Meet Ashley Battle

We recently connected with Ashley Battle and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley , thank you so much for joining us today and appreciate you talking about a sensitive topic. It’s unfortunately relevant to so many in the community as layoffs have been on the rise recently, and so we’d appreciate hearing your story and how you overcame being let go?

Getting fired from my employer was the best thing that could have happened to me. It happened during covid also! I worked for this company for many years and no exaggeration, I was a very good employee. During covid the job was so stressful, being short on help, Call outs, and simply a younger generation of workers who didn’t want to work. It was mentally taking a toll on me. Also during covid while being on a staggered schedule, I started back cooking and baking. With the stress of my job. I decided that my business would be my main priority. Eventually I got fired and walking out of that door was the biggest breath of fresh air. I was never sad about it. It just made me go harder for myself.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I started baking and cooking at a young age. I fell in love with being in the kitchen creating different recipes for anyone to try. I started selling plates to my family and my moms coworkers around the age of 12. Then I gravitated into baking desserts, and started selling them as well. When I reached my junior year in high school I made my mind up that I wanted a career in the culinary field. Once I graduated from high school I went on to attend Nash Community College where I majored in Culinary Arts. I then transferred to The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham where I completed 1 yr before dropping out. Many years went by where I was stagnant, and not pursuing my dreams. I went back to working in the factory workforce. I gave up on my dreams thinking that they would never happen and I would never finish school. I was lost and torn, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. Fast forward to 2020 when covid came around, I was pursued by a friend to start back selling plates. I did just that and fell back into baking too. Now I have my business! Talk & Chew is a baking and catering business. I mainly bake and decorate custom cakes, and make desserts. On my social media pages I also post tutorials, recipes, and tips that could help anyone wanting to learn. I’m most proud of my growth. Sometimes I sit back and look at pictures of things I’ve made in the past and compare them to my current work and it leaves me in awe. As my business has grown I am available for cakes of any kind, desserts, treats, charcuterie, catering,

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think having the skill of acknowledgement is important. When you acknowledge anything whether it’s good or bad, you are able to learn something from that experience. Acknowledgement is one of the first steps of taking accountability. My advice to anyone starting out is that you can do whatever you want to do in life. You just have to do it. Block out the naysayers and any distraction and just do what you want to do. Never let anything get in your way.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client are the ones that I create a bond with. The ones that are my repeat customers who always stick with me and refer me to everyone. They are the best and I grow to love them. They are so supportive of me and hype me up all the time!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_talk_and_chew_?igsh=MWthbm5yN2hqMno4dA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/188Zm5u496/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkandChew