Ahwatukee resident Ashley LeMieux is all about normalizing the stuff that’s hard to talk about.
With a Master of Science in mental health, LeMieux is the founder of The Shine Project, a best-selling author, speaker, entrepreneur, and social media influencer on a mission to help people work through their grief to find healing and community. Her three books (Born to Shine, I Am Here, and Clarity Mapping) are full of practical tools to help readers “find their shine” – a message she also shares with more than 475,000 followers on Instagram.
While she fills many roles, her favorite by far, she shares, is her latest—being a new mom.
“I'm a mama to our miracle baby girl who we've waited so long to have. She was born in May of 2022, and it [mama] is my most favorite title,” LeMieux says.
When she’s not working, the graduate of Desert Vista High School and Arizona State University, and her husband Mike LeMieux, and daughter Annie Rae enjoy the family-friendly community that Ahwatukee offers.
“I am also just coming off my third book launch and am excited to continue to help women work through their grief and build our online community that's committed to talking about the things that are hard to talk about,” she continues. “We will be doing retreats, in-person events, and other projects this year. I am also co-founding a new start up and doing what I can to help champion women.”
LeMieux says that her social media work resonates so well with her followers because people need safe spaces to talk about the hard things so that they don’t feel alone.
“Although our experiences are different, the human experience connects us and I try really hard to be vulnerable about my own life and help give words and a sense of being understood to other women,” she says. “We talk about grief, miscarriage, death, burn out, you name it, but I do it in a way where there are actionable tools given that brings hope.”
While her work focuses on helping others, LeMieux’s goal is to be present in everything she does.
“I've always been an entrepreneur and it can get easy for me to keep building things, because I love it,” she says. “But with my baby girl here, I am saying no to a lot more things, allowing a slow pace of life to be our normal, and not let this time just pass me by. This means that the retreats and projects I take on are very intentional and I'm so excited to help more women have access to the support they need.”
From her home in Ahwatukee, LeMieux is grateful to be able to impact thousands of people to heal and lead more intentional lives. “People want to feel seen and not alone, and we've created a really special space to be able to do that,” she says.
Instagram.com/ashleyklemieux