Do What You Love - episode five: Ashley

**This is the fifth in an ongoing series of posts that I will be featuring here on Monday mornings that I made for the Gap, you can read HERE for more info about how this series came to be, and the finer details of what it's all about. In short: This is a new series that will be featuring women who Do What They Love for a living. Women who are living their lives on their own terms, and finding success.

If you have been reading here for a spell, then you might remember Ashley from the wedding video that I posted HERE back in August. Ashley and her family won me over that day as I saw how completely they all came together full of optimism and humor, as a particularly nasty FL thunderstorm ripped through their wedding venue and tried its best to ruin things with wind and rain. Watching people that can just roll with what life delivers and stay focused on what is important is rare these days-- the bad weather just made them all sweeter and more together. It was so nice to see. I was just starting to put this project together back in August, so when I learned that Ashley was a world famous real deal bona fide NYC Rockette I stored it away and hoped that I would be able to get to NYC to make some pictures and video and tell her story. Turns out that it did work out. I took a trip to the North East to do the next round of "Do What You Love " profiles and my first stop was the big city of New York and I was lucky enough to spend a day running around Broadway and catching Ashley performing at Radio City in the big Christmas show spectacular! It was my first time in the famed historic Music Hall. It is one of those wonderful places that just radiates its history, and you can feel the good vibes and the excitement upon entering the building.

Ashley met me for a couple hours before her afternoon performance and gave me the low down on her life pursuit of making it to NYC and becoming a dancer at the big show. Ashley is that special kind of rare that stayed deeply in love with her first childhood day dreams of a fantasy job. She wanted to become a dancer when she grew up, and that stayed with her throughout her life and became a driving force to achieve what she wanted. Beyond just hard work and persistence, it was obvious that a great support system was beneath it all. To have parents that believe your dream is as possible as you do gives that magic legs and great things can happen. Her Mom & Dad had just visited, they were there for opening night of the show, and I imagined how awesome it must be for them to watch their little girl all grown up on that stage doing exactly what she said she was going to do, in front of thousands of people on the biggest stage in the world. Of course part of the path to get to where she wanted was in doing things she didn't necessarily want to do. Shitty jobs, and late hours, and taking gigs for almost no pay that lead to the hope of better opportunities. It's romantic to say "I just followed my gut" but most of the time in doing so it isn't a direct path to what you want, Ashley talked with me about having that ability to keep your eye on the end goal and to not let all of the paying dues cash you out and leave you mentally broke. After Ashley left college with her performing arts degree she was working in dance circles that could potentially have trapped her into living a lifestyle just collecting paychecks, but not really getting her to what she wanted. She wanted to be on a big New York City stage in a show, and doing what she loved. So she packed up her life and moved to NYC to give it a go. She was leading the life of endless auditions and scrapping by in the service industry at night. The famous starving NY artist story while she was running down a dream.

As perfect of an ending it is to see Ashley doing what she set out to do, in the place she wanted to end up in... it is an even sweeter story to hear her speak about her husband Ryan and their new life together. For years while she danced around the country on tours and split her time in NY on auditions and shows, she managed a long distance relationship with him. A mix of longing and support was key for them. Ryan knew when to say: "I miss you so much I wish you were here", and when to say: "Don't you dare give up!" After this current run of the Christmas show at Radio City is over, Ashley is moving back to Florida from New York-- and in anticipation of her arrival and move, her husband secretly built her a DANCE STUDIO. As a surprise, he turned part of some commercial property he owned into a dance studio for his wife, so that she had a place not only to keep dancing in, but a place to teach others in. He knew that for her to have real balance in her life, that she needed an outlet to do what she loved, and so he made her a place to dance. So while Ashley has the ability to keep auditioning for new shows and to land herself back on Broadway, she also has a home and roots she stays connected to. Knowing that people believe in your dreams doesn't make them come true, but it sure helps to keep you going.

Please enjoy the video below...

**Pictured Above: Long & Lean Jeans (black wash) by: Gap



For more videos and stills and loads of denim inspiration please take a look HERE. it's a really great collection of images and looks.

**All of the clothes seen in the still images and video were provided by the Gap for this series, you can check out the entire 1969 collection HERE

The Music was provided as always by the band: Rabbit! - Song: Fall Into Love - This song is available for purchase on their album Connect the Dots which you can grab HERE.

If you missed the first posts in the series, please take a look HERE

All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

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