We recently connected with Ashley Dobson and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I have always been obsessed with stories. I always have a book nearby and my to-be-read (TBR) list grows by the day. As a kid, I used to host “Live with Regis and Ashley” in my living room (or in a restaurant waiting area if the opportunity presented itself!) and interview everyone from my stuffed animals to the mailman.

Storytelling is the heart of my work and I truly believe knowing how to share your narrative and shape it match your goals, audience, and medium leads to the most powerful results. As I really started drilling down on that idea and how I wanted to build a business based on it, I kept describing doing each thing as doing it “through narrative.” And it stuck!

Good storytelling leads to good strategy. Through narrative we can create and craft impactful work that inspires action.

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’ve had a pretty varied career so far. I like to describe myself as a “recovering journalist.” I was a reporter for several different local newspapers across the southern U.S. and thought my ultimate goal was to be an editor for a political publication in Washington D.C. Well, I got a job doing just that and it turned out that was actually not for me!

Luckily, journalism taught me so many transferrable skills and allowed me to meet so many people that I was able to really try out so many other jobs in the communications field. From social media manager to community engagement specialist to vice president at a start-up government contracting agency, I’ve gotten to explore and learn so much and I bring all of that past knowledge and experience to Through Narrative.

Through Narrative is a communications and public relations firm. We use your story to craft effective communications, create opportunities to meaningfully engage your target audience, and develop actionable strategies. Through your narrative, we shape and share who you are as an agency, where you’re headed, and how to get there.

Our clients are government agencies, nonprofits, and organizations passionate about doing great work within their respective niches. They creatively find ways to stretch small staffs and limited resources. They recognize the need for strategic communications, but don’t have the time, capacity, or expertise to put it into action.

I love to work with people who know the value of an effective communications campaign but trust me to execute their vision. Working in close partnership with our clients, we do the heavy lifting to expand their in-house capacity, broaden their reach, and shout to the rooftops about their incredible work and opportunities. Through Narrative provides the full suite of communications, marketing, and public relations services, from assessments and strategy development to implementation and outreach campaigns to website development and trainings.

Through Narrative launched officially in December 2023 and I am so proud of the growth we have already experienced to date! In our first six months, I’ve had the opportunity to work with clients ranging from Veteran-owned small businesses to transportation agencies to advocacy organizations with an emphasis on child care. I learn every day from their stories and I’m grateful to have this opportunity to share their amazing work with the world!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As an older daughter, elder millennial, and former “gifted” child, decoupling my value as a person from my output is one of the great struggles of my life. I graduated college in an economic depression. I was a journalist during the VC-backed era of clickbait and media decline. Hustle culture is all I know.

But over the past few years I have had significant health challenges and my doctors basically told me that I was running out of medical interventions if I could not get my stress under control. Work-life balance is a myth. If you work all the time, there is no life to balance it with.

As I was thinking about all of this, I read “The Good Enough Job” by Simone Stolzoff and there was one line that hit me like a punch to the gut.

“What can you do to remind yourself that you exist on this earth to do more than produce economic value?”

A huge reason I started Through Narrative and went out on my own was to give myself the freedom to answer this question.

It seems counterintuitive to start a business to get out of hustle culture and to think about something other than your economic output, but that’s exactly what I am doing.

I am building this firm with absolute intent to continue to prioritize my health and wellbeing alongside the work I am passionate about doing. It absolutely has to be in the DNA of your company to keep that front and center otherwise all of the forces of our “rise and grind” world will take it over. I don’t always get it right but I try to make choices every day to keep this unlearning going.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Moving forward with abundance!

People have been so generous with me in sharing what they learned as they started their businesses and I try to move in that spirit of generosity. It sounds more “woo woo” than I mean it to, but I really do feel as though you get back what you are putting out – and sometimes even more!

My business is more sustainable when I approach it by centering the belief that there is more than enough to go around, that someone else’s success is cause for celebration not competition, and by recognizing that there are so many things when it comes to getting work that are out of my control.

Here’s what I can control and what I can do that has grown my business exponentially in these first months:

– I am such a believer that there is more than enough work to go around so if I am passed an opportunity that I think will be a better fit for someone else, I connect them!
– I show up and support other small businesses and creators. Whether that is through LinkedIn posts and social engagement or partnering with them on projects, there are so many ways to show your support!
– I invite myself to the rooms I want to be in. I started volunteering on the steering committee of for a group of some of the most passionate progressive communicators I’ve ever met and dove in headfirst.

And I let go of what isn’t meant for me. There have been plenty of projects and RFPs that have resulted in a “no” but there are also so many projects that feel perfectly aligned for me that I wouldn’t have had space for if I had won them. Every “no” has felt like it has turned into 2 or 3 “yes” responses.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.throughnarrative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/through_narrative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyddobson/