Ashley Scarpone

I attribute my success to learning to love myself and stand in my confidence. Before I met my husband, I was in a relationship where I completely changed who I was to be loved by someone else. I was young, maybe 20 or 21, and I allowed him to let me shrink myself. Once I discovered that pattern, I read three books that truly changed my perspective and allowed me to love myself. I truly love the human I am now. When I met my husband, we both had done our own work on ourselves, so we didn't expect each other to fix anything about each other. That allowed me to always stand in my confidence and focus on demanding what I deserve in everything that I do. My husband and I are like the moon and the sun - when we work together, we do very well. I always tell people to demand what they deserve and stay true to themselves, because that's what has gotten me pretty far in my life.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is simple yet profound: love the human you are. Embracing your authentic self not only strengthens your confidence but also allows you to connect more meaningfully with others in your personal and professional life.

The biggest thing is to always stand in your confidence. I'm an education person because I am not a very good liar, so the more confident that you present yourself in either construction or real estate, the more people believe you. If you're matter of fact and you know that you're a matter of fact, those are the things that allow you to be successful. Just be you. Don't pretend that you have to be someone else. I'm a very quirky, unique person, and I rarely see these people at Keller Williams, but I just try to be personable and make everyone always feel seen and welcomed. Always just be yourself and gain your confidence in whatever industry. Don't ever, ever let someone tell you, especially in construction - construction's a very, very difficult industry for women - never let someone put you down or allow you to believe that you can't reach something that you absolutely can.

The biggest challenge is earning respect and finding employees who also value respect. I can't expect someone to want to work so hard and work for dreams if they don't even care enough for themselves. If people don't respect themselves enough, they're not going to respect working for me. Another challenge is having to juggle a lot of things - managing employees, creating estimates, and managing multiple projects. My husband and I unfortunately have been working until about 8 or 9 o'clock at the office because we have a hard time finding people who share our work ethic. We're not those commercial bosses that are like, if you don't produce 70 million dollars you're a piece of shit, but we genuinely care. When I interview people, my two questions are: what is your biggest goal in the next 5 years, and if you could wake up and do your ideal career every single day, what would that look like. We're trying to regain that work-life balance while maintaining our standards.

Respect is absolutely fundamental to me - both self-respect and respect for others. I believe people need to respect themselves enough before they can respect working for me or anyone else. Being true to yourself is another core value. I've always been someone who just tries to be myself, and it's always gotten me pretty far in my life. I don't enjoy pretending to be someone else. Helping others is deeply ingrained in who I am - I was raised by a father who was in the Air Force and died as a social worker and Buddhist, and he really encouraged me to always help others. That's why I feel so fulfilled when I help people believe in themselves. I also value knowing what you deserve and demanding it confidently. My husband and I always say we know what we deserve, and I'm not going to settle or let someone else not wanting to work affect that. Finally, I value making everyone feel seen and welcomed - whether it's women who feel stuck, immigrants working for us, or anyone I meet.