We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashlee Nino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashlee below.
Ashlee, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
How do YOU learn to be successful, even when YOU’RE the only on the room that looks like you?
Well….. that’s your super power! Even though this generation has proved to be one of the toughest, with social media and cyber bullying; I believe we are finally living in a time that being unique is celebrated. And if you learn how to use that uniqueness to your advantage, then you are invincible.
This has hit me personally in all avenues of my career.
My longest endeavor has been my dance/entertainment career. I grew up in Texas where I quickly became the big fish in a small pond. My dream was to move to Los Angeles and at the age of 19, I did. To quickly be awakened as one of the smallest fish in a treacherous ocean. By society standards there were many girls far more “beautiful” than me. By training standards, there were dancers far more talented than I was. But I had one super power, they were not ME. I believed so strongly in who I was. A unique individual, I was able to “fake it till I made it!” I purposely dressed al little different, I created my own memorable style. I did my hair a little different. I focused on dance styles that not many other girls were doing. I MADE myself unique in a room full of dancers who were all fitting the mold.
As the years have gone by, my entertainment career has always been a part of my life. But, I have moved on to be an entrepreneur and launching many successful small business endeavors. I own and run Air Bnb properties. I own an event and custom build business, and have been blessed to become the house drummer on shows like “America’s Got Talent. A modge podge of beautiful businesses. All of which I found that I was the unique missing piece in a room full of people that didn’t look like me.
So my message to all of the generations moving forward. Embrace your differences. Make your uniqueness the star. If you feel that you do blend in and look like everyone else. Find what makes you happy and push towards making that your career. There, you will find your difference. That is the super power that will set you apart from everyone else.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, but now have been living in Los Angeles more than half my life. Creativity has always been the center of my existence. and looking back on my childhood, I am still pulling from things that made me happy, I have just figured out a way to make money doing them.
I started dancing when I was 4 years old and moved on to have an incredible career in Los Angeles as a professional dancer. I have worked and toured with artist such as Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, The Jonas Brothers, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliot and more! Through dance I found drumming and am currently the house drummer on “America’s Got Talent.”
Since childhood, my family always took great pride in Birthdays and Holidays. We never had a lot of money but my mom and sister are two of the most creative people you will ever meet. They made the most elaborate parties for me out of pennies and recycled items. Today I own and operate “The Switch Events.” I do events from start to finish and have been loving every second of it. My work can be seen on The Disney Channel, TOMS Shoes corporate events and I even got to personally create Comedian ‘Anjelah Johnsons’ 40th Birthday celebration.
My dad is the most amazing carpenter and handy man. He can build anything. As a child, if I wanted new paint in my room, new flooring, he gave me the tools and told me to do it myself. This is one of the most important things I believed I learned as a child. I have gone on to help design and build as an adult. From home improvement renovations to custom carpentry builds for my event company, the calls keep coming and my skills keep improving.
The beautiful thing about life is that it is always evolving. I am a different person now closing the chapter of my 30s and soon entering my 40s, than I was in my 20s. I don’t know exactly where I will be at 50. But, I do know that creativity and my evolving entrepreneur brain will take me on more wild adventures.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
– Try everything and fail at all of them!
I credit a huge part of my success to my failures. I was very fortunate as a child to know and have a passion for many different things. All of which I failed at to some degree. Each time I failed, I tried to not make the same mistake again. Through this I found the things that I really enjoyed. Those are the things that never, and still do not feel like work.
From dance, to hand building a new bathroom vanity. I can still see the child in me. The child that tried a new dance class and left with her soul smiling. The child that learned how to use a hammer with her dad and felt so cool to nail two pieces of wood together. Lots of failures, that led to loads of success. Do those things!
– Go beyond learning the steps
If you find something you are passionate about, go beyond. In my case that was dance. I was never the best dancer. But, I loved it so much and truly wanted to learn everything about it. That means, the founders, where the style came from, the origin, how it was created. What inspired the creators. All of these things led me to have a deeper understanding and love for what I did. Because of that, I found my uniqueness and the jobs came!
– It’s ok to not know “your purpose”
I get asked this a lot, and I feel that so many of my friends, now even in my 30s/40s are struggling with this. We feel that at this age we should already now our purpose. As moms, we feel that we should be solid in that to help guide our children. I know some people feel that they have found their purpose and that is amazing. But I believe our purpose in life changes daily.
We are put in individuals life for a purpose, we are put in certain job settings for a purpose. To learn lessons, to grow, to fail, to love, to lose, to truly experience the human journey. So embrace your purpose today. Even if that is just to rest. Some of us will never know our purpose, but long after we are gone, others will see it.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The biggest area of growth and improvement for me in the past 12 months is learning how to focus on ME. I am a big giver and my life moves very quickly. I am the LAST person I take care of.
Major monuments in my life like “coming out”, divorce, becoming a single parent have forced me to make the decisions that are shaping and manifesting exactly what I want. And those moments started coming when I selfishly, put everyone second.
The longest relationship you will have with ANYONE is with YOURSELF. There are never enough hours in a day, but we need to force ourselves to give a few of those hours to US.
I started making my soul and body a priority. Working out daily, getting my nails done (more than once a year) listening to meditations or podcasts while I drive. Simple things helped me manifest more happiness. Understating that sometimes we can’t change the ones we love the most. We have to understand that they may not be capable of ever understanding life beyond a certain point and thats ok. When you learn to live for you, you are able to open your arms wider for those closest to you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @ashleenino
Image Credits
photo @justfeng
