Ashley Mikell

I attribute my success to God, of course. I would also say definitely being authentic in everything that I've ever done. When I started my business, it was on YouTube, and I would just show up authentic. I would talk about subjects that made me genuinely excited, and using tools, or explaining tools to my audience that have helped me regulate my nervous system and find direction. Being consistent and always reinventing myself has been key. Even to this point, being able to expand - I started on YouTube, and from YouTube, that led to one-on-one services. From one-on-one services, it led to me opening my retail store. From my retail store, I did pop-ups. From pop-ups, I had products in-store. From that, I was able to relocate from San Francisco to Miami, and lead in-person activations and corporate wellness services. And from there, I converted over to scaling and corporate wellness. From now, I'm developing a podcast. Understanding what my clients need and offering different services to nurture different touchpoints has been important. Listening to my intuition - I always knew when to pivot. I kind of see trends ahead of time, and topics that maybe a lot of people aren't talking about. I'll go and study it, and then I start providing those services, and then I get another download intuitively. Investing in my growth absolutely has been another thing. I love studying, but not only just studying, finding different products and technology that I use. I always have a North Star, so I have a purpose. My work is rooted in purpose, and I didn't just build a business, I built something that I know in my heart was meant to help people regulate and heal, and also be the best versions of themselves.

The best career advice I ever received was to dream big and reverse engineer your dreams. So start with the big idea, and then work backward so that you can break down that goal into actionable, everyday steps and measure your progress.

I would say you were born with a calling, and within that calling, have confidence in what it is that you are most drawn to. The way that you can identify what it is is your natural interest. Anything that keeps coming up in your mind that you're thinking you should do, go for it, because that more than likely is your natural innate ability, your natural talent, and that natural talent is going to gravitate the right audience toward you. So never doubt your natural abilities. I would also say give yourself permission to evolve and explore. A lot of people feel pressure to have everything figured out early, and I certainly didn't. If you would have told me 10 years ago I would be doing what I'm doing now, I would believe it, but not to the extent that I'm at now. I think I've exceeded my own expectations, which is amazing, and it's beautiful, and I'm so grateful that I've been chosen for this line of work. But I never put myself in a box. I never limited myself. And even when I didn't have it figured out, I remained confident that I was going to figure it out. I'm doing something completely different than my parents did, my friends do, and my background, my family, my support system - everyone's very empathic, but when it comes to healing, and natural healing, and emotional healing, I'm the first one to do it. So, I never was afraid to be different. Understanding that giving yourself the permission to explore and evolve, that's the biggest teacher. Every person's journey is different, and growth comes from exploring different paths and learning through experiences. I would also encourage young women to definitely invest in their personal development, whether personal or professional. Surround yourself with supportive communities. If you're around people who don't believe in your vision, it's not the end-all, be-all, that's just a sign to pivot and find the communities that align with your vision. There are so many amazing resources, from Facebook groups to Eventbrite, even on Threads - find those people who are doing the same things that you are doing, or are aligned with your mission, and indulge yourself in those communities, and don't be shy. We live in a time now where I feel in-person community as well as online community is very accepting, and there's a place for everyone. So never feel alone, or misunderstood, because there are people who will understand. Just a reminder that leadership starts with self-awareness. So when you understand yourself and your values, you'll make decisions from a place of confidence instead of feeling under pressure or anxious.

I would definitely say there's a really huge opportunity in my field to continue building community-led events that promote somatic healing while partnering with other organizations who may do body movement, emotional intelligence workshops, or any other fields that tackle mental health. This is a really great time. The challenge with that is just getting the younger audience engaged, but also the more mature audiences as well, because a lot of people think they can do it on their own. While I see a big shift in people becoming more open to engaging in community support programs or activations where they truly allow themselves to be vulnerable, I think there could be a little bit more of a push in building comfortability there. I also think a lot of people still think that well-being is a luxury, something that is more of an expenditure versus a foundation for performance. Who you are and how you treat yourself is how you show up in the world. So, there's a lot of practices that support nervous system regulation, or emotional resilience, or mental health, mental clarity - they're undervalued, I think, until people reach burnout, until they hit that rock bottom, until they're in over their heads and super overwhelmed. So again, I think that could be where the opportunity is, because we are getting to a point where organizations and people are starting to understand that the key to sustainability requires regulation, and this creates space for new approaches that integrate neuroscience, somatic practices, or experiential wellness into everyday lives, but also workplace culture.

The values most important to me in my work and personal life are definitely transparency, honesty, integrity, consistency, dependability, compassion, and community.