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

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I’m hoping to build a community of women who can build each other up. Being a woman in todays world isn’t an easy thing. There are so many things that we are taught we have to be. I truly think the Barbie movie nailed it perfectly. We have so many things that we have to live up to be and there’s always someone telling us we aren’t doing something right. I want to have a community of women who build each other up. It doesn’t matter what size you are, what color skin you have, whether you work in corporate America or you’re a stay at home mom. Anytime I work with a woman I want them to see how truly beautiful they are. My goal is to show someone themselves through another perspective. My favorite reaction is when someone says “oh my gosh…… That’s me….” Yes GIRL. That is you! I want to people to remember how beautiful they left after they got done working with me, and for it to last. I want to be the reason they feel their spark again.

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?

I started taking pictures of my friends and family at powerlifting meets in Michigan. It was a quick amazon purchase that turned from a hobby to a passion. I’ve been taking pictures as a self taught photographer for four years now. I am still in the corporate world so any free time I have I’m either shooting pictures or editing. After a few years of just asking my friends to let me be their personal paparazzi for free, I realized I had some potential and went after it. The first step of asking for money after doing it for free for so long was a horrifying step for me. I think a lot of times we doubt our abilities and it causes self doubt to take the wheel. As I found the courage to start charging for photoshoots I started off mainly in the athletic genre of photography. I grew up as an athlete and continued after college into Bodybuilding and Powerlifting so it held a special place in my heart. After a year or two of really finding myself as a photographer I realized I was holding myself back and decided to expand my horizons. This was actually my first year playing around with different types of photoshoots. I second shot my first wedding, dabbled in boudoir and branding, and even did a few headshots. I started from nothing and watched myself grow into a small business. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but allowing myself to have grace in the process. There seems to be a new battle to fight every month, but it’s a marathon and I’m here for the journey. It’s character building as I like to call it.

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

Life is funny sometimes. You think you know what you’re doing and one day you wake up and realize it’s all wrong. I realized I wasn’t happy in my long term relationship, and for a long time I thought it was me. There had to be something wrong with me, why was I so sad and angry all the time? I walked away from a fresh marriage and a 6 year relationship because deep down I knew I deserved so much more than I was receiving. I walked away with almost nothing to start a life over and build something I was proud of. I think as women we take not being treated right as if we’re doing something wrong to deserve it. After a lot of therapy and a lot of crying I realized I was brought into this world to do amazing things and my happiness mattered. I was putting my happiness aside because I didn’t want to hurt someone. . . A quote that I live by now is “If you have to let anyone down, it shouldn’t be yourself”. I’m sitting in my new condo, with my new puppy answering these questions. I chose myself and happiness for the first time in my life. Sometimes I look at my new life and I tear up because there were days I never thought I’d get out. Feeling trapped and alone is such a scary feeling and there are so many women out there who feel the same way I did. Not being happy is enough of a reason to walk away, let alone if there are other reasons. If there’s a small part of you that’s telling you to leave…. LEAVE. I’m rebuilding who I am as a person. It’s been a wild roller coaster but I have never been happier. We are so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’m in my twenties and I spend most of my time working. I work my full time job as a commercial loan closer from 9-6 and go to shoots or edit pictures in any spare time I have. I’m a lone wolf right now so I’m the accountant, marketing team, editor, and photographer. So much work goes into the back end that no one sees. With my day job there are days I have to work late. There are nights I would work until 8 PM, log off, grab my laptop, edit until 11, then get in bed to start the same process over. I am a work horse because I know what my dreams are. No one is going to build my business for me. I have to put in that energy if I want it to reflect in my growth. There are days I question everything. Was I meant for this? Did I make a mistake? I should just give up at this point… Everyone’s timeline is different, no one’s journey aligns the same. It could take me a few years longer than someone else. I believe everything happens for a reason. I won’t stop until I accomplish my dreams of owning my own photography studio and I can leave the corporate world. It is my absolute dream to make people feel beautiful all day long. No matter what knocks me down, I always get back up stronger. I am meant to do extraordinary things and I will push until I get there.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @AestheticLensCo & @TheAthleticLens

Image Credits
The picture of me is Her Brand Photo – Jamie Vandewinkle The 8 pictures were all taken by me :)