We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Guan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Photography started as a fundraiser for me in 2016. I was raising money to go on a mission trip to the Philippines to share the gospel. I was doing sessions as low as $20 since I was just starting out and was trying to get by with funding. Over the course of this time, I started to really enjoy taking photos and capturing others’ monumental moments. I invested in a lot of equipment, watched tutorials and shadowed professional photographers to get better. Fast forward, I now free lance as a wedding and portrait photographer. I’ve been a part of many celebrations such as baptisms, engagements, graduations and other big milestones.

With my clothing line, I wanted my passion for fashion to have a purpose. It is a non-profit fighting against human trafficking. Because of my testimony and the trials I endured, I had a heavy heart for those who were trafficked in modern day slavery. I created t-shirts to send empowering messages to spread awareness on human trafficking. All proceeds go towards survivors of human trafficking and the resources needed to support their trauma care. It is also my mission to educate those in the community about the misconceptions and facts about the sex and pornography industry.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am also an 8th grade English teacher and have been for 3 years. It is a calling of mine to serve and empower the next generation. Teaching is more than just a 7am-3pm shift. Teaching impacts generations of society and contributes to the global environment. I want to teach in the global environment to make a difference in the dark world we live in today. It is not a secret that the world is full of hatred, crime and racism. Teaching is more than just setting children up for success academically, but also exemplifying how children should treat others.

Growing up, I did not have the best childhood. As my teenage years went on, I faced a lot of trauma. I did not feel like I had anyone to go to, even an adult figure in the school. Through personal testimony, I learned a lot. I did not get to this point until I entered college. Since then, I always wanted to be the teacher that students can look up to and be transparent with. Unfortunately, some students see their teachers more than their parents. Teachers are with students seven hours a day, for five days a week. Overtime, teachers can build strong relationships with their students and create a respectful work environment.

Although it may be confusing to others how I am able to balance a full time career with two businesses on the side, this wouldn’t be possible without God. I believe that He has given me the flexibility to balance all these things to make a positive impact in the world.

I am the most proud of the fact that I am thriving as a teacher, photographer and CEO of a non-profit. Everything I do serves the purpose to help others find their truth worth and purpose in life.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustles with photography and the non-profit clothing line did not turn into my full time business. However, I am able to balance these things equally to where teaching is the side hustle sometimes! After teaching, I will pick up sessions for photoshoots in the evening and sometimes the weekend. I love being able to capture a wedding on a Saturday celebrating the unity of two people. I devote my summers and other weekends to my non-profit. Every summer, I travel to Houston to partner with a bigger organization against trafficking called Elijah Rising. During this time, I am researching the complexity of this industry and volunteering at their offices. I am also able to utilize my photography skills by shooting content for them during my stay. I am also their event photographer for their gala which is their biggest fundraiser. I partner with them to abolish sex trafficking. My non-profit By His Light made a small milestone of selling 100 t-shirts, launching a shop on Etsy and now with 700 followers on Instagram to spread awareness through graphics. Key milestones would include meeting survivors of human trafficking and being able to share the gospel to them to bring them healing, hope and restoration.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve always loved social media even before Instagram and Tik Tok launched. I always stayed up to trend on the days where MySpace and Tumblr were popular. Content creating became natural to me. I am very extroverted and do not shy away from sharing my thoughts online respectfully. I advocate for the things I believe in and encourage others to do the same. I also love to be transparent and not only share the highlights to glorify a life that isn’t perfect but to motivate others to keep pushing when times get tough. I also believe social media is a powerful tool. Through this, I have been able to share my teaching, photography and trafficking awareness journey online. By being myself and authentic, I built more than a social media presence with 78k followers on Tik Tok and 16 followers on my teaching account, I formed a community. I have met amazing people online who share the same struggles and endured the same things. My advice to anyone who is just starting to build is to be consistent and persistent. To not give up when they feel like their content didn’t showcase the audience they wanted. To keep going and to keep trying different things to get better results.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ByHisLightNonProfit?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1539705224&from_page=listing
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.guanphoto/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/shop/a.guan https://www.tiktok.com/@_msdrip?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc https://www.instagram.com/byhislight_/ https://www.instagram.com/_msdrip/

Image Credits
A.Guan Photo