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

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

At the beginning of my career, before I signed to an agency, I was unsure how to get started. I was very young, shy, and battling with anxiety. It was easy, at that time, to feel discouraged. I feel as an artist, we have to be comfortable with vulnerability and exposing our authentic selves, which took me some time to do. I was criticized often including the way I chose to express myself through art. My anxiety that developed made it difficult to feel free to open myself up while showing who I truly am, it didn’t feel safe. That allowed misunderstandings of my character and my capabilities.

I was very fortunate and grateful to have been exposed to other successful artist in New Orleans through photography, art classes, and strong relationships. Having a support system was beneficial for my growth. I was able to see others’ success and be around people who had similar ideas and aspirations as I did. It paved the way for me to become more involved with my own work and self discovery. Going through personal and professional experiences developed my understanding of my own self worth. The way you perceive yourself is how others are going to. You only receive what you allow. Being able to tilt the room with your authentic energy, standing firm in your boundaries, being okay with rejection, feeling comfortable making mistakes, and being confident in your abilities is what I believe makes us successful. I started to receive much more opportunities once I changed my mindset. My portfolio and work experience is something I’m very proud of. Yes, I still have anxiety, I have moments of doubt, and I’m still misunderstood but I look back at how far I’ve come and how much I was able to overcome and accomplish by being firm with what’s important to me and surrounding myself with others who support one another. I have a much different perspective now. Everyone is not going to understand you nor like what you do, and that’s okay. There are many people who will appreciate you for you and your craft. That took me some time to realize but once I did, it shifted my focus on what truly matters.

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’m a commercial model of 10 years and fashion stylist for 2 years. I peeked attention after being casted on 2 large ad campaigns which lead me to be signed to an agency when I was 21 years old. I’ve done movies, commercials, print, editorials, runway, hair shows, makeup seminars and more. I have always been a lover of fashion and being unpredictable and authentic when it comes to clothes. Being exposed to fashion in all these different environments made me truly realize that my passion is Indeed in fashion. I am incredibly thankful for my agent for giving me tremendous opportunity, experience, and support. It was a big leap for me to go independent when I changed course to styling. It’s much more difficult without representation, I felt like I was starting all over. I’m thankful for the connections I as able to make through modeling to help my styling career but it is a very competitive market, similar to modeling. I’ve just been staying true to what I do it for.

I want people who I encounter to feel great about themselves. Besides my possibly overwhelming amounts of compliments I enjoy giving, I love being able to help others express themselves through style and appear to the world in a way that’s beautifully conducted by sharing each other’s thoughts, stories, and what we are trying to convey in our projects. It’s a collaborative art. With personal styling (which is my favorite), being able to connect with your client on a more endearing level by understanding how they feel, how they want to feel, learning their day to day life, and enhancing their beauty that’s already there with clothes is so rewarding. Clothing tells such a story in itself and the people wearing it have even more to tell. I enjoy seeing the best in others and I love aiding in their light to shine. I also do donations of unused and unwanted clothing to people in need and other creators. The more support I have, the more I can give back.

I take bookings in New Orleans, New York City, Nashville, Miami, and Baton Rouge but I am open to working in much more areas! I’m expanding and looking forward to what’s to come.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had a bad habit of mentally besting myself up. I often didn’t feel like I was doing enough or not doing something right. I would overthink and nitpick every small thing that I thought I did wrong and how I could do it better. Of course, it’s important to be able to learn from our mistakes and be open to improvement, but I definitely had to learn to not be so hard on myself. I had to learn to give myself the same love and patience I would give a loved one. Being able to be calm and comfortable with the journey, which includes failing, rejection, feeling embarrassed, and all the other not so glamorous experiences is vital to growth and success. Tearing myself apart only made it harder for myself and interfered with my confidence.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

A book that resonates with me is “breakfast with Seneca”. It speaks of stoic tradition. In the book, Seneca teaches us to live with freedom and purpose. It expresses how to handle adversity; overcome grief, anxiety, and anger and transform setbacks into opportunities for growth. It’s a great read.

I am currently obtaining a degree in buisness and marketing. I’m learning different aspects of business through experience, mentors, and education. I also have a strong corporate background. That has made me more confident in negotiating and building business relationships while representing myself. With that experience along with the teaching of stoicism from the book has made me more grounded and truly understand my purpose and how to be what I view as successful. It applies to everything.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ashleypercle
• Facebook: Ashley Percle
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Jessi Arnold Jeremy Tauriac Ollie Alexander