Cheer and Change: Ashlie Marshall’s Journey of Growth

Cheer and Change: Ashlie Marshall’s Journey of Growth

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Navigating the ups and downs of life, Ashlie Marshall shares a poignant story that mirrors the intricate dance of stability and change. Her narrative, rich with detail about her roots and the paths she's taken, is shared in episode two of the podcast C-Suite chicks where she discussed her life’s timeline—from a childhood marked by frequent moves to her formative years in high school and beyond.

Ashlie grew up in a devout Catholic family that moved often due to her father’s career in building military housing. This transient lifestyle instilled in her a love for change—a trait that prominently defines her. “We were all over the country in the car for days, change constantly from the time I was three to the time I was in first grade, which I feel it's relevant because I currently love change,” Ashlie explains.

Despite the challenges of moving frequently, Ashlie’s family life was grounded in strong faith and community, elements that provided a stable backbone to her otherwise fluid surroundings. “My mom was the director of religious education at the church. We weren't skipping a class,” Ashlie recalls, underscoring the structured environment of her upbringing.

Her high school years brought a different kind of change. Settling in Texas, Ashlie attended a Lutheran school, where she engaged deeply in cheerleading. This activity was not just a pastime but a pivotal aspect of her identity during those years. “Something that I was into from the time we moved back to Texas all the way past college was cheerleading and tumbling. I was a competitive cheerleader, also cheered in high school as a high school cheerleader,” she says. This experience provided a consistent outlet for expression and growth amidst the academic and social shifts of teenage life.

Ashlie’s story also highlights the impact of familial relationships on personal development. Her recount of the dynamics with her sister and the influences of her parents reveals much about the pressures and support that shaped her decisions and self-perception. “My dad worked fiercely hard and my mom did too... it was very made clear to me that my job was to go to school and get good grades,” she reflects, illustrating the expectations set by her parents.

Transitioning to college, Ashlie attended Baylor University, a decision heavily influenced by her family, though it was not her first choice. Her college years continued to be a mix of cheerleading, academic pursuits, and part-time jobs, which taught her the value of hard work and independence—lessons that carried over into her adult life.

Post-college, Ashlie’s career path reflected the diversity of her early experiences. From retail to the Container Store and eventually to roles that harnessed her organizational skills, each job contributed to her professional toolkit. Reflecting on these roles, Ashlie acknowledges the continuous learning curve: “Every job that you've described, I can see you've taken a piece from it and implemented it into something that you do now,” noted the podcast host, Whitney Ramirez.

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Ashlie’s journey, punctuated by both cheer and change, offers a compelling narrative about the power of upbringing, the stability found in passions like cheerleading, and the ongoing adaptation required through various life stages. Her story is a testament to how diverse experiences can shape one's character and professional trajectory, providing rich lessons on growth and resilience. Through her narrative, we see the universal themes of identity formation, the influence of family, and the pursuit of personal and professional fulfillment—a truly inspiring tale for anyone navigating their own path of growth and change.

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Ashlie Marshall (00:00):

Even in friendships and relationships and dating and all of that. Like, oh, that person did you so wrong. Yeah, they did. But I'm not going to stop being that kind generous person because that person was crappy.

Whitney Ramirez (00:33):

Welcome to the pod.

Ashlie Marshall (00:35):

Hello. Hello.

Whitney Ramirez (00:38):

Thank you for listening. Oh, Doug, cut that out. Whitney, I love you. On this episode, we are going to dive into Ashley's timeline from high school to tier level. So I really want to cover high school, college, and post-college. Give me a breakdown of, I don't know why. I love hearing what jobs other people have had. I, I feel like I know more about people when I know what they did as a job and

Ashlie Marshall (01:20):

What are they willing to

Whitney Ramirez (01:21):

Do. I know a couple of jobs you've had, and I know your timeline, but I don't know where you went to high school. I know where you went to college, obviously, but let's start in high school.

Ashlie Marshall (01:34):

Okay.

Whitney Ramirez (01:36):

Would we be friends if we were in high school together? Who were you in high school?

Ashlie Marshall (01:42):

You said you were a quiet kid, so maybe, yeah, so growing up from a very strong Catholic household, parents both born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mama from Algiers and dad from Herrera, both west bankers, west bankers. If you know Louisiana, you know how that goes. So both grew up in Catholic households. We were raised in very, I would say strict, but devout Catholic household. Right. Strong faith church every Sunday, CCE class. My mom was the director of religious education at the church. I mean, we weren't skipping a class. Okay. High school. We went to private school, Catholic school growing up, we lived around a lot. My dad built military housing, so we were all over the country in the car for days change constantly from the time I was three to the time I was in first grade, which I feel it's relevant because I currently love change. I mean, if you know me, my nails change constantly. My hair changes color. I'm always changing something, right? I can't change where I live as often as I would like, but I change what I can. That's not life changing. So that's a big part of who I am. I love change.

Whitney Ramirez (03:09):

In high school, did you have to move around schools a lot?

Ashlie Marshall (03:12):

Were you like No, no, no. So when I was going into sixth grade, my mother, we were living in Southern California at the time in a place called San Bernardino Valley, which is about an hour-ish east of LA And my mom's parents lived in Houston, a suburb north of Houston, which is not far from where I currently live now. And her father's health was failing and she wanted to move back. So the summer between fifth and sixth grade, we moved back here, which was where I was born to a suburb outside of Houston, and we went into sixth grade. They didn't have a Catholic school that had sixth grade at the time. So I went to a Christian school and then I moved into a Lutheran school. And from seventh grade through high school, I was in a Lutheran school. I went to a small Lutheran school in Tomball area. And then I went to Concordia Lutheran High School also in Tomball. My sister had graduated, right? She was a senior and graduated as I came in as a freshman. So I didn't move around in high school. Something that I was into from the time we moved back to Texas all the way past college was cheerleading and tumbling. I was a competitive cheerleader, also cheered in high school as a high school cheerleader. And then I was on an outside competitive team also. And when you asked me if we would be friends, I hesitated because

Whitney Ramirez (04:49):

You were a cheerleader.

Ashlie Marshall (04:52):

Iwas , but I was not. So my sister was the giddy, bubbly cheerleader that she knew everybody and everybody knew her. I was very much a, I'm cool with my people, let me just hang with my two friends who I see all the time. And everybody knew who I was. I mean, even now as an adult, people will befriend me on Facebook and oh, we went to high school together and I have no idea who they are. And it's not that I was this bratty person. I just liked my, let me just sit at my lunch table with my two friends. My bottle had, yeah, it was my people and kids weren't very nice to me In junior high. I developed quickly as a girl and they were mean to me and were wretched to me. But then when we all went high school together and all of the seniors knew who I was because I was Jamie's little sister, then they were nice to me. So then all the people who were nasty to me all of a sudden wanted to be my friend. And I was like, no, I don't like you

Whitney Ramirez (05:55):

In high school. So I don't know how different it is in your, because I'm in the Tulsa area, but I also went to public school. And so from a public school view, the kids at my school, if you went to a Christian school or a Catholic school, you were a bad kid and your parents made you go to those schools. You were a bad kid. And we were like, oh, that's where all the bad kids go.

Ashlie Marshall (06:22):

So what's funny about that

Whitney Ramirez (06:24):

Is, is it true

Ashlie Marshall (06:25):

There were a lot of kids that went to our school because they were permanently kicked out of the local ISD. But what's even more funny about that is some of those kids were my friends and they were not bad kids because like I said, I was a strict household. I wasn't allowed to go over to a friend's house unless my mother had met their mother and knew that they were going to be present. And I'm thankful for that. Now as an adult, I'm thankful that my parents were very adamant about, no, you can't do that because I don't know those people and I'm grateful for that. But at the time it was like, oh yeah, no, I can't go to your house. My mom doesn't know your mom. Unless your mom's going to meet my mom, I can't go. It's not happening. And there were two, I can think of two friends who were kicked out of the public school system and came to Concordia and we still every now and then message each other.

(07:26):

Great people, great people. Their environment wasn't conducive for them. Their environment changed and their true personality came through. And the fact that they really did want to be making better choices, they just didn't have the right guidance. Right. Yeah. Not to say that that happens in public school, but for them specifically, that was their story. But yeah, so in high school, everybody knew my name and my face because I was cheering at football games. I was getting announced at pep rallies. But in terms of would we be friends? Yeah, if you were chill and cool and yeah, probably.

Whitney Ramirez (08:03):

I just don't think that was a fun question. And I know that you grew up, your parents are so supportive and they kind of helped guide you and support you in what you wanted to do. But in high school, were you so focused on cheer that you were like, I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I just want to cheer right now. Or did you always have an idea for yourself? What did you want to be when you grew up when you were in high school?

Ashlie Marshall (08:32):

Oh gosh. When I was in high school, gosh, I don't think I had any clue. I knew, it's kind of funny actually. I really wished that when I was in high school, yes, I was very busy with cheer and it consumed my life. I went to school, I would go to school practice. That was usually from time school let out until four 30 or five. And then when I started driving, I would drive from there to my competitive practice, and that was every day of the week. It was Monday through Friday, and I had competitive practice on Sundays, so it was all the time. So I didn't have a job. My dad worked fiercely hard and my mom did too. When I was in high school, they were both working and it was very made clear to me that my job was to go to school and get good grades.

(09:20):

It was not to be a cheerleader. It was not to make friends. It was not to get in trouble. It was your job is to go to school and make good grades because if you don't have good grades, you can't go to college. And if you don't go to college, you're not living here when you're an adult. That was the storyline. And that's interesting to me because my dad didn't have that as a child. My dad is the oldest of nine kids within a 10 year span, and they were, I don't want to say that they were poor, but they definitely, he has six brothers, there's six of the boys out of the nine. The money was thin, stretched, of course, money was thin, everybody wore hand-me-downs. And the six boys in the family ran the paper route for two decades. They were in charge of the paper route, just open. All boys had the paper route, and I'm sure my timeline is off with that, but it was a long time, many years that they ran the paper route. And my dad, because there were so many kids, he didn't have a parent saying, your only job is to get good grades.

(10:21):

That was not how he grew up. And so he was adamant that it was his responsibility to get us through school and to have a good education because that was going to set us up in life. And so in high school it was grades come first. I was doing homework in the mornings before school, at lunch in my off time, during the school day and until midnight at night. So that was my timeline. But if you asked me then what I wanted to do, gosh, I probably would've said I wanted to work in a bank. I feel like I found that really interesting. Everything that people did in a bank, I understood that not everybody just stood behind the counter and was a bank teller, but I was intrigued by that. And I never worked in a bank. I never tried to get a job in a bank. I never did any of those things. But because my sister had graduated before me, she went to university, she went to Baylor. And when was time for me to apply for school? Yes. My parents were highly supportive of things that I wanted to do. However, they wanted

Whitney Ramirez (11:35):

You to go to Baylor,

Ashlie Marshall (11:37):

They wanted me to go to Baylor.

Whitney Ramirez (11:38):

So we're getting into college now.

Ashlie Marshall (11:39):

So I got

Whitney Ramirez (11:41):

Into Baylor.

Ashlie Marshall (11:42):

I did, I did. But I wanted to go to Texas Tech. That was where I wanted to go. I wanted to go there because it was kind of far away. It was like 10 hour drive from where we lived, and Baylor was only three. And I'm glad that I went to Baylor. I'm glad I didn't go to Texas Tech because Texas Tech is a single college in this little bitty rinky ink town. Baylor is a big college in a little town, but it is an hour away from major cities. And so I feel like I had a lot more young adult life growing up situations because I was able to travel to and from different cities. But I got into Baylor on a condition. My grades were good. Kind of grades were good, but they weren't like, oh, amazing. My class was small. I graduated with 98 kids.

(12:30):

So when you're with 98 kids, oh my gosh, if you don't have all straight A's in pre-AP classes, then whatever, you're not at the very top. But Baylor, let me in on the condition that I came to summer school for a summer session before freshman year. So middle of the summer I got packed up and dropped off. My parents didn't move me in and it wasn't a thing. They dropped me off. I think we went to dinner and I met when I moved in, the dorm room that I moved into that summer session was not a freshman dorm, and I was only going to be there for a month, but it was two rooms, shared a bathroom. So I had a suitemate and I met my roommate. She's very different than me, and I met my suitemates and one of the suitemates. Her and I clicked very quickly, and so I think we ended up going to eat with her parents and my parents, and then our parents left and we were kind of left obviously by ourselves. But that summer session, I'm grateful for it. I was pissed off about it at the time because obviously it kept my summer in half, but I only had to take two classes. They weren't intense classes I had to make above a b. I was not allowed to make anything lower than an 85, otherwise I wouldn't get admitted into Baylor for freshman year. And it was my first time being alone own.

(14:04):

When my sister went off to college, it was just me and my mom, but my mom was always there. Wherever I was, she was right or I had a close friend that I hung out with all the time, and it wasn't scary. I loved it. I was like, this is amazing freedom. Yes, I can do it. I want to do, if I want to stay up until midnight doing stupid crap, then I get to do that. I feel like everybody goes through that, but different from you. Yes, I had very structured stuff and my parents did a lot of things for us, but I think they did that because nobody did it for them, and they wanted give their kids, they were to break the cycle. They wanted to give their kids more than what they had. But I think in a way, once I got to college, it did cripple me a little bit.

(14:51):

I didn't fill out any FAFSA forms. I know I filled out college application forms, but I didn't register for class that summer session. I didn't do any of those things. I sat there while my mom did it, but I didn't do it myself. And so when it was time to go freshman year, you don't do that over the phone. You have to go into the registrar's office and see an advisor and well, that's how you did it. Then you couldn't just pick your classes. You had to meet with an advisor. They had to ask you what you wanted to do. I told them I wanted to be in business. I wanted to go to the Rimmer Business School, which I ended up not going into. And it was very brand new experience for me. And so through college, small things, knowing your social, you don't really learn. You knew your social at young age, but I did not. What are we talking about? Social? What is that?

(15:52):

Making sure I paid my tuition on time. My dad, I had a lot of loans and I did have grants, and I applied for scholarships that I did not get because like I said, my grades were not phenomenal. But my dad, man, he hustled. He hustled hard and we would pay, there was a part of the tuition that wasn't covered by scholarships that we had to pay. And every month I had a checkbook and he would say, okay, I'm going to deposit this, write up for this. Yeah, tell me how much they tell you the tuition is, and I'll have three days to get it in the bank. He was like, but don't go until this date. It was always go on this date and then I'll have three days and then it'll take another 24 hours. And I'm like, okay, I can do that. So me and my dad were always planning, and you need the grocery. But the thing was is that summer session, I didn't work because my dad was like, you have to get above this grade. You can't get below this grade, or you can't go to Baylor's home. You're not going to have a job. But once you get admitted into Baylor, you're getting a job. You're a job. I was like, okay, no problem. I can do that. Right.

Whitney Ramirez (17:01):

So what age, I know what job that I wanted to have in college. When you're in college, what was like, I really want to work here, or what did you want your first job to be, and did it come to be that?

Ashlie Marshall (17:19):

Well, so in high school I did some office work for my dad. He was either running a construction office, a construction company office wearing all the hats, which I feel like I watched him do the same thing I do now in terms of wearing all the hats, which explains why he was always so stressed out and never slept very well. But I liked the work. I knew then that I liked making sure everything was organized. I knew that I liked putting things in the right files and making sure it made sense and making sure other people could come in and find that. I remember doing that for my dad in his office. He was like, this is how I like to file things. But the way he liked to file things clicked with my brain. And so that was part of how I learned how to be organized in an office setting, and I liked that part of it. So I knew when my dad was like, you should try to work. You can work as a student. You can get a student job on campus, and instead of it helps with your tuition. So we knew that I was going to do that. My sister had done it. She had chose to, I think she worked in the food service. She worked in the cafeteria where you go when you get your food as a student, do the student

Whitney Ramirez (18:38):

Union or

Ashlie Marshall (18:40):

Yeah, I didn't like working.

Whitney Ramirez (18:41):

Didn't want to work on campus.

Ashlie Marshall (18:43):

No, I did. Did want to work on campus. You did? Okay. I didn't want to work with the food. I wanted to work in an office. I knew that. And in fact, I had an office job, which funnily enough, they were paper printing. They did paper printing, and I remember, I don't remember why I didn't stay working there, but it was two older women. One was very relaxed and laid back and one was not. One was very, by the book, I mean reminded me of the nuns in school when I was little, and I don't remember, I really can't remember what happened with that situation, but I remember one day I came in and I was working and she said, oh, we no longer need a student aid. And I was like, okay. And then it took me a week to find another job. And what I did was I worked in the front desk of one of the dorms, but that wasn't my only job.

(19:43):

So I did that. I went to college in 2001, fall of 2001, and my sister graduated college in the summer of 2001, and then she got married in November. And the reason why that's pivotal is because I had to take time off school in my freshman year, my freshman fall semester, right before she got married, I got real sick. I got mono, and then I had everything else. I had strep. I was sick for two and a half weeks, and I couldn't go to school and I had to be at home. I had high fever the whole time, and I was literally failing. At the end of the semester, I was on academic probation and in your

Whitney Ramirez (20:34):

Freshman year.

Ashlie Marshall (20:35):

In my first semester of freshman year. And so I didn't work during that. I had gotten that office job, and then I got the job at the desk at the dorms. Then I got sick. And so I never went to work. And we got through the rest of the semester, and then in the spring when I went back to school, I didn't work that semester. My dad was like, just get through school. Let's just get you through classes. And at the end of it, I ended up being on the dean's list. I went from, you're about to get kicked. About 180. Yeah, 180. So then that summer my dad was like, all right, come home. You're going to take summer school, and then when you go back, you're going to get a job over there. And that was 2002 after you graduated? No, after my first freshman year.

(21:27):

Okay. Freshman year. So freshman year I didn't work and I didn't have a car. I don't know. A lot of kids go to college with their car, didn't have a car, and I had city three and a half hours away from home and had to rely on friends to take me to the grocery store. My dad was like, you don't need a car. You can walk to campus. You live on campus, you can walk to class. There's a gas station over there. You've got friends who have a car. They could take you to the grocery store. I mean, at the time it was like, oh, devastating. I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere unless my friends are going. I know. But then once the year started, everybody was going to all the same places anyway. You didn't really need it. So dad knows a few things.

(22:08):

Yeah, he knew. And then sophomore year, everything changed. I got a job in retail. I started working at Bath and Bodyworks and Lane Bryant. I had both of those jobs at the same time, and they knew I worked simultaneously. So one schedule came out before the other, and so when the first schedule would come out, I would give it to the other and they would schedule me when I was off from the other one. And then I also got a job working at the front desk of the dorm. So that was my third job. And then around that time, my sister decided that she was working in the competitive cheer and dance world for another gym, and her husband decided that the time that they wanted, they could open their own. They wanted to do it themselves. They didn't want to do it for somebody else.

(23:01):

They wanted to open their own business. And I was coaching there, but that there was here at home in Tomball, three hours away, three hours away. So sophomore year I had my car. I started those two jobs. Then I got the third. And then in the summer after sophomore year was when the gym situation started with my sister and I started coaching. And it got to a point where obviously they were a startup. They were only making what they could bring in with the kids that they could get on the team. And they were starting from nothing. And they could barely make money, much less pay me because they were paying to rent a space to hold practice. They were paying for insurance, obviously. They were paying for all kinds of things. You have to get practice

Whitney Ramirez (23:54):

Equipment,

Ashlie Marshall (23:56):

You have to get all kinds of stuff. So they didn't have any money to pay me. So I was just coming to help. And so it got to where my three jobs at school were paying for me to have a job coaching with my sister, and they only helped pay my groceries and some of my utilities because once sophomore year hit, I wasn't on campus anymore. I was in an apartment.

Whitney Ramirez (24:18):

Yeah, I was going to ask, what did you use your money for that you made in college?

Ashlie Marshall (24:25):

So my dad paid the tuition portion, but once I wasn't living on campus, I now had rent,

Whitney Ramirez (24:34):

Utilities,

Ashlie Marshall (24:35):

Food. Now I had a car, so I had gas. I did not pay cell phone bill or car insurance, but what I did pay was gas. Anywhere I wanted to go, I had to pay the gas. I paid my electricity bill and the water bill. It was like 10 bucks, right? Yeah. Those were the bills I was responsible for. And it wasn't like my dad said, you have to pay these. It was like, oh, my check can cover that. It was a maneuvering of, okay, we've got this much money, what can we put it towards? And then my dad paid my rent. He paid my portion of the rent and any other major expenses that came up. And I remember up until, gosh, I want to say it was late sophomore year was when I first started to do things. And I was working a lot, so I didn't have a lot of time to do things.

(25:36):

But I had friends who did stuff. And so I wanted to do stuff. And I remember at the time Express was, I know the clothing Line Express was a big thing. And I went in there and I saw this cute top, and we were supposed to be going to a party that weekend, and I was actually off and I wasn't driving to Houston, and I was going to get to go, and I was super excited and I was like, oh, that shirt's so cute. I remember it was like 37 99. It was like 40 bucks, which now I'm like, oh my God, that's

Whitney Ramirez (26:06):

A lot Back

Ashlie Marshall (26:06):

Then, it was a lot then. Oh my gosh, it was so much. And I remember I called my mom because whenever we wanted anything, we would call mom and mom would figure out how to maneuver things and not tell dad that we're spending money on clothes and get us the money. Everybody knows how to maneuver through their parents and money and stuff. And I remember I called her and she said, no, we can't do that right now. And then I remember I was like, okay, no worries. And I got off the phone with her and five minutes later my dad called me and my dad never called. He didn't call me unless he knew I was needing something or I had called him and he was calling me back and I answered the phone. I was like, Hey, what's up? And he was like, well, your mom said you're trying to buy something for an event, and I wanted to know how much it was so I could get the money in your account.

(26:58):

And I was like, you don't have to do that, daddy. I don't need the money. I was like, it's okay. It's just a shirt. And he was like, no. And I remember that conversation. I was standing in the mall and it was that conversation where I was like, oh, my dad really is trying to make sure we have everything we want. Whereas before it was always like, don't tell your dad. Don't tell your dad. We went shopping. Don't tell your dad we did this. Don't tell your dad. We did that. And that was a pivotal moment for him. And he was like, no, I want you to have a good time and I want to make sure you have it, and I'm going to give you the money. And I bought the top. And I never asked him for another. I didn't ask for anything else for a month and a half.

Whitney Ramirez (27:36):

That's funny.

Ashlie Marshall (27:37):

But yeah, so my jobs paid for some of my bills and my dad paid for the rest. And I can tell you, my dad appreciated that we worked and he wanted us to learn the value of working and paying for things. But he also felt very strongly, even now as I'm older and an adult, he wanted to pay my student loans. He wanted to pay for all of those things. He didn't want me to have to worry about that because he felt like that was his responsibility as my parent. That was his responsibility to get us through school. So there were a lot of things that I did. I even got another job in junior year. I was working at the March of Dimes for a lovely woman, and I graduated in oh six and I got a job at the Container Store right before the holidays. It was holiday season, so they were hiring. And then I kept the job for three years until 2009,

Whitney Ramirez (28:36):

Post college for three years.

Ashlie Marshall (28:38):

So I worked there and then I coached at the same time.

Whitney Ramirez (28:43):

I feel like, well, I'll let you say, between the jobs that you've had throughout your life and the work you're doing now, what would you say, which job do you say helped you the most to learn some of the skills that you obtain now? I think

Ashlie Marshall (29:04):

There's three. So

Whitney Ramirez (29:08):

There's three for me. Just

Ashlie Marshall (29:09):

Speak through the rest of that. After that, I decided I was going to be a teacher. I even went through the teacher education course and it was a six month thing. Did all of that. Worked at a school, probably worked at the wrong school, did not enjoy it. I was a terrible employee that year. I really was. And I was still coaching that whole time. And then I decided, no, I'm done with this. And so I got a job at the little gym, and I was working at the little gym, which worked well for the coaching because I could work in the morning until two or three and then run over to the gym and coach. And I met a girl there who was working at the retirement community just behind where I was at with the little gym. And she was taking a different job.

(29:56):

I needed to fill her role. And I was like, oh, I would love an office job. I'm so tired of this jumping around. And so I got hired there and I worked there for nine months and it was a great job. And in that nine months, I met with a recruiter and a recruiter was trying to help me get a more professional job. So now we're looking at, I don't know, 2010, 2011, and I got a pivotal job at a large industrial cleaning company. They clean industrial spills like oil spills. They were part of the BP cleanup way back in oh seven, I think it was something like that. And I got a job there. I was supposed to be in the accounting department. I was supposed to be an accounting admin. The guy who decided to hire me was from Louisiana. He could tell my family was from Louisiana in the conversation.

(30:45):

And I like to say that's probably part of the reason why he hired me anyway. I was supposed to be an admin and help. I really knew nothing about accounting. I knew what I took in college. I enjoyed it. It made sense to me. I liked it, but I had no clue what it was he wanted me to do. And he wasn't really the type to kind of train anybody. He wanted you to come in and be able to know what to do. Well, there was another gentleman who was running the procurement department, and he was in charge of multitude of things, contracts with different vendors, negotiated, things like that. And he needed an admin. So they moved me into his role. His name was Pat. And outside of Miss Iris from the March of Dimes, pat was a blessing. He was one of the best bosses that I could have had at that moment in my life.

(31:35):

I had a history of a lot of toxic work environments that I didn't know were toxic until I had gotten to this point in my life. I got a real job that was at a company in a business I could no longer coach. So I had stopped coaching. There was multiple reasons why I stopped coaching, but I really wanted a professional job. And he took time to teach me, to groom me. And even as far as my email communication, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was managing trucks for 1200 trucks with a company who did fleet management. And I was the company liaison with this giant company out of Baltimore, and they flew me out twice making this thing work. I had no idea what I was doing. And I was just like, okay. And I had to learn about IFTA tags and DOT, and I mean, I talked to all kinds of people.

(32:36):

I had to build relationships with the men out in the field. We had satellite offices across the Gulf Coast, and if you ever talk to men that work in an industrial environment, in a satellite office on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, all those areas, Florida, it's life lesson. Anyway, I had to build relationships with them because I had to work with them to manage the trucks and the cell phone process. The whole cell phone situation was another whole thing that I had to learn how to do. And he was so patient. He was so patient. And every time I screwed up, he was like, okay, this is a teachable moment, Ashley. Let's sit down and have a teachable moment. And if that company would not have gotten acquired and would not have laid off half their workforce, I would probably still be working there with Pat.

Whitney Ramirez (33:23):

You would still be there. I think the coolest thing is every job that you've described, I can see you've taken a piece from it and implemented it into something that you do now, or something that you do in your work now. I know. And you got your degree in business, you finished your degree in business, and then you worked this multitude of jobs. But there's leadership in cheerleading and there's figuring out processes from the container store. And then there's figuring out strategy and being a liaison and continued education in learning. What does this industry do? And then there's communication and being the point of contact. And so it's so cool seeing, okay, she took a piece of this here and she took a piece of this here. And then you're in your role today at tier level, which I know it's like fast forward, you went from procurement at the industrial company to procurement at a restoration company to tier level. And you're here today with just a piece of each job kind of still instilled in you. Yeah.

Ashlie Marshall (34:47):

Yeah. I think that I had a lot of good bosses. I also had a lot of bad bosses, a lot of examples of what not to do, how to not treat people. And I also watched my dad be a boss. I worked in his office. Anytime I was at home, I was in his office answering phones, filing papers, and I got to watch him be a boss, and I got to watch him and how he treated people. And sometimes it hurt him the way he treated people. He treated people well. Sometimes it bit him in the butt, but he never stopped treating them well. And I feel like I have been very adamant about that throughout life, even in friendships and relationships and dating and all of that. Oh, that person did you so wrong. Yeah, they did. But I'm not going to stop being that kind generous person because that person was crappy. I learned how to recognize the signs sooner. And so I know when to change the way I'm treating a certain individual or individuals, but I don't want that experience to change who I am in a bad way. I don't want to not be kind to people even when they're not kind to me. I mean, that's shit. That's being a mom. I mean, your kids are not always kind to you.

Whitney Ramirez (36:16):

No, they're not.

Ashlie Marshall (36:18):

But yeah.

Whitney Ramirez (36:19):

Well, is there anything else that you feel is important to share in terms of what made you who you are today in terms of your timeline? And it's a lot to take in and consider,

Ashlie Marshall (36:35):

But man,

(36:39):

Early on in the Container store. I think outside of the conversation with Ms. Cyrus and at the Container Store after I stopped working there, and I realized when I got, it wasn't until I got into the large industrial job. There was a moment in that job when they were in the middle of the acquisition process, and somebody from the corporate office of the company that had acquired us came down and met with everybody in the boardroom. And I remember they asked me what I did. They were asking everybody, so what do you do? What are your responsibilities? And I didn't realize at the time that they were taking basically a roll call of who do we need? Who do we not need? And I had no clue what I did. And so I was like, well, I kind of do a little of everything. I feel like I'm the catchall.

(37:30):

I was honest about how I felt about my role. And immediately after I stopped talking, pat jumped in and said, well, you do. And he listed all these things that I do. He was like, you also do this, you also do that. And at the time I was like, okay. And then I remember after that meeting, he was like, you need to be confident in what you do. You need to speak up for yourself. And that moment changed, and it made me revert back to, I recalled the container source situation where I was waiting for them to come and talk to me about how I could advance into the management role, when really they were waiting for me to show them that I wanted it. Right? Yeah.

Whitney Ramirez (38:08):

You learn to show your

Ashlie Marshall (38:09):

Value. Yes, take initiative

Whitney Ramirez (38:11):

And not underestimate yourself.

Ashlie Marshall (38:12):

Take initiative. Be confident in what you do. And even if it's hard to explain to other people, what I do is important, I am valuable. I bring value, and here's how I do it. And I feel like that's a big part of how I guide people now, how I try to lead other like, okay, let's talk about your strengths. Let's talk about this. Right? We go into that, but nobody necessarily went into that with me, but it was experiences that I went through that made me learn how important that is. And so, yeah, there was a lot of challenges in there. Nothing was easy. Yes, my parents supported me, but it still was hard, right? Everybody's right. You say an all kind perception.

Whitney Ramirez (38:57):

Nothing's easy.

Ashlie Marshall (38:58):

That's worth it. And everybody's perception is a reality. So there was a lot of challenges in there. One day. We'll go through all of those. But yeah, that's kind of the evolution of me.

Whitney Ramirez (39:09):

Thank you for sharing, and I think it's so helpful. Sure. We'll reference key portions of our past and our histories in future episodes. So I think this is really good to get a core set of this is what we were, and now who's here? Who this is who we are today,

Ashlie Marshall (39:34):

And five years from now, stay tuned

Whitney Ramirez (39:36):

For.

Ashlie Marshall (39:36):

We'll do the same thing.

Whitney Ramirez (39:39):

Yeah, I think it's really cool reflecting. So yeah, thank you for listening so much. If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a review, share it with a friend if you'd like, and maybe someone can relate to our timelines and who we were. And stay tuned for who we are today and learn more about what we actually do today and not who we were before.

Ashlie Marshall (40:07):

Thanks, y'all.

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