From living the dream in Malibu to being a single mother on food stamps to starting her own company in Manhattan, Ashley Tyrner is the true definition of a comeback story.
At age 27, with a newborn baby girl, Ashley became a food stamp recipient after a nasty divorce. She moved to New York City in 2011 for a new beginning and worked as a business manager in the fashion industry.
As a busy, working mother, Ashley had little time to shop for food products. However, she wanted to make sure that she knew exactly what was going into her daughter’s body. Farmbox Direct was founded in direct response to this, an effort to provide her daughter with the highest quality fruits and vegetables. Boxes of fresh organic produce are now delivered up and down the east coast and, in October, will be expanding nationwide.
After going through a variety of hardships, Ashley has come back on top. Now, she let’s us know what she has learned along the way:
#1: I had the inner strength my daughter has given me:
I have been a single mother since pregnancy, I never knew the courage, or inner strength my daughter has given me was even within my mind, body or soul. She taught me how to be a rhino always charging forward, never looking back, how to survive, how to be a fighter, and how to push forward knowing that zero obstacle’s that would be thrown at me could ever take me off my charging path.
#2: Networking is everything, it is not what you know, rather WHO you know:
I have been very blessed with the gift of gabbing as I like to call it! I can start a conversation with just about anyone from any walk of life. I have been very blessed with my network of people. My network of people is exactly why I am where I am today. I am not college educated, I am proud that I am self taught, but I am educated in the gift of networking. I believe everything and everyone is put into your life for a reason, there are no mistakes in life when it comes to people along your path. Our path is how we get to our destination, now there may be road blocks along that path but I have learned that every road block was for a very good reason. I have met people that I never would have thought in a million years would be someone I would ever need to reach out to for business, and they now sit on my board of advisors!
#3: The gift of paying attention to other people who are successful:
I recently went to a museum with a dear friend of mine, who actually now sits on my board of advisors. While we were out looking at art, chatting about business, life and enjoying lunch with amazing art all around us, I noticed how nice he is to EVERYONE. He always introduced himself, I won’t mention any names here but people knew who he was from the position he holds and the affiliation with media coverage for the museum. He went out of his way to chat with people, take a few minutes with everyone he encountered, even down to people at stop lights while we were walking down the street! He looked at me and said “Ash always be nice to everyone you meet, go out of your way to speak to them, network with them, no matter what position they hold because people will always remember you by how nice you are.” I really began to look at how other successful people treat others, how they act, and how they carry themselves.
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