Ashley Jones

I actually started in this industry as a senior in high school. I was enlisted in the Navy, but when I got called up to go to basic training, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, so I couldn't pursue the Navy. I came back into the industry when she was young because I was a single mother looking for something stable and long-term that I knew I could support my daughter with. The position just grew on me, and I grew to love what I do. I've always been in the service industry, customer-based work, making sure people are happy because that's my happy place. Along the way with this journey, I've been reception, clerical, sales staff, executive assistant, store manager, and now I'm the VP of sales with the company. I've done all of that with the one company over 21 years. I deal in strictly office furniture, outfitting entire office buildings, whether it's just a mom-and-pop business that needs a single desk, someone looking for a home office setup, or Fortune 500 companies where I find out exactly what their needs are, their staffing needs, storage space, and we provide all that. I'm here at 6:30 every morning. I open the store, do the shipping and receiving paperwork, do the invoicing, and then greet customers when the doors open. A lot of my job entails email and phone calls with my long list of clientele who just call me up and say they need something, and I get right on it. I oversee shipping, receiving, and assembly in the warehouse. I pretty much run the store from the front to the back. I call this my hustle phase because I've come so far and gone so high up the chain. I'll work 11 hours a day and I'm very responsive with my emails because that's what customers are used to. They want someone that can give them a response quickly, and that's what I do. Our business was founded in 1997, and I started here in 2003, then came back in 2005. The original owners sold the company in 2022, and our new owners, who are such a blessing to us, basically handed me the proverbial keys and said to run the store because they trust me. Within that first year, our sales went up 30% and our profits went up 20%. It was all just a change in management. I was given the opportunity to prove, not only to myself but to everyone else, that they made the right decision and the store is in good hands.