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

Ashley , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Hello!

A couple of years ago during the summer of my junior year of high school, my dad went into rehab. I had always been super close with my dad, so this side of him was very different and difficult for me to understand. Over the summer, we would go visit him in rehab every Sunday and also get to know the other people in his support group. Over the course of three months, I started to understand more about addiction and how it can affect anyone, from any walk of life. It wasn’t until “family week,” the one-week family comes every day for group therapy and activities, that I really started to get a better understanding of what addiction really is. At the time I wasn’t able to share how I felt about my dad going to rehab because I was too nervous to talk about it.

It wasn’t until the pandemic happened that I started to reflect on that experience and decided to write about it. I got to work writing and a couple of months later I had written an entire dark comedy movie called “Family Week.” While writing this I really put a focus on what it is like to be a family member of an addict. I felt like there weren’t enough stories telling this side of addiction. I also wanted to capture more of what addiction is like as opposed to what they often portray in movies. Addiction doesn’t just affect homeless people or “lowlifes,” it can happen to anyone. Mostly I wanted to write a movie that people could go to and feel less alone. I hope one day I can see it come to fruition, I think it could be really impactful.

Ashley , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello!

I’m Ashley and I’m a comedian, writer, and avid crafter! I have always liked to make people laugh, but it wasn’t until I took an Improv class at 18 that I knew it was what I wanted to do. I begged my parents to let me go to L.A. at 18 and try out some classes and they did! I think they thought it would be a phase but here we are still plugging along.

I mainly write dark comedy, but for stand up I focus on relatable stories from my life. I like to find the funny in the not-so-funny parts of life we all have to go through. I hope when people see me perform or read my writing they laugh and also feel less alone.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Because I started at this so young I didn’t really have any idea what I was doing. I was 18 in L.A. not at a college and in comedy classes with people years older than me. I wish there had been a place that supported young talent and didn’t make you feel like you had no experience to draw on. I’m so lucky that I had my parents who fully supported me to talk to and lean on.

I think it would be great if society supported new, young talent a bit more than they do. I wish schools and society saw artists as just as important as any other job out there. You may not understand someone’s art, but it doesn’t mean it’s not important.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Because I didn’t go to college I had to find my own resources when it came to learning. Honestly, for me it was just reading book after book about the thing I was interested in whether it be how to build a social following or how to format a screenplay. But one of the things that truly has helped me the most is Masterclasses. They are so useful and interactive! I still watch them all the time and find it so useful!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ashleysingleton3
• Facebook: Ashley Singleton
• Youtube: @Ash-comedy
• Tiktok: @ash_singletoncomedy1 and @ashley_comedy (one is sketches an the other is stand up clips)