If you’ve ever dreamed of #becomingaboss, you’re not alone! This HC Hofstra series profiles women who are killin’ it in their career — and it’ll show you how they became a boss, and how you can become one too.
Meet Ashley Brooke – the creator and CEO of Ashley Brooke Designs. ABD is home to a lifestyle blog and a line of fancy and colorful home goods products and accessories. Ashley Brooke’s mission is driven by the idea that “Tuesday can be just as fun and fancy as Saturday night” — and her brand embodies that! From hand designing all of her products, including makeup bags, coffee mugs, phone cases, notebooks, stationary and more, to updating her lifestyle blog to maintaining one of the prettiest Instagram feeds, it’s clear that Ashley is all the goals, and we know ABD will be your newest obsession!
Describe your college experience – where did you go, what did you study, and what were you involved in?
I went to Seminole State College in Florida and I went to school for interior design, so I was always involved in the art world. My dad was a photographer, so I grew up in his studio. I’ve always been around entrepreneurs and the art industry. When I was growing up in high school I wanted to be a makeup artist. I spent a lot of time going over books about cosmetics and drawing faces. Then I interned with a design firm in high school and I loved it — it meshed together all the things I love. I fell in love with interior design and I went to school for that. I loved college and had a great experience! I was very into my major and that’s where I started.
How did you find your passion for entrepreneurship and designing?
I didn’t have a normal childhood because I was always in the design studio with my parents and I didn’t really know that there was another way of life. It started very naturally.
What made you want to start a blog to go along with your business?
When I graduated design school, the market crashed. I started a job with a great firm and I got let go after three weeks via email – it said, “Don’t come back in.” Everyone was panicking because the market crashed and it was very scary to be a young adult out of school. I was pretty much unhireable. Interior design was the first of many categories that got hit really hard. Interior design is a luxury, so it was one of the first industries to get hit hard. I had all of these skill sets and all of the design firms were letting everyone go. Every time I would drop off resumes, everyone would just say that they couldn’t hire me. I couldn’t get a job to save my life! I actually went to work with my parents as their retouch artist. I worked with them and would stay late and teach myself Photoshop. I needed to make some thank you cards and that’s where it began. I used skills from my interior design background and Photoshop and fell in love with the process — starting something from scratch and seeing it produced. I needed to get my work out, so I started a blog at the same as my online shop. I created the blog to engage with other people and get the word out.
What advice would you give to college girls who aren’t sure exactly what they want to do with their career – or girls who have an idea, but aren’t quite sure how to pursue it just yet?
I think one of the things that I was really thankful for was that I tried out a lot of career paths before the stakes were high. I interned at some design firms. At one time I thought I wanted to be a boutique owner, so I worked at a small boutique. I shadowed makeup-up artists. Actually get out there and try it out – you can potentially shadow someone maybe twice a month where you can get a little bit of life experience. I would recommend shadowing people or interning to actually dip your toes in the water.
What are the most important things a collegiette can do to prepare herself for a successful career in the “real world”?
There’s a few things: definitely get on a schedule. Be self-aware of what your talents are and what your shortcomings are. If you’re a morning person, focus on that and do things that are useful in the morning. Be productive in learning about yourself. In college, you learn about yourself and your trade. Half the battle of being a successful person in the career world is knowing yourself and knowing your limits. Learn those things about yourself and shift more from the carefree lifestyle (that you still can have in college). Just know your boundaries and lean into those and work on self-awareness and self-assessing. I think what’s helpful for a college girl is knowing that showing up is half the battle and you [as an employer] want people who are consistently reliable. You know they’re going to show up and get their job done and you can count on them. Learning about yourself and getting those good habits started before entering the work world will make it not as hard.
You create every single design for your products. Where do you find inspiration for your brand?
I find a lot of inspiration in florals and nature and in fabrics and textiles. I also find a lot of inspiration in being with my girlfriends and hearing them say things, or thinking of things that I would love to hear from people (espeically in the morning before I’ve had my coffee!)
No two days are alike in both the blogging and entrepreneurship worlds, but what does a typical day look like in the ABD headquarters?
On a typical day, we get into the office around 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. and make our list for the day first thing in the morning. I try to do a lot of work – returning emails, meetings, conference calls, writing blog posts, before 1:00 p.m. Then we break for lunch and afterwards I work on designing or creating outreach, trying to find new and creative ways to sell our products.
Are there any mistakes you’ve made along the way that have helped you improve yourself or your brand?
We make a mistake at least every single day. Sometimes you have wins and sometimes you have losses, but we like our wins to outnumber our mistakes. My dad always said, “Fail, fail, fail and then get better.” One mistake we’ve made in the past is not being true to ourselves. That becomes really difficult when you create a brand and it’s not very transparent as to who you are. As the mascot for ABD, I have to be authentic. In the early years I was scared. Putting yourself out there is daunting, and we lost a lot of momentum in the early years. But God only made one of you, and you have to use that to your advantage. People will try to copy you but they can’t truly copy you because you are the original. In addition, not asking enough questions and not utilizing your network is huge – I’m a huge believer of asking people questions.
How do you handle competition or comparison?
I think I have good days and bad days. There are some days where it is a puddle of tears (because I am a girl and I get emotional!). For the most part I keep my head down and I tend to not follow people on social media who are “competitors”. I try to stay away from looking at that so my ideas don’t get mixed up with their ideas. I just try really hard to keep my head down and make decisions about what we are doing. It is really hard when you work on something that takes time, heart and effort and then see that get ripped off. But remember that copying is a form of flattery and you can create something new and it will be okay – you can pull yourself up and move on. I just try really hard to not get mixed up in any sort of thing that is similar. I follow things on social media that are way out of what I do. I follow people like florists and travel bloggers, so I keep my brain pretty clean.
What are the most important qualities you look for in interns or employees?
Enthusiasm – 100%! I am always looking for someone who is really excited and is willing to learn and take the next step. It’s nice to be to be able to teach someone and have them ask questions and take the leap. It’s encouraging as a business owner to have your employees doing outside research and investing in your company as well. Your company is your baby and you want your team to be in the same boat in the same direction.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
My husband, Ryan, and I work together and that’s such a huge blessing that we get to do that. Also, creating a product or design from scratch and putting it out on paper and seeing it as an illustration or a design on a screen keeps me going. It’s not even the process, it’s seeing the finished product and getting to hold it in your hand that is exciting.
If you could pick just one highlight of your career so far, what would it be and why?
There have been a lot of special moments, but I think selling out of our first order of coffee mugs was really special. Also, having Reese Witherspoon name us as one of her favorite blogs in People Magazine was amazing! And when Ryan came to work with us, that was a really cool moment.
(HC Note: find Reese Witherspoon’s shoutout here!)
What’s your favorite way to unwind after a stressful day?
We can just sit on our front or back porch with wine and talk about our day or take a walk around the neighborhood. Since we work from home, we like to get out of the house!
Go to Starbucks order?
A grande nonfat extra hot latte.
If you could only pack three things in your makeup bag, what would they be?
Oh gosh…definitely mascara, an eyebrow pencil (because that is too real, that needs to be there), and a checek balm that could also be put on the lips!
What long-term goals do you have for ABD, and how do you plan on getting there?
We have a lot of goals and dreams for the company, like to put out artwork and grow the lifestyle portion of our blog. I think working towards that and taking it step by step is how we’ll get there. We have a lot of goals and lot of big plans within the next year and I hope to see a lot of those things happen!
Be sure to follow along with Ashley Brooke on her website, and on Instagram and Twitter!