Pass The Mic with Ashley Flowers

Meet Ashley Flowers, Co-host of the podcast Crime Junkie, Founder and CEO of audiochuck, author, and founder of her own non-profit, Season of Justice. Ashley is known for her ability to craft rich, meaningful stories and bring empowerment and support to people's lives across the country. 

Ashley and Jocelyn Hudak, Senior Director, Content and Digital Marketing, sat down to discuss how to make your own rules, learning when to bring in help, and finding people who believe in you. Tune in to hear some highlights of the conversation below. 

Make your own rules.

Highlight: “Make your own rules. There are going to be some rules you have to follow, but when you believe in something, people want to hear from different voices. And if you want something, other people probably want it, too. Not everyone is going to be able to find their niche in podcasting. But if you believe in it, don't let too many people change it.” - Ashley Flowers

Realize what you’re not good at.

Highlight: “I will never be the best at all the things. And I think the one thing I have gotten really good at is realizing what I'm not good at, and figuring out how to tap people… There are plenty of things where I just said, ‘I don't know how to fix this.’ And the thing that I've learned is, sooner rather than later, bringing someone in who does know what they're doing.” - Ashley Flowers

Find people who believe in you.

Highlight:  “Growing up, I didn't know a single entrepreneur. This was not something anyone in my family did or anyone else outside, so I had to kind of do it organically, and I probably haven't been the perfect leader, but I've just got a philosophy that I need to do the right thing. I need to do right by people and everything that we do, whether it's the content, our internal team, the way I think about benefits, it's all about loving people and showing love. And I think that that has shined through.

So, even if I mess up, I'm going to mess up, people are willing to hang in there with me through it because they believe that I have the right intentions. They believe in me. They believe, more importantly, in this thing that we're building, in the mission that we have.” - Ashley Flowers

Hire for the company you want to be.

Highlight: “I wish I would have hired sooner. I think I was always so afraid early on that this would just go away. It was so new to me that I never wanted to lay people off, which I still haven't had to do. But because of that fear, I always delayed hiring for the company I wanted to be. I would hire for the company I was right then and really like six months behind. But I've just now started to change my mindset to be like, ‘Okay, to get to the next thing, I've got to hire someone that maybe we don't have the work for right now, but they're going to create it for themselves.’” - Ashley Flowers

Balancing mom guilt.

Highlight: “I'm trying my best not to feel the mom guilt that everyone talks about, but it's just like there… I don't love when people say, 'You can have it all.' I'm like, you can have it all, but your all is going to look completely different than it did before you had kids. I love the thing that I do, and figuring out how to have that balance without feeling guilt is a constant thing you're working on. But I feel like I get better at it every day.” - Ashley Flowers

Stay tuned for more of Ashley’s conversation coming soon on the Pass The Mic Podcast. If you’re ready for more inspiration now, check out our Pass the Mic page.