You are?
Hi there. See that girl to the left? That’s me. I’m Ashley, Ashyi, or Ashyizzle because that’s what everyone thinks my name is.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Sure. I celebrate my birthday on December 9th. No, I do not mind anonymous birthday gifts. 
I grew up in Stevenson Ranch, California (where I felt like I never quite fit in), graduated from the University of California, Irvine (where I really didn’t fit in either), and is currently living in Los Angeles (where I finally started to feel like I fit in). I use my social channels as a creative outlet, a way to connect with people, and share my daily inspirations!

Do you work? 
Contrary to the popular belief that I don’t work, I started making videos for fun & it became my career.

How did you get into the food/lifestyle scene?

The food scene just fell into my lap. During college, I had no friends in Orange County. I started to connect with like-minded people over Instagram and found that taking pictures of what I was doing & eating in my day-to-day life attracted people. Also, I got free food in exchange for a photo. WHO DOESN’T LOVE FREE FOOD?! This became my temporary hobby to make my college career somewhat bearable. Eventually, restaurants started to invite me in to shoot and post for them over my social channels. Fast forward to today, I get to enjoy fine dining and fancy tasting menus, to street food and hole-in-the-wall restaurants! I became an adventurous eater, willing to try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING…at least twice! I make a few videos of what I eat too ;)

Do you enjoy working?
I genuinely do but I'm well aware that ultimately, my work doesn't cure the common cold, put men on Saturn, or gives us millennials’ the next app to obsess over. For now, my job is a brilliant distraction from my true calling as the next Jane Goddall for dogs. But yes, I truly enjoy getting the opportunity to create and share my love for food and life through my mini army over social media!

Joking aside, what do you hope to achieve in life?
Well Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, to have succeeded in life, one would have “left the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.”
The longer i’m on this planet, the more i’ve come to realize that what seems to be the simplest of goals is actually the most noble and difficult to achieve…being a good hearted person (work in progress).
I just hope I can leave the world a better place by figuring out what I love to do and do something good with it, make just one person feel a little more loved than they did yesterday, immerse myself into places i’ve never been, and possibly take a good photograph or two.