May’s Member of the Month is Ashley Ross, Creative and Community Coordinator at Campfire CoWorks!
Ashley was able to get involved with Connect Marquette through Campfire. She has had a lot of fun seeing how many members in the community are working towards similar goals. Entrepreneurship is much less intimidating with a community of like-minded people to share in the joys and difficulties with.
When asked what her CM membership does for her, Ashley replied, “For me, it’s a motivation to get socially connected with my community. I don’t generally feel comfortable in large groups, but hearing from other thought-leaders is a great boost and motivator.”
Ashley loves being able to use Zoom for meetups because she can hop on while working or doing Mom things. She thinks makes it a little easier as a working parent.
Do you have any thing in common with Ashley? Her favorite hobbies outside of her profession include:
I’m a huge nerd. I love anime and cosplay. I’ve always loved costumes because you can become someone else for a day, but now I take it to the extreme. It’s a very intense hobby. I also love to spend time with my family either adventuring, playing video games, or catching a movie.
We asked Ashley what her favorite community event or local organization was and she said, “I have really enjoyed going to the Women in Entrepreneurship nights put on by Innovate MQT and the Smartzone. When I first started my business, it was so impactful to be surrounded by so many other women in the community doing big things.”
And when asked about her favorite thing about the Marquette community, Ashley shared, “I’ve always been impressed by the way it can just pull you in. My husband and I have thought to leave a few times, but we’ve never been able to do it. Just when I think that we need to raise our family somewhere else, an opportunity sucks us back in. As a kid, I complained about the limitations. Now I see that it is up to us to defy those and create a place that we can thrive in. It’s too beautiful a place to say goodbye to just because you can’t make a living. I see so much potential in the community of people trying to create a sustainable economy here. I want my children to feel like they can be successful here doing things they love and I believe we can do it together!”
