Reading: #140: Ashley Miles (The Power Of Uber Positive Thinking)

“We launched Franklyn West in the middle of the pandemic,” says Ashley Miles of her Business Growth Collective which is committed to transformation and sustainable growth for businesses and leaders. “We have an incredible portfolio of companies. Simultaneously, I’m also president of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI), the 91-year-old organization that hosted its 51st — but the first digital-only — Matrix Awards”. Miles, who grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a serious equestrian, discovered her passion for journalism and advertising early on and decided she “needed to get to New York.” “I sent hundreds of resumes to people on the mastheads of magazines to get an internship,” she says, “and only one person called me back. It was Teen People.” From there Miles went off to In Style, then helped to scale Refinery 29 into a “nine-figure business”, eventually landing as Global Chief Business Officer at Thrive Global. What makes her business approach different? Using optimism as leverage. “We have to shut down the inner critic,” she says. “We all have that inner voice saying, ‘I’m not worthy of making positive change in my life’ Shut it down! Ask: What is the bold picture? What do I want to be? How do I want to evolve? What is my action plan to make it happen? Get out there and network. Seeing things through an optimistic lens means anything is possible.”