What happens when life takes an unexpected turn and suddenly you're a 20-year-old single mother needing to create a stable future? For Ashley, it became the catalyst that launched her remarkable journey from the factory floor to VP of Human Resources.
Ashley's story defies conventional career trajectories. Growing up in a blue-collar family where college wasn't necessarily the expectation, she found herself working in the same hot dog factory as her mother—hired by the same HR professional who had brought her mother on board nearly two decades earlier. But ambition burned within her: "I wanted to explore what my full capabilities were." That desire, combined with the responsibility of raising a child, pushed her to discover her passion for human resources through a chance encounter at a staffing agency.
Twenty years later, Ashley has transformed her organization by implementing the Seven Healthy Habits across six companies under a holding company structure. Her approach centers on a powerful principle: self-improvement must precede relationship improvement. "Build a relationship with yourself and then go build better relationships with the people you live with and work with," she explains. This philosophy has created a common leadership language from the executive level down to supervisors, fundamentally changing how teams communicate and collaborate.
Ashley's educational journey mirrors her professional one—persistently pushing boundaries. After completing her undergraduate degree, she earned a Master's in Leadership, began teaching at the university level, and then pursued an MBA to expand her capabilities further. Her mantra? "We don't fail, we learn." This resilience defines both her personal philosophy and the leadership principles she now instills in others. Listen now to discover how embracing unexpected paths and focusing on continuous self-improvement can transform not just a career, but an entire organization.
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Hi, I’m Marc Thomas, Founder and CEO of Current TEK Solutions and CYBER GUARDIANS. If you or someone you know could benefit from our cutting-edge IT and cybersecurity services, we’d love to help. Reach out to us today to learn how we can secure and elevate your business. https://www.currentTEKsolutions.com
Episode Transcript
But really just introducing.
You know, small things likejust planning and communicating
and preparation, and it reallyfocuses on self-improvement
before you can improverelationships.
So it's really, you know, builda relationship with yourself
and then go build betterrelationships with the people
(00:21):
you live with and work with Awhole new discipline.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And for me it was, it was a whole new discipline of
putting that like as a priority.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'd never done that before, so like it's like
retraining your brain.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, and that in itself could be a challenge,
right, I mean?
And then you have you have afamily and with that family,
then you have those influencesright around you, right, and
that can be a challenge initself.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, and not everybody wants to eat mom's
healthy recipes, right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Sure sure.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Another one of mom's healthy recipes.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
No, we went to pizza and breadsticks and all the
things that go with that, notthe healthy stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So you touched on this, these uh, seven healthy
habits and bringing into yourworkplace.
Um, you're in the manufacturingindustry as far as the industry
you're serving and youremployer, but you are on the the
human resource side of things,correct, correct, yes, and
that's where you've built yourcareer yes, yes, so I this is.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
This is my 20th year in human resources
congratulations, that's a niceround number yeah that's awesome
, um, and you introduced this to.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You're able to introduce these habits to a team
and teach them on that, um, themanagement team yeah, so we are
one, one of six companies undera holding company.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, so, um, what was really awesome is I shared
this idea with our board ofdirectors and they were so open
and they're like let's do it.
Uh, we had the opportunity tobring leaders from all six
companies through multiplegroups and small courses and
introduce it, you know, companywide.
(02:11):
So it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, that's fantastic and the feedback you
get from the team.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah.
So it's really helping build acommon leadership language,
right.
So when we, when we started atthe executive level, it's like
if we can't do it from the top,right, we got to start there.
We got to start there and buildthe stability.
So we were fortunate enough tobe able to have a consultant
from Franklin Covey come in andlead some of those classes and
(02:42):
lead some of those classes andthen the last two I have done
solely working down to, like thesupervisory level or
engineering those strongindividual contributor levels as
well, but really justintroducing small things like
just planning and communicatingand preparation, and it really
(03:05):
focuses on self-improvementbefore you can improve
relationships.
So it's really, you know, builda relationship with yourself
and then go build betterrelationships with the people
you live with and work with.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Love it.
I know myself I'm working on me, right.
I mean, I have to work on mebefore I can work on anything
and help those around me.
So I can really appreciate thatand understand where you're
going with that and how you'remaking that work, um, for you,
but in helping others, make thatwork for them.
Uh, you talked about 20 years.
That's a that's a long time so,but you went from zero to 20.
(03:41):
What influenced your careerjourney?
What got you started?
Right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And I have thought about this and it's just crazy,
honestly, to me, how I got here.
If you would have said to16-year-old Ashley that at you
know, in your mid-30s, you be avp of hr, I would not have
believed you you know, I just Iwouldn't have.
(04:11):
I had.
I had great influences.
I was so I didn't grow up in afamily that was like very
college bound, right like I grewup very blue collar.
My parents worked inmanufacturing, actually putting
myself through college.
I worked at the same hot dogfactory.
It was hired by the same HRlady that hired my mom 18 years
(04:35):
before you know so, and I hadthe opportunity through high
school.
I think back about it, highschool and my first couple of
jobs.
People saw things in me that Ididn't see in myself and I was
like I can't thank those peopleenough, right, and so I try to
(04:57):
do that now and I have theopportunity to be in a career
that lets me do that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
But it's you know there was times where I was
working three jobs going toschool, full time, you know and
trying to just figure it out.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of
lessons, because my path wasnever straightforward.
I was taking all the dirt roads, like I made it a little bit
harder than it really had to be,right, but luckily they all
kind of like circle around toeach other.
Yeah, yeah.
And then what really happenedis um, surprise, hey, you're
(05:37):
going to have a baby at 20.
And so then I'm like I have tobe somebody for this human Right
, like I want to be a mom thatmy son can be proud of, know the
life.
That's maybe a little biteasier pathways for him than how
it worked out for me.
(05:58):
So I walked into this agencylooking with my baby Okay, I was
(06:27):
a single mom.
I ended up being a single mom at20.
So I walk in with this babycarrier and I'm looking for a
job.
That's in the same town as theuniversity, and this lady looks
at me and she says well, how doyou feel about working here?
You know, I didn't.
(06:49):
I didn't even know what thatmeant, right.
So I got the job and in thestaffing agency and that's where
my love for hr came from sothis I was.
I started interviewing.
You know working with companiesto do their job placements,
helping with job descriptions.
You know managing, you knowpeople on site at other
(07:13):
companies learning about payrolland I was like, oh, I like this
.
So for the third, and finaltime I changed my college major.
And here's, 20 years later.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So you know, you said that 16 year old Ashley knew
what a dream to be VP and HR anddo these things.
What did you think you were?
What path did you think youwere going to be taking?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I knew I didn't want to just work in a factory my
whole life, which I do, just ina different capacity, because I
do love the idea of how thingswork and how the world turns
Right and it takes manufacturingto do that.
I just wanted to be something.
(08:00):
I don't.
I know that sounds Somethingmore.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, like More just, you know, those types of things
you didn't want to just packyour hot dogs.
Whatever rolling might've been,you wanted to.
Yeah, More challenges.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And so I wanted.
I wanted to explore what myfull capabilities were and at
times I thought I had maxedthose out.
And then, you know, I hadpeople who pushed me and put me
in roles that forced me to growand learn right, because I would
.
Failure is never an option,right?
(08:36):
I mean, we don't fail, we learnright.
Right, so it is.
How do I figure out if someonetrusts me to do this?
I can not let them down andwe're gonna figure it out.
And if you're telling me thatthis is my job.
I'm gonna give you everything Igot.
(08:56):
There's no sense in doingthings halfway, so and I think
that has propelled me a littlebit into more opportunities to
grow.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, and so do you think that's what is, I guess,
motivated you and keeps youmotivated?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, I would say so.
I am naturally a motivatedperson.
I always want to be like okay,if I got here, what's next,
what's next, what's next?
Right, I'm always setting thatnext stepping stone and figuring
out how to just keep going.
So, yeah, it's that fire.
I have a little bit of fire.
That's like I know I can do itand I'm going to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So, as a single mother, 20 years old, you happen
to walk in the staffing agency.
They ask you if you'reinterested in working for them.
At that point you realize that,hey, I kind of like doing this
thing, and that led you on apath of changing your education
to be focused on HR.
Now I know personally that youare driven to continue on.
(09:59):
So you did your four years.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I did.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
And that wasn't enough.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
No.
So then I decided to take onanother year and got my master's
of science in leadership,because I loved being able to
help people grow and influencethem to be their best versions
of themselves, so that reallytugged on me.
So after that I actuallystarted, uh, teaching
(10:27):
undergraduate courses at theuniversity.
So then I decided I need tokeep going again.
So in order to expand what Icould teach, I went and got my
MBA as well.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I'm Mark Thomas, founder and CEO of Current Tech
Solutions and CyberGuardians.
We know business owners likeyou want to focus on growing
your company, not worrying aboutIT problems or security threats
.
That's where we come in.
Our team uses AI to protectyour business from cyber risks
and keep everything runningsmoothly.
If you're ready for peace ofmind and a stronger future,
(11:07):
reach out to us today.
Let's secure and elevate yourbusiness together.
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