Episode 11: Ashley of The Courage Campaign
As the daughter of a professional boxer, a competitive athlete, theatre major, and fitness professional, Ashley has uniquely experienced a myriad of physical and mental training philosophies, and has seen what works and what doesn’t from various points of view. Her background and upbringing have taught her to successfully navigate failure, fear, and discrimination, and use adversity to redefine her own success. Through the work of her non-profit, The Courage Campaign, Ashley now aims to share what she’s learned and help others to unlock passion, invoke courage, and reinvent achievement..
HER BACKGROUND
Ashley talks about growing up with a father who was a professional boxer and speaks to learning about the dedication, respect, teamwork, and training that went into her father’s work. She also talks about her father’s full-time job as a mail carrier and the hours that he put into his job during the day followed by training and boxing in the evening. She also speaks about her mother who went on to get two masters degrees. Ashley was extremely driven and motivated by her parents. Ashley speaks about her move to Boston and the resiliency that her parents instilled in her and how that helped shape her journey.
HER WHY
Ashely talks about her why which she explains comes from so many different places but ultimately she never wants anyone who looks like her to be made to feel the way that she has been made to feel at various points in her life - from feeling small to self hatred to lack of confidence. In launching The Courage Campaign in the beginning she didn’t aim for it to cater to kids but in her fitness work she realized that being in Boston, her clients were mainly white women and her work didn’t feel connected to her why. She had to take a step back to realize that she wanted to focus her work on a population of people that were super vulnerable and she decided that she wanted to focus her work in schools.
ON HER STARTUP JOURNEY
Ashley speaks to her journey as very much falling into place. She speaks to knowing exactly what her why was and being unapologetic about who she is which created a lot of connections for her in terms of people reaching out and knowing exactly what they were going to get. She says that authenticity was the key for her. She also talks about fitness as such a great opportunity to be meeting others from all walks of life. We discuss the idea of simply getting started and putting one foot in front of the other and not necessarily having all of the answers.
ON STARTING A NON-PROFIT
Ashley discusses that hurdles are relative and that starting a non-profit, while taking a lot of bandwidth, is not necessarily hard. She discusses simply taking it step by step in determining what needs to be done and having the patience to wait for the approvals and paperwork during the process.
ABOUT THE COURAGE CAMPAIGN
Ashley speaks about The Courage Campaign and some of the impact that she gets to create. She speaks to being able to go into a room with kids and see them shine because they leave behind the normal classroom baggage. She talks about things that surprise and delight her in the process such as seeing a kid's physical fitness gains transforming over time. Watching kids do their pushups and burpees and listening to the logic behind why they want to be what they want to be. She talks about how school can beat kids down naturally but that she works to encourage kids to always find their magic and continue on despite this. We discuss the joy and excitement that comes with working with kids in that manner.
DIVERSITY IN WELLNESS
Ashley and I discuss a goal that she is setting out to achieve as a Lululemon Ambassador which is diversity in wellness specifically in the Boston fitness scene. We discuss the lack of inclusivity and diversity that naturally exists in the Boston fitness scene and how homogenous it can be in terms of instructors, clientele, clothing sizes and even the employees who are working at various studios. Ashley began to wonder how she was the anomaly. She asked where the instructors and young professionals were who looked like her because she knew it certainly wasn’t for lack of talent. She realized that those people are there but they don’t want to be in these white spaces because they weren’t comfortable. So she asked how to begin to solve this and realizes that part of the reason it is so hard to solve is because there are so many layers that run so deep that it feels as if you can’t get started. She stresses that when it comes to fitness or wellness no person should ever be excluded and believes that we can still create opportunity for everyone by starting through conversation and diversity in training and is excited for some things that will be coming down the pipeline with Lululemon in that regard.
FINDING SUPPORT IN BUSINESS & WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN
Ashley speaks to seeing that for every person that has made her feel that she didn’t belong there are five people that have disputed that very fact. She talks about being able to build her community and embrace every person that has been a part of it. We discuss Ashley’s hope for women to find more respect for the way other people do things and supporting the differences between women and not having to connect because we’re the same. She also speaks to respecting boundaries, wanting to see more women walking the walk and to be able to see more BIPOC women being a part of that conversation. We also speak to simply being on a human level and making mistakes and having humility and being able to apologize and own it.
NEWS AND UPDATES
Ashley speaks about her podcast, The Courage Campaign and some of the upcoming work she has coming down the pipeline and to be sure to follow along to stay updated!
Book Club Recommendations: Elaine Welteroth, More Than Enough
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