We may receive commissions for affiliate links included in this article. This is a sponsored post. Future Sharks makes no warranties about the statements, facts and/or claims made on this article. These are the opinions of the author. Read our advertising and contributor disclosure here.
Founder of A.MARIE and popular jewelry enthusiast, Ashley Marie, talks about how she overcame learning “disabilities” and is now the owner of a successful empire
Ashley Marie has been able to successfully disrupt the jewelry industry over the past decade, thanks to her “out-of-this-world” creations and the collections offered by her jewelry brand – A.MARIE. The experienced and passionate jewelry designer has been a creator all her life, as she started making jewelry at the age of 8. She found peace in jewelry making and would sell her pieces to family and friends at events. With the support of her mom, who enrolled the young Ashley at a local craft store to improve her skills, Ashley practically found her calling in designing jewelry– eventually leading her to create styles to make women feel beautiful and confident.
Designing jewelry came natural for Ashley. However, as a child and young adult, scholastically she struggled. Ashley had a series of learning disabilities that were undiagnosed at the time which is what she contributes to her passion and need to design jewelry.
“Turns out, I have ADHD and learning “disabilities” This whole time my brain was on overtime trying to accomplish what most people consider the simplest of tasks. Having unresolved ADHD literally sent me into a spiral of thinking so many things were wrong with my brain. Everyone thought that because I could sit still and make jewelry- that this was not even an option. Turns out that ADHD uses a completely different part of the brain which is the exact reason I was able to sit and design and make jewelry,” said Ashley Marie.
Thanks to her university, the issues surrounding her difficulty in learning were addressed and it was a 180 turnaround for the undergrad. “NO MORE Fs! I ended up graduating with High Honors, president of Honor Society, and a double major.. all i needed was a proper diagnosis and plan” Ashley said.
“But I decided that I needed to create something on my own terms- being an entrepreneur allows me to navigate through my condition. I know what my brain can successfully process and what it cannot. I had to come up with my own thing and succeed at THAT. I was never going to fit into someone else’s box. My brain just didn’t operate that way.”
It is a good thing Ashley was confident enough to make that decision as she is now, a decade later, reaping the benefits of a successful empire.
➡ Looking to get featured on Future Sharks?
