A veritable interior design virtuoso, you’d never believe that over a handful of years ago Ashley Ostrander was slugging it out in the finance industry, living each day with a sinking feeling in her gut, a knowing that she was meant for something more, something greater.
“I never felt fully fulfilled. I always felt like there's got to be more to my life. This isn't what I'm passionate about… I'm wasting a lot of the precious time that I have here on earth,” explains Ashley.
While she had a burning desire since she was a little girl to have a career in style and design, (she used to regularly redecorate her room with her mom’s rotated stash of decor under the stairway), she never felt like that was a viable option for her. At least, she had no role models paving the way for a creative career. After all, her hardworking, single mom forewent her own dreams to support the family. For Ashley, practicality just seemed to be par for the course.
By the time Ashley graduated, the economy was still looking grim—if she were to take risks in her life, 2010 was decidedly not the time. Thus, that one wild hair she got about opening a clothing boutique after college was squashed. Like many of us do, she chose the “safe” route, a career in finance.
Unhappy year after year in her safe bet, Ashley desperately sought another option that might be slightly less painful, so she became a radiology tech. But she quickly learned, as Ashley puts it, that working in a hospital isn’t for the faint of heart. Before she could blink, she was back to the old hat—finance.
And that nagging voice of her true life calling—the one that Mary Oliver talks about when she speaks of “your one wild and precious life”—would keep on calling her. There was no outrunning or hiding from it. In fact, it only intensified.
Until Ashley met her breaking point. One day while toiling in her golden handcuffs, she found herself utterly spent—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She knew she couldn’t do this anymore. Never in her life had she left a job without a backup plan, but this time was different—there was no other option. She made one phone call to her husband, who happened to surprise her with his overwhelming support, and she never looked back.
That’s the moment she gave herself permission to leap. She’d start from the bottom, saying goodbye to her cushy paycheck and benefits and work at a furniture store as an entry-level interior designer—which she is so glad they took a chance on her. Only two years later, she’d be working for the number one home builder in Utah.
Once she stepped out and stopped “playing it safe,” her whole world opened up. As it turns out, that dream as a little girl was what she was missing all along.
A few years later, Authentic Design Studio was born—her full-service luxury interior design company.
“When you have a passion, and when you have a calling, that's unshakeable. There's nothing that you can do to fill that void,” Ashley has discovered.
While the first months of business were full of uncertainty, she went “all in” and everything grew organically.
Now Ashley’s passion and talent speak for themselves, as a highly sought-after home designer.
Just as in life, Ashley sets herself apart in the industry as someone unwilling to take no for an answer. Ashley says, “If there's not a clear path, I like to forge my own,” and she takes that same attitude to your interior. If your contractor or electrician says something isn’t possible, Ashley is renowned for finding a solution.
The cornerstone of her style is creating a home that tells each person's authentic story and breaks “cookie-cutter” interiors. “How beautiful would it be to walk into every person's home in your neighborhood, and it feels like a true representation of who they are!” she exclaims.
In essence, she doesn’t care what your neighbors think and says you shouldn’t either.
“There's going to be things that you do to your home, in your life, how you dress that maybe not everybody loves. But what's important is that you love it.”
As for her advice on living a fulfilling life and following your passion, speaking from the heart, she says:
“Always shoot for the moon, as cheesy as that sounds. Never let fear stand in your way. Have a good, strong community of family and friends. This life is going to get you down sometimes. And as long as you have your family and friends there to pick you up, you'll make it through anything.”
Living the dream life she never knew was possible, she wants to scream from the rooftops, “You are capable and you can make it happen, you just gotta be willing to put in the work and sacrifice!”
“When you have a passion, and when you a calling, that's unshakeable. There's nothing that you can do to fill that void,” Ashley has discovered.
“You are capable and you can make it happen, you just gotta be willing to put in the work and sacrifice!”