Civilization now, I would I guess some people would question South Carolina.

On my mom’s side. We have family that’s down in like the Orangeburg/ North Area and so North when my mom and my aunt went down there a few years ago and this was back in the MapQuest era, the hotel was not there yet on the map like it was there but it wasn’t on the MapQuest yet some other stuff sort of disappeared. Like there was just yeah, they pretty much drove off the map because there wasn’t anything to get there. But yeah, I just took it back like I’m.

Kind of mentioned. Like I said, you know you were able to you really only worked for two corporations like you worked in Charlotte for one and then you worked for another and they were they moved you around the country were able to take advantage of that but even with the stability and sometimes I beat myself up for this because I’ve worked for a lot of different organizations and you know, I’m like, you know, if I would just be with the organization, [00:34:00] you know, that could plant me somewhere and I.start saving money and I can start being a philanthropist and I can really be part of like a community. But even with you having like I said having a fairly good working situation where they would move every once in a while, you still had that itch to do something on your own as well as an itch to be closer to family.

I will say that yeah, and I will say before I ask you my next question. I will say for myself. I know my entrepreneurial sort of my entrepreneurial like experience and like the true H came like before I was like, oh I’m gonna have this website and it’s going to be a public service thing and I’m still going to work for somebody’s non-profit and this is going to be a non-profit is going to be a C3 and I’m gonna be ED but I get to Kansas City.

I’m out there and for some reason I’m like all that time is spent by myself as I got adjusted to the city and next thing I know I’m like, you know, I’ve always liked patterns on like surfaces. Let me start drawing stuff. Let me like use my like Adobe Creative Suite and make these things. So then we get Kristpattern which is coming back.

It’s a little bit on hiatus because again, it was a dabble and actually jumping into that industry is a few more loops then I’m like, you know, I’m doing public speaking and I’m really good at it, you know personal branding up, you know, a lot of folks are in especially in the planning and development world like they’re great at marketing their building, they’re great at marketing their city. They don’t necessarily market themselves, and I can like definitely talk about that. So oh and I was at this conference this industry conference. I don’t know if any time when you were at Mercedes-Benz if you actually came out to the Transportation Review Board annual meeting, which I’m sure they were colleagues who did I’m sure I’m run into colleagues of yours there.

Ashley Dash: I did not

[00:36:00] Kristen Jeffers: Yeah, but that’s the thing is like it’s like the transportation Super Bowl like as far as research and like people piloting things and people sit around talking about things but it’s the basically an opportunity for people to just come and do powerpoints that look horrible. They literally take the the default. If it’s not PowerPoint is keynote. It’s not that it’s whatever Google Sheets has standard and not to say that that’s a problem like again designers made those and they don’t necessarily terrible out of the gate, but I’m like if you’re going and I know you will harp on this because this is what you essentially what you do now, but I’m like I cannot walk into another room.

And see another presentation look horrible. I know I can help people. I know I can make like I can make quote unquote boring things spectacular. We don’t have to do this every year you could come into to this conference and there are literally thousands of people we take up the entire convention center in DC.

Which is about four or five blocks by itself. We take over that entire space and then some of them like people could be talking about your thing. You could like I said, it’s a U-Boat, you know this as well. It’s great to be able to have somebody call you up and say hey I saw your thing. Please come and do this.

Speech. Please come and work this job. Please come and do this Workshop. I personally not that I won’t jump into an application period again, I have done that recently and it’s worked out well. I like being able to be called up and say hey, this is something that I want you to do and you know as we kind of I nothing we’re going to go completely ran out this conversation, but I definitely want to spend some time talking to especially I would say our sisteren other black women.

Who and I guess I would say straight-identified. I didn’t find not to say that, you know queer black women don’t go through this as well. But anyone who [00:38:00] as like I said a black person interacting through all the sort of struggles we have either with family or with society or with what it means especially as a college educated person depending on like what schools you went to or what organizations you are a member of or not a member of just you know, if travel wasn’t something your family could do if you’re especially if you’re first generation college or you know, you’re the first to live out.

Your hometown of there’s like a pool for you to kind of be your the mother bear even just a sister bear that kind of loads everybody together in your experience. And I know you’ve coached a lot of folks like this. How do you really get folks to see that? Like I said, it’s a good thing that you’ve got entrepreneurial ideas in your head.

It’s a good thing that you’re you got people calling you to come and work at a company. It’s a good thing to, you know, live not just across the United States but even consider International opportunities like talk me through kind of what you do when you have a client that has had some of those fears about moving and kind of becoming what I like to call an American expat or even like a real one like leaving the borders using that passport, you know.

Ashley Dash: So I do get a lot of those people and what I had to realize and to be honest, it made me uncomfortable and to be honest. I’m still working through the uncomfortability.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: that people who I did that I knew but you know, we weren’t like they went to my church. They were my friends and my sorority sisters they were yeah.

Ashley Dash: Yeah, they have been watching my career, but I had no idea right for me. I was just living life.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: I was just taking on opportunities. I was just experiencing what I felt like I could be the best decisions at the time throughout my years people were saying, how did you do that? [00:40:00] How did you do this? How did you do that?

And I kept getting these questions and I couldn’t understand why I was doing this question. So like oh, I was just applying for the job. Oh, I have some look at my resume. Oh, I did this like I was giving very flippant almost answers because in my mind it was that easy. And I have to be honest when I moved to New Jersey from Mercedes-Benz, that’s actually when a lot of things shifted for me.

That was actually when I first form I worked my first black female supervisor.

Kristen Jeffers: Hmm.

Ashley Dash: She was she became my mentor and I just took me under her Wing I had had other mentors but this was a mentor that kind of changed my life in terms of she sent me to get trained as a career coach. So I’m like a certified job and career readiness, you know coach and development coach, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome.

Ashley Dash: I’m so she does have these opportunities for me and as the opportunities for myself, I just began to say yes for myself other people were saying, how can I say? Yes, right. They they were coming. So a lot of times my clients were a lot of my friends or my family like I was practicing on them for lack of a better word.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah

Ashley Dash: One of my sorority sisters like she’s been like my guinea pig since this like junior year.

Kristen Jeffers: Mmm-hmm.

Ashley Dash: We were just practice things. I would practice things on her and they would work and then we would perfect it and we go do it again and it would work. So when clients are coming to me, they’re not coming to me totally brand-new by the time it gets to me.They know they want something different.

Kristen Jeffers: Mmm-hmm,

Ashley Dash: Either, they’ve had a conversation with me. They’ve heard me talk somewhere. They’ve seen my career. But they come to me saying, you know what I want something different. I just don’t know how to get there. Right? So a lot of my people that come to me they are mostly African-American. I would say most of my bases like 95-98 percent African-American females, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah.

So why coaching client that’s who doesn’t want my clients are a lot of [00:42:00] times they just need two things, right? They need to be told it’s okay to reach that high. Right. They just need someone to say, you know what you’re not crazy.

So a lot of times I repeatedly say you’re not crazy. You’re not alone your yeah self, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: Because a lot of times you feel crazy. And you feel like you’re by yourself you feel like you’re alone, especially if you’re at some of these big corporations and there’s like one of you in a room or yeah, you know, there’s like tokenism.

So the first thing that we talked about really is mindset is like, you know, what you can do this. I’ve done it. I had complete utter faith in you. But you have to be okay with some of the changes are going to come right? So once we get the mindset right up, okay, you say you want this you’re committed you’re invested in this process whether that’s money time resources.

Great. Now let’s put together an action plan. That’s why I really come in. That’s where I really come and say hey, I’m going to take action. I’m going to you know, get stuff done and that’s where I provide strategies. That’s where I provide the real help in terms of career branding. That’s where what get into.

That’s what I really get into what I do, right? So the personal branding the professional branding and the personal branding right? So those are the things that I focus on in terms of my clientele.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah,

Ashley Dash: I told him that it’s okay to dream big. Yeah, it’s okay to be amazing and dude. Wonderful things and you’re not crazy in the sky is not the limit. You can go above and beyond and this is how we’re going to make it happen.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah, and I feel like we need to hear that like I will go ahead and tell folks on this on this episode, you know, I reconnected with you and I said I’m what I’ve been one of those people that’s watched you climb, but likewise a lot of people have watched me climb as well.

You know a lot of people have been like well Kristen like where are you today or [00:44:00] how have you done this traveling thing or like you’ve literally gone all these places? Like how do you do that? Like, you know, I you know, you get the Litany of I have XX and next thing but I’m like no like what you’re saying about reminding folks that you’re not crazy was perfect like literally and just so folks know kind of how this conversation. came together. I during what I like to call my Odyssey 2018 where I literally spent 26 actually 27 technically because of the red-eye flight to get me back to the East Coast, days on the road. I am at the Kansas City Airport, which as many of you know who have followed me know that airport drives me up the wall.

It literally is a walled Fortress and it really hit me this time that that’s why it bothers me because once you go inside security, it’s kind of hard to get back out. I literally have Global Entry. I have a passport on me. Now. I have a real ID driver’s license, at the time (And for clarification this time is before I moved back to the East Coast and was flying out of MCI) . I still have my original North Carolina license and we I was on the renewal cycle where I didn’t need to change like literally I’ve changed my license because I’ve moved but my, North Carolina.

Just is going to expire in December. Like it would have expired in December. Like I didn’t necessarily need to do all you know change my whole license or anything like that, but I knew getting in and out of that security fortress at MCI meant I need to have as much IDs as possible or at least I needed to feel like I had as much id as possible.

And as you can hear in this it’s like extra stuff that we do to feel safe and like so I’m literally sitting at outside of the fortress. At a power outlets, like once I go inside there’s less power outlets. Once I go inside is less bathrooms. Yes, and who knows like how long it will take and then my flight kept getting delayed later and later and later.

Thankfully I hadn’t gone [00:46:00] through. I had checked my bag. So it’s kind of stuck on that flight, but I didn’t have to go through this Fortress. And so say if somebody wanted to come and pick me up Take Me Back Time bring me back. They could have done that. So I was like, yeah, I could do that. I’m sitting on my phone.

I’m charging. That I’m scrolling through Facebook and then I literally start playing a video that Ashley’s made and she’s talking about moving around like oh my gosh, you know literally right now I needed that reminder that I’m not the only one bounce around the country all the time that happens to be in a similar skin or skin tone and have similar Parts, you know, basically someone who is who understands this and then of course, I knew obviously about Ashley’s work and career.

I want to this will be the first of many episodes where I specifically talk about to a talk to people who are focused on the getting your career together portion of our lives. There will be more episodes upcoming that will focus stop talk specifically with folks. Who are urban planners and some of you are friends and colleagues and maybe you and then also I want to start talking to folks who don’t necessarily identify as urbanist quote-unquote.

But still, you know, you’re doing Ashley you’ve been you’ve lived in multiple places you’ve experienced places. And like I said now you have this you have cities that you didn’t see yourself being in but now you are part of that and again, you know as a business person being connected to places is important like that at that Atlanta Airport, may drive some people crazy, but I at least know and I think it’s the B terminal now that I can rent a bed and I gives me Comfort like

Ashley Dash: It’s home. Yeah, so I was laughing while you were speaking because you mentioned the airport code of your other airport, and I’ve noticed that Travelers a lot of people who travel a lot. They don’t actually say like Atlanta airport [00:48:00] or they don’t say, you know, You know Baltimore, they’ll say BWI They’ll say CLT.

Kristen Jeffers: Yes. Yes

Ashley Dash: I was laughing but I want to hit on an important point in terms of what you were mentioning and I know everybody’s you know different places in their careers and with us, aren’t you entrepreneurship is that that’s your career or whether it’s do a traditional 9-5 or something more creative and open and flexible for me.

I focus a lot on corporate and you know in terms of my clients. It’s but the one thing that I realized and what I saw was that a lot of my I won’t say like colleagues, but a lot of when I looked at the people who work successful at work when I was working, right? They were white males.

Kristen Jeffers: Mmm-hmm.

Ashley Dash: There’s always like a lot of stigma about, you know, kind of saying that calling out.I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. It’s just an observation. It’s life, right?

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah.

Ashley Dash: They were white men and what I notice about. Of the most successful white men the ones that were directors and when that were kind of like in the money that I wanted to make it’s like this is like their third or fourth rotation out of like our location like they were not afraid to travel.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah.

Ashley Dash: They were really open and saying yes to opportunities at different organizations and different cities and different states and though that people had kind of been at the same job for like 10 or 13 years and the same position never left, weren’t exactly happy so I started noticing the trends and what I thought of in terms of success and what I wanted now, that doesn’t mean that other black women weren’t successful because they were but they just didn’t really move the way I were seeing white males move.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah

Ashley Dash: I think I consciously I started like oh noticing like oh if I want opportunities, I need to move. I think it was just kind of like this thought that happens. And then once I did it one time and was successful, I would go I can do this again.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah. Yeah,

Ashley Dash: he’s repeated over and [00:50:00] over again, but it really is like super simple just have to realize that it’s happening.

Kristen Jeffers: Exactly and you saying it made me think about that quote, you know, if I can just have half the confi–or like. I don’t know like a finger of confidence of like a mediocre white guy, you know, I’d be doing all right, and like I said, I feel like you know, I also see that people might see the dark side of that people might see like white families say leaving their parents on the side of the road or whatever folks have like a stereotype is of like moving away from your family and like kind of doing things for yourself, but I am absolutely happy that we’ve made self-care and a just a minimum level of self-preservation default no matter where we are.

I am lately one of the things I’ve been tracking is just how much especially kind of in our in the community development space. You know, there’s a lot of talk about it’s not being done the tragedies things that are happening and like I said, it’s not that I feel like we shouldn’t highlight violations of public space violations of private space But like I wonder what’s going on that’s positive, you know, obviously, you know there are places to see that, you know, I read the whole newspaper.

I see it in the arts section, but I definitely one of the things I’m hoping to do as like time goes on like as this as my platform grows to continue to highlight more voices and more folks who are doing awesome things like yourself like helping folks kind of make those decisions and encouraging people and then like I said also just talking about kind of the places in the backdrops that that’s happened in and so as talking getting into sort of like the fun side of things, you know, I definitely want to do what I would call like it’s not going to be like another rounds rapid fire.

I’m not going to pull the guns [00:52:00] out, but I. Definitely want to do a series of quick questions and sort of in this conversation of like a few things. My first rapid fire is like as far as airports. We just briefly mentioned that you know, I have a feeling I might know what your favorite is, but you know surprise me tell me like what’s your favorite airport is and why?

Ashley Dash: My favorite airport is the airport is actually I’m going to say Jacksonville airport. It’s tied with DMV airpot

Kristen Jeffers: yes. Yes,

Ashley Dash: Because they at least the Jacksonville airport is so small. It’s so small security is so easy and I can basically walk on a plane.

Kristen Jeffers: Yes at that. This is so underrated when you have a small airport that works like that’s probably why I already why RDU is my favorite. RDU is beautiful. It is very easy to get in and out of especially Terminal 1 [I mean 2 here, but 1 has improved from the old days as well] Terminal 1 is very, like I said, it was built after the 9/11 environment. It was built for posts, you know major TSA security so when you go in there are multiple lines the queue moves fast, and of course, like I said now I have like I don’t have to take anything off besides maybe a jacket sometimes and so I just walk right through and I’m sitting there and of course I absolutely love all airports that take the time to think about like local food and like quality and food.

So but still any airport, we can just walk right through now, you know for as far as like being able to get in and out I thought. ATL was a favorite. But Denver. Yeah Denver is different Denver is like a new favorite. Like I feel like it’s got the convenience. Like obviously you got the train under it, but you’ve got this big open Atrium.

There’s a lot of in spaces and there’s a lot of things in each terminal where you don’t feel like you have to move a lot. Like there’s three major terminals. There’s a lot of shops. I feel like it’s what [00:54:00] Atlanta’s trying to do but not so many train stops and Terminals and the walk and people running around. Oh and even better. There are moving sidewalks on the concourses.

Ashley Dash: See I mean I use this like Charlotte used to be my favorite. I think yeah, I was most comfortable with it. Yeah the whole renovation every time I went it was under construction. So I was just like,

Kristen Jeffers: I feel like I don’t even know what that even looks like.I haven’t flown into Charlotte since probably 2015.

Ashley Dash: It’s been a couple years since I’ve flown through Charlotte

Kristen Jeffers: yeah, and I know they’ve been doing a lot of changes. I want to kind of go over there and see what’s going on just as such,

Ashley Dash: you know, because I’m going to be nosy.

Kristen Jeffers: And yeah, I want to be nosy.And like I said, I like reviewing and kind of getting a sense of what’s going on. But I know I won’t know where I’m going and I already know that the long-term parking went up so I’m like, okay, I can’t deal so one other thing. I would say which city that you’ve lived in has had the best food scene

Ashley Dash: Oh, California. I was in Artesia. That’s where I lived, basically Los Angeles County.

Kristen Jeffers: Okay,

Ashley Dash: and I thought it was going to be New York, New Jersey, but they had really good pizza like really good Italian.

Kristen Jeffers: Mmmm

Ashley Dash: In California least Southern California sudden, hold on Silicon Valley. I can’t remember.I just had really good food in California. They had these like eclectic places. They had like that would have you know food trucks I had watchos for the first time.

Kristen Jeffers: What is that?

Ashley Dash: A wacho is waffle fries with nacho toppings

Kristen Jeffers: interesting.

Ashley Dash: Yes I had my first Wacho experience in LA

Kristen Jeffers: I’m making a note for the next time.I’m out to find this Wacho place.

Ashley Dash: There’s this place with a waffle. That’s like I don’t know how to do like a waffle. It’s like chicken and waffles, but it’s like a sandwich and it’s but they put coleslaw on it insert and it sounds really disgusting [00:56:00] when you say it out loud. But it’s like my favorite place and they had like the spicy Barbacoa salad.

I’m not even sure where the cuisine was, but it was delicious. They had Chicago deep dish pizza in California that I really liked a lot their worst. They have really good Indian food. Like there were just so many different things that they had and yeah.

Kristen Jeffers: Yeah, I feel like I haven’t eaten my way through LA enough. I feel like this on the list like it was very interesting. I complain so much when I moved to Kansas City. I was like, I can’t eat my any of my comfort food. I don’t trust the seafood. There’s no Cookout. There’s no Bojangles. There’s no Biscuitville and that’s very specific to Central North Carolina. I’m like, there’s nothing here that I can eat when I feel sad. Fast forward three years and I’m looking back and I’m coming when I was back visiting. I’m like, okay. All these places were good. Like you don’t have like a dancing bean mascot brunch place anymore. That was a thing. So, you know just I even though I do have favorite food scenes. I do kind of subscribe to the water making a difference sometimes and weighed like things tasting or flavored but I feel like there’s you know, you live somewhere long enough, you’re gonna find your like stack of restaurants that you to take people to or you call up when you need some comfort.

Ashley Dash: So. I there were those farm-to fresh tables in California, I love those.

Kristen Jeffers: Oh, yeah. Yeah one last sort of rabbit fire. Like do you prefer like being driven around the city or do you like doing say the walking tours? Like I guess like, you know, you got the touristy buses or even just hitting Uber or Lyft multiple times versus say getting out walking a city, you know, you got all the dockless bikes now you got the scooters in a lot of places like how do you like exploring like areas that you tour like cities or even like smaller places

[00:58:00] Ashley Dash: depends on the city to be honest. If I’m in like a major city like New York, I do not want to be walking I want to be driven around and but actually no I don’t want to be driven around because traffic is crazy. Subway I did  a lot of subwaying in New York and I was in California, Sililcon Valley actually my mom she came to visit me one weekend and we actually got it Uber and we have to find the photos then there somewhere but we got an Uber this really nice gracious and provide. I wish I knew his name, but he actually took us to all the headquarters of the different like tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Kristen Jeffers: Nice, yeah

Ashley Dash: No doubt took pictures from like LinkedIn Google Facebook.

Kristen Jeffers: Nice.

Ashley Dash: We have all these random pictures just of our day just being silly acting really funny. Where we kind of like just had like maybe two hours and we were driving to come just took us to Samsung because he kind of knew where everything was

Kristen Jeffers: hmm

Ashley Dash: seems like what about this place? What about this place? And we were just like literally just hopping in and out the car just taking photos and having a blast so

Kristen Jeffers: that sounds pretty awesome. It reminds me of when my mom came up to DC the first time obviously there was a lot of Metro in that was involved, but it was also buried. Hold and you know as much as I am miss public transportation alternative methods, you know, I do still have a driver’s license and I do like using said driver’s license, you know, now that cars have the inside console and speaker systems and you know, it’s like, okay I’ve got this car that means I can like go on road trips now. All right, you know I can stay later than transit runs and you know with my mom being there. I mean, we went down to the National Mall and it was February and it was cold. And I just wish we could have just been picked up at every single museum. Now. This makes no real sense. They are all the mall is made to be walked all [01:00:00] two miles of it. And yes two miles if you never walk them all be prepared. Don’t think you’re gonna do it like a nice little stroll you will hurt even if you’re in good shape if you walk at you’re not prepared and so even though we went from we did not do the the African American History Museum together. I’ve done it but we didn’t do it together. We actually did Natural History because there’s the butterfly garden she loves that it was awesome. So, you know, I wish that I kind of could have teleported a little bit that day before –

Ashley Dash: oh love it

Kristen Jeffers: like even today and commuting like we now have the electric bikes and I’m like this the best invention ever because I can like zip around, you know, I can get from point A to point B I don’t have to wear myself out too much. You know, I’m working again. I’m on my feet all day. Like I need something that’s like a stable thing even as much as I want cities to like be diverse about it. But I also want us to kind of think about when it is appropriate to mix in the car things.

You know, some people are going to pull my card after this episode, but they should know better. They know that I’m a multi-modal person and like a lot of their people are as well that being said, I Ashley it’s been a pleasure to have you on the show. Make sure let’s make sure people know where to find you and especially if they’ve been tickled by these ideas around Career Development and career guiding and career branding.How can that happen for folks?

Ashley Dash: So a couple of different ways. So people just kind of want to check me out. They can go to my website and that is actually www.careercorneroffice.com so they can get some you know freebies from training they have access to like resume tips and just kind of like some really cool information.

So that’s where people normally go to check me out. They can get access to my book Finding Career Freedom. So a of information is there. A [01:02:00] lot of people who actually say hey I heard you I’m super excited. You know, I actually want to work with you. I actually have an application process. So those of you who are interested maybe I said something that makes sense or you know it’s time for you know a chat, I offer career breakthrough strategy sessions and if people go to www.workwithAshleyDash.com, they can go there and complete an application and I’ll review your information and we can jump on the phone how to chat about you know, what makes sense for your career. Like what’s the next step whether that’s in business or just your career life that that’s resumes or networking like I cover it all because I’ve had to deal with it all

Kristen Jeffers: yeah as we all as we all do and like I said definitely reach out on social media handles. Is that something you’d like to share with folks or should folks start with the career website.

Ashley Dash: I think if they start at the career website I would say that’s fine. You know,  they can find me on you know, Facebook Ashley Dash Career Branding Expert on Twitter @Ms_slfconfident. Like I have a couple different handles. So if you go to CareerCornerOffice.com, that’s where most of my information resides and then if you go to Facebook, that’s where you see a lot of my videos. That’s actually how you found me. If you go to Ashley Dash just type in you know, Ashley, that’s spelled the traditional way da sh, I normally pop up for Branding expert in the a lot of my videos and you know, my trainings and my group all the information for people who really want to get connected and we learn how to upload their careers all the information is there.

Kristen Jeffers: Sounds great. And this was great. Thank you for coming on and having this conversation, especially how you know, moving and place and all those things affect your career and just you know, being able to get out of any kind of comfort zone even if you’ve never moved or never plan on moving again, like there’s still things just [01:04:00] mindset-wise it’s helpful to learn and so with that I will I myself Kristen will come back and wrap up a few loose ends and but we’re going to go ahead and take a break here.

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