Ash grew up in restaurants, watching her father work his way through kitchens in Seattle. While she hasn’t put on a Hedley & Bennett professionally in a few years now, cooking will always be in her blood. She found comfort in a cutthroat industry–beating out other, more experienced, cooks to become sous at 17.
By 21, she was nominated for a James Beard Award. Ashley even competed on season nine of Bravo’s Top Chef in 2010. She went on to reach exec chef at a number of esteemed kitchens and catering companies in SoCal and Seattle. And then, kids came.
Her decision to leave the restaurant industry was met with a fair share of pushback. But Ash forged her path forward. “Lots of people gave me s*** for not returning to the kitchen and jumping into real estate,” she said. “But I did it and don’t regret it at all”.
“With real estate for me, it’s about helping someone understand their situation, advocating for them, and literally guiding them home, which doesn’t get better,” said Ashley. “Similar to designing menus and restaurant concepts; there are no shortcuts, we work hard, we work with what we have when we have it, and we breathe love into the process.”
“I’ll never not be a chef, and I’m always cooking,” said Ashley. “And real estate has helped me realize that being a small business owner makes the world go round and that there doesn’t need to be a hard start and stop to something you’re passionate about.”
Outside of home sales and cooking, she’s into late ‘90s and early ‘00s Bimmers, French purses, and Peloton.
Titles
- Director of Marketing to Real Urban Projects
- Managing Broker (in August)
- Development Specialist
Awards
- NWG Broker of the Year 2021
- Top 3%, Best of Zillow Premier Agent 2021
- Top 20 Seattle Social Media Agent 2020
Specialties
- Brand/builder identity
- Pre-sale marketing strategy
- Open house & event experience
- Land acquisition
- CMA & pricing opinion
- First-time home buyer professional