Her Story
About Ashley
Ashley Woodruff is the Director of Finance at Morningstar Law Group, where she has worked since 2005 supporting partners and staff with retirement accounts, payroll, and operations for a mid-sized firm with 26 partners. She holds a BA and an MBA from East Carolina University, having returned for her master's degree while working full time, and was voted Most Outstanding Senior in her graduating class. Woodruff's expertise spans finance, operations, retirement accounts, payroll, and system integrations, including streamlining systems through integrations on her first day at the firm despite no prior law experience. She attributes her success to her project management approach of developing clear plans and seeing initiatives through from start to finish. Woodruff values honesty, open communication, and financial responsibility in both her professional and personal life, and she advises staying focused to achieve goals while noting that women bring strong project management skills from managing family, household, and work responsibilities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ashley
01What do you attribute your success to?
Being able to see things from start to finish. I'm almost like a project manager. It's not just numbers but managing the start of a project and being able to have a clear plan and see things from start to finish successfully.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Just stay focused. If you really want to do something, if you put the time and energy into it, you will achieve it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
There's nothing that you can't do being a woman in this industry. We are very good project managers because we can manage the family, manage the household, manage the work. I think that we have a very good advantage in this sort of industry.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges include cyber attacks on finance, mitigating whether something is legit, identifying things that don't seem right, and stopping those attacks. Opportunities: the sky's the limit, anything you want to do, go to bigger law firms, creating these positions.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being honest, being open with communication, and being financially responsible.
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