An inspiring exploration of self-permission and personal transformation. Discover how releasing the need for external validation and giving yourself permission to pursue your dreams can unlock true freedom and authentic success.
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I stopped measuring success by accomplishments and started measuring it by freedom. The freedom to stop waiting for permission and start the life calling you.
Ashley T. Reese · In Her Own Words
In Conversation
Ashley T. Reese for Bold. Brilliant. Unstoppable.
Read the transcript
Ashley T. Reese: Being an influential woman is about using your experiences, lessons, and voice to make a difference in the lives of others and in your own.
What does being an Influential Woman mean to you?
Ashley T. Reese: Hi, I'm Ashley Reese, speaker, author and holistic journaling coach. What does being an influential woman mean to me? I used to think it was about accomplishments and awards. Today I see it differently. I know influence its impact, helping someone find their voice after years of silence, encouraging someone to take a chance on themselves without fear of judgment. Having experienced dyslexia, people pleasing, and personal reinvention, I've discovered that some of the most influential moments in our lives happen naturally. Being an influential woman is about using your experiences, lessons, and voice to make a difference in the lives of others and in your own. I've learned that influence isn't measured by how many people follow you. It's measured by how many people you empower by showing up. It's leaving people better than you found them.
What's one piece of advice you would give to younger women chasing their dreams?
Ashley T. Reese: I remember sitting on the floor practicing the alphabets. My family would ask me to point to the letter C. I wanted to be able to answer, but the letters never seemed to stay put. Every time I thought I knew the letters, they would just disappear right out of my brain. I grew up with dyslexia, although I didn't find out until I was in my 30s. As a little girl, I thought I wasn't smart enough. I remember struggling to recognize letters, words, and wondering why something that seemed so natural for everyone else felt impossible for me. I worked twice as hard just to keep up. Over time, I stopped believing the problem was reading and retaining. I started believing the problem was me. For years I carried that belief into adulthood. I never imagined I would write books or even speak in front of people. That wasn't even on my list of possibilities because I thought those opportunities belong to people who learned differently than I did. I learned my brain was simply processing language differently. That discovery didn't erase every challenge, but it erased the shame. I stopped asking what was wrong with me and I started asking, what if there's another way. That one question changed my life. Today, I'm an author, speaker, and I help others understand dyslexia, build confidence and courage to stop hiding themselves, to fit someone else's expectations. The little girl who thought she didn't have a voice, now uses that very voice. If I could give advice to younger women chasing their dreams, it would be this. Don't let the fear of failure stop your journey. Believe in yourself. Sometimes the greatest obstacle is it your circumstance. It's the conclusion you've drawn because of it. Freedom begins the moment you stop waiting for permission.
Full transcript available
Her Story
About Ashley
Ashley Reese is a TEDx speaker, transformational coach, author, and creator of the “Without Limits” platform, dedicated to helping individuals who feel unseen, overwhelmed, or stuck rediscover their voice and confidence. Based in the United States, she draws from more than 20 years of informal and professional coaching experience, beginning with one-on-one support for individuals in her community before expanding her work into public speaking, writing, and structured programs. Ashley is known for blending storytelling, psychology, and practical tools to help people understand themselves more deeply and begin making meaningful life changes.
Her work focuses on transformational growth through self-expression, creativity, and emotional healing. She speaks and facilitates workshops in schools, colleges, and organizations on topics such as dyslexia and learning differences, people-pleasing and self-abandonment, burnout, and boundary-setting. Through her signature approach, often referred to as the “Self-Rescue Method,” she equips audiences with language to articulate their experiences, frameworks to rebuild self-trust, and strategies to advocate for themselves without guilt. She also leads creative initiatives, including journaling and mixed-media experiences designed to help individuals process emotions and unlock confidence through expression.
Ashley’s personal journey strongly informs her mission. She has openly shared experiences of adversity, including challenges related to trauma, learning differences, and periods of self-doubt, all of which shaped her commitment to resilience and personal reinvention. These experiences led her to writing, coaching, and eventually becoming a TEDx speaker and published author of journals, workbooks, and a memoir. In addition to her speaking and coaching work, she runs “Tiny Brave Writers,” a program that supports children in building confidence through storytelling and creative writing. Across all her work, Ashley’s guiding belief is that people are not broken—they are simply learning how to stop shrinking and start living fully expressed lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ashley
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I attribute my success to my love for what I do and my passion for seeing people transform. Even though I have a 9 to 5, I would be up from 8 p.m. to 3 in the morning working on this because I loved it so much. I love to see the transformation, whether it's someone calling me to tell me they got a $20,000 or $30,000 raise because of what I was helping them guide themselves to, or helping others give themselves permission to just do it. All the different steps in me getting to my coaching business, transformational speaking, writing books, being an author, and helping other people be an author of their own lives, it was like one step, one foot in front of the other. It just led me into different ideas, like the creativity, because the creativity is where everything transforms. That's where you can reinvent yourself. A lot of times we forget that part, but that part is what helps you go, that part is not afraid. I had to learn how to radically love myself and not abandon myself, and I had to step out of reverting back to being timid and afraid to just do it, take the leap, take the jump. What I have to bring will be received by the people who need it.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If you love it, if you want to do it, take a chance on yourself. You take a chance on everything else. It's not one way to transform. There's no one way, because your transformation may be reading books and writing, someone else's transformation may be gardening and planting, planting those seeds, digging your hands in the dirt, working out, or just releasing the stress. It's not always go sit on the couch, it's what's within you, because everyone is different. Don't let the fear stop you, go ahead and take those steps. Sometimes when I'm doing something new, I'll have to prep talk myself, say my affirmations, like you got this. You have to step out of reverting back to being timid, being afraid to just do it, take the leap, take the jump. What you have to bring will be received by the people who need it, and those who need to accept it will, and those who don't, they just won't.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge for me, because I love what I do, is monetizing what you do. It's something that I want to do 100%, because I am doing it now when I get a client or when I have my classes. Getting my name out there, being able to have the time to go and talk to other people like I want to, knowing how to do that part. I know how to create, I know how to speak with people, but I don't know how to bring the people to you that need it. Sometimes you'll see an event and you're like, well, maybe I can make it to this event, and then you're like, well, I don't know. A lot of times I have to step out of reverting back to being timid, being afraid to just do it, take the leap, take the jump, because I'm always recovering, I'm always learning, I'm always healing. Sometimes those feelings sneak back up, and it's like this fear of being rejected, always wanting to be accepted. But if it's something that you absolutely love to do, those who need to accept it will, and those who don't, they just won't. What you have to bring will be received by the people who need it, and I have to revisit that sometimes with myself, because that is something that I had trouble with growing up: self-acceptance, confidence, and not abandoning myself. I know what I'm supposed to do, but don't let the fear stop you.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In my work life, quality is most important. When you hear of Infinite Evolutions Without Limits or Tiny Brave Writers, you think of quality, you think of I know she cares, I feel it. I want anyone who's looking at me or my business to see and know that I love what I do and that I can help you transform yourself, because at the end of the day, we can help ourselves, it's like self-rescue. We can get assistance, but we still gotta also help ourselves. For my personal self, I'm a person of my word. If I say I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. Also still taking into account not abandoning myself, not being afraid to speak up, not being afraid to be who I am, not being afraid to show what I have to give to the world, stepping up even when I feel unsure of myself, because me not doing that may be hindering another person from hearing what I need to say and them not doing what they need to do. It's almost like we all work hand-in-hand, not knowing that we are students and teachers all in the same route our entire life. I value respect, loyalty, work-life balance most definitely, emotional regulation, being able to be in peace, calmness, just being able to love, not just love yourself, but really love yourself and also others.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Ashley
Permission Granted
Stop waiting for permission and start giving it to yourself.
What Are You Waiting for Permission to Do?
Write the book? Start the business? Change careers? Pursue the dream that keeps calling your name?
For years, I believed confidence was the missing ingredient. The more conversations I had with women, the more I noticed a different pattern. Many of us convince ourselves that one more degree, certification, promotion, or “perfect” opportunity will finally make us ready.
In reality, we’re often waiting for permission.
Permission to trust ourselves, to begin, or to believe we’re capable of more.
The Invisible Waiting Room
Countless women spend years in what I call the invisible waiting room. Time passes while they search for certainty, validation, recognition, or reassurance that they’re making the right choice. Preparation feels productive, yet sometimes it becomes a socially acceptable form of postponement.
I know because I lived there myself.
One night, I sat cross-legged on the floor of my living room with a journal in my lap. Tears streamed down my face as it felt like my life was burning down around me. In the middle of that uncertainty, I wrote six words that would eventually change everything:
“I will never abandon myself again.”
At the time, those words felt like survival. Looking back, they became a promise.
Change didn’t arrive all at once. Progress came through countless tiny brave acts, paired with tears, joy, setbacks, hope, uncertainty, and sleepless nights. None of it was easy, but every lesson mattered. I finally understood that I mattered.
The transformation had already begun long before I recognized it.
I Was Becoming
Back in 2008, I thought I was falling apart.
Today, I understand something different.
I was becoming.
Growth rarely feels inspiring while you’re living through it. Sometimes, transformation disguises itself as discomfort, loss, confusion, and change. What feels like destruction in one season may actually be reconstruction in another.
Like many women, I spent years pursuing achievement. Accomplishments became milestones, milestones became goals, and goals became evidence that I was moving forward. Eventually, I realized that some of what I called ambition was actually a search for validation.
Sometimes we aren’t chasing success.
We’re chasing proof that we’re allowed.
Allowed to use our voice, pursue bigger dreams, lead with confidence, change direction, and take up space without apology.
The problem is that no amount of achievement can permanently solve a permission problem.
A Different Definition
For a long time, I defined success by accomplishments. Titles, milestones, recognition, and results seemed like the obvious measures. Experience taught me a different definition.
Today, I see success as freedom.
Freedom to stop waiting.
Rest without guilt.
Create without approval.
Speak without fear.
Change without explanation.
Freedom to pursue the life that feels true to you.
That kind of freedom isn’t built through one giant leap. It grows through small decisions repeated consistently over time. Courage shows up in everyday choices, and lasting transformation is often the result of tiny acts practiced again and again.
The Permission Slip Was Already Mine
Then one day, I realized something that changed everything.
The permission slip I had been searching for was never missing.
It was already mine.
All it needed was my signature.
So I’ll leave you with the same question that changed my life:
What are you waiting for permission to do?
Because sometimes the breakthrough isn’t becoming someone new.
It’s finally giving yourself permission to become who you’ve always been.
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