We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Toman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think when you were born with a gift and you simultaneously also have a mutual passion for that gift it’s almost inevitable that it becomes apart of your purpose on earth. From as long as I can remember, music was always a second language for me. I was singing at around age 3/4 and had my first performance at 5 years old during the talent show and kind of never stopped. For me, music gave me purpose- I knew it belonged to me and was apart of my destiny, as cliche as that may sound. I never really had a plan b, I always knew that singing was my purpose. It wasn’t until later on in life that songwriting also became apart of that. I say this in the most humble way possible, but I have this magical gift when it comes to writing songs…. Somehow the songs write themselves and turn into these beautiful stories and I look back thinking, “wow…. I did that?” I kind of taught myself how to structure a song and they always come out different than I would have expected. I think that’s the magic in songwriting or at least for my process, I don’t always know what I am going to write about, sometimes the melodies come first, sometimes the lyrics but then they collide into a song that tells a story. For me, my writing style has always been storytelling while simultaneously making the listener “feel” the same way I feel when I listen to music.

Long story short, I believe I am on earth to write and sing and make a living doing just that. It’s been quite the journey navigating this path but somehow God has connected the dots along the way and has aligned things to happen, even though there have been many bumps along the way!

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?

I would say first and foremost I am a recording artist and songwriter and entrepreneur and businesswoman. I started out singing covers and singing any and everywhere around the city when then led me to LA, and started releasing music independently and one thing kind of led to another I now have credits with Chaka Khan, Disney, Lifetime, Hulu, Netflix, the CW etc. After landing these credits, I started my own business 2.5 years ago where I help folks with co-writing, consultations, vocal arranging, vocal coaching etc. It wasn’t really this plan I had mapped out, it kind of just happened. I started co-writing and helping independent artists with songwriting and pitching their music for sync placements and fast forward and it turned into a full business that I run by myself. I feel I wear many hats in this industry- as an artist, songwriter, vocal arranger, vocal coach, business owner etc. The root of it all is music, and music alone. Without my passion and love and gifts of music, none of this would be possible and I only have God to thank for everything!!! It hasn’t been easy, I’ve had many “no’s” and doors closed, but when one door closes, another window opens. I also walk with PURPOSE and believe my destiny and purpose is to fulfill my God given gifts!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Looking back, I wish I wasn’t so hard on myself and knew that everything is apart of the journey. Of course we all make mistakes and look back and think, maybe I could have done this differently… but looking back 10 years ago, Im so proud of all the hard work I put in and wish I gave myself more credit. I wish I could hug young ash and tell her how beautiful and amazing she is and not to be so hard on myself and trust the process! I don’t think there’s one blueprint or golden answer someone has vs another. I think the true magic is just believing in yourself and working hard, point back period. As long as you’re in it for the right reasons and you work hard and love what you’re doing, it’ll all work out! Just trust the process, trust God and trust yourself and know you probably will make mistakes but it’s all apart or the learning lessons and the journey!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Honestly, just never giving up! You literally cannot let other people deter you from your dreams and goals! I don’t have one story about my resilience, I have about 700 lol. But in short, it’s the fact that I had 700 reasons to quit but the one that kept me going was that I always knew I was built for this. My resilience roots back to middle school when I was bullied and I didn’t let anyone stop me from being great because I knew I had magic inside of me- i always knew I was special. I’ve gone through a lot In my life, but it built me to be STRONG. Life is not easy but you have to have the RESILIENCE and tenacity to keep going no matter what life may throw your way. I could have given up and people would have understood, because believe me, I’ve endured a lot and seen a lot in this industry, but I also know that God gave me these gifts for a reason and I’m choosing to keep going. So as cliche as it sounds, remember the ONE reason to keep going, and follow through! It’ll all work itself out. Maybe not now, maybe not even a year from now- but you’ll look back and be glad you never gave up on yourself!

Contact Info:

• Website: AshleyTomanMusic.com
• Instagram: AshleyToman
• Facebook: AshleyTomanMusic
• Linkedin: AshleyToman
• Twitter: @AshleyToman
• Youtube: AshleyTomanMusic