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

Ashanti, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

This is a really funny story! So, my friend and I at the time used to always try to find something to do in our small town, and being two young adults who aren’t of legal age to drink, there was barely anything interesting to do here. I’m pretty sure all the young small-town people can relate to this struggle. We would go deep into the depths of the Internet to find some fun event or a new place to eat in town and we would find them! Well, as you know, our young generation loves to post on social media about everything. Which means, we literally posted almost everything we did or went to and people would always ask us, “Where is that at?” “Woah! What is this?” and most importantly “Where did you find this?”. We were getting so much interaction and feedback that we just decided to make a separate page to share all of these experiences and destinations in our small growing town of Huntsville, Alabama. We couldn’t think of a name for this page and we just decided to mash our names together which is how we came up with MASH, ironically. Even though I’m the only person running the page now I will still keep the name MASH because it’s a representation of how this page got started.

Ashanti, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello, I’m Ashanti Ortega, a small young content creator of MASH HSV in Huntsville, Alabama. In MASH HSV, I promote new and local businesses, local artists, and events through content creation with a youthful twist to show everyone why they should visit rocket city. I love all the aspects of content creation like filming, photography, video and photo editing, designing, and most importantly making sure everyone has a great time! MASH HSV started as a small project for fun but with lots of support from our community we were invited very early on to our first soft opening of a new restaurant in town, The Curry. That experience was the first open door to meet and network with people in the marketing field of Huntsville, Alabama. Afterward, we connected with Black Umbrella Studio who received us with open arms and now provide a safe creative workspace with growing opportunities for MASH HSV.
These memorable moments at the beginning of this journey sparked a light that reminded me to not stop and to keep taking this opportunity for growth within my community no matter how hard or discouraging it can get. So, I’m thankful for everyone who has supported and been here throughout this journey so far, I really appreciate it.

With all this support, inspiration, and innovation in Huntsville, I will one day love to be a voice and future contributor to help provide safe spaces for creators to build the creative scene in our city through MASH HSV.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I want to become a content creator full-time to support myself and the dreams I want to achieve. Besides that point, I also want to be able to give back to the community in any way I can as well as help the creative community grow, and give them that spotlight they deserve.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Overall, do not be afraid to ask questions or for advice if you need it. Don’t be shy, be bold about what you are about and what you want to achieve because, how else will people know?

Lastly, you are young so use your passion, energy, and time to do what you love. Time is precious and that’s something you can never get in return so choose wisely for your future.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mash.hsv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090824475473
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mash.hsv

Image Credits
Jeff White Photographer