Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Buchanan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I work to empower and uplift the plus size community! In light of the fact the majority of the world 79% are obese or overweight! The mass marketing is solely to slim or smaller body individuals. Tv only shows one narrative when speaking on the plus size community either we are the comical relief. Very rarely are we the main characters with real storylines. We are demeaned unhealthy and not taken seriously! My business is to speak on our behalf to make plus a normality as in our day to day living! I as a model promotes self love and encouragement to both women and men. In my podcast we speak to the minorities and as a production and television network we work on putting the faces of plus size people in the forefront.

Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ashley Buchanan model name (AshNicole)! I am a Pittsburgh native and I am currently located in Atlanta Ga, I am a plus model,influencer,motivational speaker, producer and a podcast host! I always wanted to service people in a way that heals and makes them feel good on the inside out. Been in customer service for over 15years or more, worked in hospitals and as a care giver for 8-10years. All these jobs are absolutely meaningful and rewarding but never sparked my fire. I being from a family of predominantly all women I’ve been taught to hold my head up and be independent. So as I got older looking to feel love in a relationship I fell deeply into a relationship that didn’t serve me well. I was beat physically, abused emotionally and mentally! He started with the mental by making me feel like he loved me till no end and needed me more than life it’s self. Had me feeling like we could be each others back bone and build this amazing family. About 6months into the relationship I found out he had darker secrets than I could have even imagined and that made me want to help him through that but in hindsight that’s when I should have left but I didn’t. I wanted to see the best in him and not the things that were right in my face so I kept that in the back of my head kept moving forward till he started hurting me with his bare hands choking me, then slapping me and pushing me around. Then he would tell me I wasn’t who he thought I was that I couldn’t help him if I wanted to help he needed me to believe in him. That started by him taking my paychecks and leaving barely enough to keep bills paid or food on the table. He yell and hit me in front of my children, then yell and beat on my oldest child to trigger me even more. He was tearing me down to my lowest point in my life I wanted to die but I never want to leave my children or disappoint God by giving up! So I fought till I couldn’t fight no more. Once I found out he sexually abused my oldest I started to wake up. He didn’t make it easy and he even tried to stalk me trying to catch me with other men sneaking in on me in the middle of the night till I was scared for my life. I packed up and me and my children left in the night we packed what we could and left. This was the start to my self development I started therapy to build my mental. Started to do my research on why I fell so deep in a whole that I didn’t see myself getting out. Until I started modeling it opened my eyes to finding peace within. As I studied more into the modeling industry I found some ugly truths about how the industry preserved the plus size community. It was sad and sickening, they treated us as if we are bottom of the barrel lowest in the Tatum pole. This gave me the drive to want to uplift and empower my community of women so they feel so confident any room they walk in they command it. So that’s where AshNicole LLC came in. Then She Say He Say ATL podcast came in to speak to the black culture. Education is key and we needed to see the light on how society will never be better till we made our voices loud and clear. Then Circuitry Media Network was built to tie in the empowerment of the plus community and black culture. To bring focus and awareness to each minority. A Curvy Mindset is a place of refuge for the women that seek understanding,care, validation, and a sisterhood! It’s my life’s work to work on building meaning to the plus community men and women alike.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I built my reputation from being genuine. I went out and talked to people in my community. I support, I ask questions, I watch and offer advice and a helping hand. Building meaningful relationships.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to learn to relearn everything I was taught. To be teachable and listen not to speak but listen to understand.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/Ash_Nicol35
• Facebook: Www.facebook.com/AshNicole
• Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/ash_nicol35
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@circuitrymedianetwork
• Other: https://youtube.com/@SheSayHeSayATL https://www.tiktok.com/@ash_nicol35

Image Credits
JUP photography, opticsforus and visionsbylegit