Dr. Ashley is a globally recognized scholar-practitioner dedicated to empowering communities facing displacement, poverty, and inequality. She specializes in designing and implementing child-focused initiatives within conflict and fragile settings. Ashley founded Enhancing Girlhood to provide consulting services that strengthen the capacity of practitioners to understand and effectively address the needs of children, with a focus on girls.
Her extensive experience includes clients such as UN agencies, international NGOs, governments, and educational institutions. This work has taken her across the globe, serving girls in the US, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Kenya, the DR Congo, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Dr. Ashley’s notable work includes responding to the Syrian refugee crisis and developing child marriage prevention and response guidance for UNHCR. She also spearheaded Mercy Corps’ Girl Center, leading innovative initiatives like girl-led research examining the impact of gender-based violence in the Middle East. With Girls’ Globe, she served for a decade as a blogger and reporter, applying a solutions-lens to human rights violations.
Dr. Ashley holds a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University (2014). She has published in academic journals and is a global expert in Positive Deviance. Her academic background is further strengthened by a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree. Beyond her academic credentials, she possesses specialized training in Girl Meets World, Immunity to Change, and crisis intervention for survivors of sexual violence.
Dr. Ashley has served as a faculty member at Antioch College and Sinclair Community College. Her prolific writing on topics like sexual violence and child marriage positions her as a thought leader in the field. A global citizen, she speaks English, French, German, and Serbian with working knowledge of Arabic.