This Female Visionary Is Making Imperfection The New Norm
Ashley Beaudin is an entrepreneur, a leader, a speaker, and a coach. She has a degree in Human Rights and has spent time working in media, politics, and activism. She believes in using your heart and dreaming up big ideas. And, she has two words to describe herself: real and confident.
And if that’s not inspo enough for you, then you should know that she is the visionary behind #TheImperfectBoss, a movement that aspires women everywhere to bring out their own realness and confidence with the overall mission of making imperfect the new normal (they even have an adult camp program for women to attend!) Ummm Ash, can we be you when we grow up?!
The void: Your main goal is to make imperfection a thing of beauty, and that is a hard thing to achieve in this day and age. How did you get past any obstacles in your way?
Ash: My biggest fear in starting on my own path of business and making my dreams a reality, was this fear that I was not enough. The journey in overcoming that fear has been a process; it is a life process. It is not a battle won overnight. And so, I put in the inner work, learned how to talk to my heart, surrounded myself with people who believed in me, and explored practices and habits I could create that would give me the experience of being enough. Sometimes, talk won’t help you, you need to experience the truth.
The void: What is it that motivates you to keep going?
Ash: Failure is inevitable in life and work. I have experienced much failure: failed businesses, flunked out of university, wrestled with behaviors I would never want in burning lights. The thing that keeps me going is this inner belief that I have to give this life everything I have and that if I accept my imperfections and failures, I can transform them into encouragement and connection for someone else. If my failure can show someone else that they can fail and be better for it, then I've won the game.
The void: When was the moment where you just thought, “f*ck it, I’m going to do this” and made #TheImperfectBoss what it is today?
Ash: This point came for me when I got laid off my job and I thought, "I am gonna do this. I have to." I knew that no one was going to hand me my dream job, so I had to decide to create it. Making that decision changed the trajectory of my life. Every time, we make a brave decision and commit to our dreams, we change our future.
Make sure to check out @imperfectbosses for your daily dose of female-focused inspo, and follow Ashley on Instagram here.