Ashleigh

What do you do when all the jobs in the career you've trained for dry up just as you're about to graduate college?


You say “screw it,” and start your own business.


But the road for Ashleigh, 26, hasn't been an easy one.


Like so many of us, college wasn't really an “if,” as it was a “when.” Beginning right out of high school, she wisely chose the college that would give her the best deal in terms of scholarships. It was 2006. The job market was good and the future looked bright for a graphic design major.

"I worked my butt off in school. I took extra classes every semester, interned, volunteered, and worked part-time.” So what if she had to work a part time job that barely covered books and expenses? Ashleigh believed that if she did good work in college, if she worked as hard as she could, then a job in a field she loved would be waiting for her when she graduated.

Then came 2008.

Lehman Brothers closed its doors. AIG did took a nosedive and the market plummeted. Businesses closed, people lost their jobs and no one was sure how long the difficulties would last. Ashleigh and her family were no different. Her mother was laid off and the income from her father's commission-based income plummeted. The future, once so clear, was now murky and threatening.


But she was not one to be shaken easily.


I decided to try my hand at being an RA my junior year,” she explains. “It had a paycheck and I figured I could handle it. They agreed to let me keep the part-time job, too.” She took on these two jobs on top of being the art director of the student paper and a 22 credit course load, the absolute maximum allowed.

Everyone has their breaking point. Ashleigh's was higher than most, but even she had to face that she was doing far too much. She suffered a breakdown and stepped down from the RA position to rest and recuperate, but of course, not for long. By the summer she landed an unpaid internship with a newspaper doing page design while still working her part time job to cover costs for next semester.

By graduation, it all seemed worth it. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors in art and two minors in English. These academic achievements, combined with her extensive job experience, created a resume that anyone would have been proud of.

“Ten years ago, I would have been set,” she says, ruefully.

Not one job prospect.

Ashleigh decided to return to school to earn a master's degree instead of waiting for the inevitable bills for her student loans to start coming in. “Since we figured we'd never pay off our loans anyway, it was a quick fix for putting off the bills,” she states, speaking of herself and many of those in our generation.

It was also around this time that she began experiencing several health issues. Back problems, problems sleeping, and of course no decent health insurance to go to the doctor.

But there was good news!

It was also during this time that she was married, and along with a brand new life with someone she loved, she was also able to finally get appropriate medical care through her husband''s provider. Unfortunately the outcome was not ideal.

"In the span of one year, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, social anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, two herniated disks, migraines, and a few other pains,” she says. “Nothing I have can be 'cured,' so to speak. All the treatments I have are therapies and I'll have to do them for the rest of my life. But it's like brushing your teeth. Everyone has to do it for their entire life and it just becomes a routine you don't think about.”

 Things have also settled down for Ashleigh financially. Although she and her husband still rely on a Christmas-Holiday-Birthday money emergency fund, life has become easier with two incomes and allowed her to break out of a stagnating corporate market.

 Between taking part time jobs that allow her to work around her medical issues, she has started her own business, CharmCat. Although she says that starting a business is difficult, and expensive to set up, Ashleigh enjoys the freedom it provides her. She designs, creates and sells beautiful wedding invitations and stationary that she can make on her own schedule, almost all of which are hand painted.

"Most of the painting is done at 12:30 in the morning while listening to some 90s alt,” she says with a laugh.

Please check out her beautiful artwork at the link provided below. You are not going to believe the amount of care and dedication that goes into these designs until you see them.

CharmCat