We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashleigh Pandora Montford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashleigh Pandora, appreciate you joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Beginning from scratch, oh, what an exhilarating thought that I literally shared my sentiments about only a few hours ago!

If I could start from scratch, instead of solely getting a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, but I would have double majored in Journalism and Mass Communications and Marketing, and then minored in English and Africana Studies. Yes, that’s quite a load, but it would have propelled me further into my career and allowed me to have the knowledge for the price of one degree.

I would definitely start doing photoshoots and really tapping into my full potential as soon as I realized I had an interest, and would not be afraid of failure.

With less capital, instead of using a website where I must’ve had a domain, I would have utilized Wix or WordPress and bought the domain down the line. Additionally, I would have started crowdfunding for my business as a freshman in college and shared the link in all clients and those in the community as I moved around, found a mentor and stuck with one in each area of my life that I wanted to succeed in (because one person cannot be everything one needs all of the time), in addition to putting myself out there far sooner and not lose focus.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As Ashleigh Pandora Montford, I am a photographer, entrepreneur, Master of Public Administration student at Strayer University, as well as a reigning pageant Queen.

Starting out, I began a company called Opia, and it was just a photography company, and the only reason I started was because one of my professor’s told me I could not do it and that was the fire ignited in me that I needed. Now it has evolved into a full-service marketing firm, The Opia Designs Company, LLC (www.theopiadesignscompanyllc.com). We offer photography still, in addition to website construction, project management, grant writing, ghost writing, search engine optimization, and so much more! Opia is ideal for any personal or professional brand that is looking to work on their online and community presence, as well as become dominant in their respective field.

In addition to having a marketing firm, I also own a holding company, Black Woman Made, Corporation (www.blackwomanmadecorp.com), that has aspirations of becoming what the Alphabet company is to Google. This company was founded 6 February 2022. As Black Woman Made, Corporation is not a traditional holding company, we offer services to our businesses under our umbrella, as well as personal and professional development, mentorship, community and even business coaching. As far as our ideal clients for the corporation, we welcome all businesses that are at least 51% owned by a Black woman, and for the Modern Monarchs Community (which is an extension), we welcome all Black women and allies to be in a safe virtual community with online and in-person events.

It would be vital for potential clients and partners to be knowledgeable that I am open to work with people of various backgrounds and socioeconomic differences. I do not want anyone to walk away feeling like I am not on their side and not cheering them on, because I root for all of my clients and partners every step of the way.

I am so proud of how much both businesses have grown and I’m excited and looking forward to what God has in store for my team and I.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My side hustle of just going from person-to-person helping them in any manner as a side hustle has definitely turned into one of my main streams of income.

From being a family manager to owning two businesses to being heavily active in the community, it sometimes becomes challenging to juggle it all – but through God’s grace and interns, I am able to have some of the pressure eliminated. My businesses are my full-time career and I definitely need to market myself a little bit more…Ok, a lot more. It comes so naturally to do these items for clients and I am always putting myself on the back burner.

This is an interesting question because I literally just talked about this less than twelve (12) hours ago. I’m in my selfish season, and I mean that in regards to I’m being selfish with my time, energy, love, etc. To me, having a selfish season means worrying about me before anything else, because how can I ever imagine to help someone up if I’m down myself. I refuse.

I remember one of my professors in college telling me in the hallway that I couldn’t do it. They literally crushed my spirit, and it was cumbersome to hear that from someone I held at such a high regard… But I still pressed forward and started my own businesses just in spite and I’ve fallen completely in love with both companies.

It has definitely scaled, but not as much as it could have been by now if I was more consistent and did for myself what I do with my clients.

Some of the key milestones would be receiving the Articles of Incorporation for both companies (I cried happy tears), obtaining an award that I wrote and picture I took on an officer where we did a day in the life, or being published the very first time in a magazine on the internet, and even speaking on the art of being a Black business woman at the Savannah Southern Women’s Show. The list doesn’t end there, as those are just a few examples!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting! Ha, I laugh in the face of adversity!

I love a good challenge and so when this came, it wasn’t the worst idea in the world to alter to trajectory of my life.

Let’s be honest. We all get scared sometimes and be afraid to take that leap of faith needed for us to elevate in any realm of our world. Recently, I had to pivot my business to be more inclusive of various needed products and services.

I realized that in reality, I was limiting myself and it wasn’t fair to the increase God was trying to do in my life, nor was it fair to the professional development of my skillset. Honestly, I was stagnant.

Now, that I have streamlined and added services that I excel at, and am able to assist other growing businesses with the services Opia now offers – my marketing firm is growing exponentially. We added coding, search engine optimization and even grant writing, just to name a few. Now the only component missing is continuing to create the corner of the internet for my empire.

My empire does not only include The Opia Designs Company, LLC and Black Woman Made, Corporation, but other business ventures founded by me and others. I am going to take the world by storm and I can’t be stopped with God on my side.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thetotalpackageap.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetotalpackageap/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleigh.montford
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ashleighmontford
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/odc_llc
• Other: Marketing Firm Website: www.theopiadesignscompanyllc.com Holding Company Website: www.blackwomanmadecorp.com

Image Credits
Litus Marshall & Trinity Grimes