Meet Ashleigh Henry | Consulting Firm Owner | Marketing & Sales Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashleigh Henry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashleigh, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
I hold onto my ethics with every cell in my body. As a Marketing and Sales Consultant, running a modern marketing and sales firm… it’s been easy to see why many distrust marketing as a whole, nevertheless sales.

Upholding an ethical standard in my life and our company isn’t just vital to me or for me or even for others… it’s vital for marketing and sales to be shifted in society’s viewpoint to ensure that we can trust the companies we’re investing in with our time, energy, and money.

When our firm models high ethical standards in business, it trickles into the lives and businesses of our clients, members, students, and communities.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Cheetah Company is a marketing and sales firm for the modern businesswoman. We consult, coach, and provide education to the modern businesswoman through varying experiences and services, but what sets us apart is our deeper mission of helping women resiliently rise in their personal power. As the Founder of the company I’ve both loudly and quietly shared about my past experiences as a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault survivor; our company threads our deeper mission into everything. Our deeper mission is to help women feel confident and capable to accelerate their business growth while designing their lives with harmony and feeling enriched by their own personal power to shift society forward with their ideas and businesses.

Most corporations have a corporate social responsibility fund to give to charities of their choice; we go a few steps further as we have been regular givers to the same DV/SA shelter that supported me post-trauma and we’ve ran campaigns within our communities to give to that shelter or a shelter near them to ensure that women that are in the midst of rising back into their power have support from the shelters that need monetary support to be able to do what they’re meant to do in times of darkness and struggle.

Growing to the point that we are in business has been anything but easy. We don’t glorify suffering or hustling by any means, but it takes a lot to get a company off of the ground and to be running such a profitable company through the times we have has been a team effort through and through. I was an experimenter in my youth; working at the age of 15, to help balance the scales of how many times I asked my parents for their hard earned money while we lived in a lower income area, I learned to put myself out there at work to grow in the ranks to ensure that I wasn’t burdening my parents. I went from marketing on a microphone at a well-known shoe store, driving traffic to the register through urgency and promotion, to working as a leader in almost every team I was apart of in a retail, startup, higher education, and corporate setting.

It was exhilarating to climb someone else’s ladder until I realized that the ladder wasn’t going anywhere I wanted to go. To pivot to an agency owner in the midst of a global pandemic was a tough choice as the headlines read of fear, but the passion and ferocity I had to support modern businesswomen with marketing and sales support was the right choice. We’ve supported over 100 clients in the last few years and we’ve supported them in designing their lives and businesses with harmony, reaching heights with their businesses that many clients have said were only once dreams for them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If you live in Asheville, North Carolina… it’s usually because you’re obsessed with nature, craft beer, yoga, holistic healing, third-wave coffee, eclectic eateries, and the magic of what a drum circle in the middle of downtown can do to lift your spirits. My husband, one-eyed pup, and I love to adventure out onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike and if you come to Asheville without taking a hike (even if you’re not a hiker)… you’ll regret it. The mountain views are jaw-dropping.

If you were my best friend and visiting the area our first stop would be High Five Coffee, the riverside location, for a hot vanilla oat milk latte by the river before we head over to Green Sage Cafe for breakfast. Downtown is calling us after breakfast so we’re heading to the Grove Arcade for some shopping; imagine a shopping mall built in the 1920s that still keeps that ’20s flair. After some shopping, we’re heading to every gallery possible and since we’re known as an epicenter for art… you’ll most likely be walking away with some pep in your step, a few purchases in hand, and a greater connection to those of Southern Appalachia. We’re popping over to Mayfels, Chestnut, or Sovereign Remedies for lunch before we head to Grove Park Inn for a drink overlooking the sprawling Blue Ridge, and then Biltmore is calling with its 8,000 acres of grounds and 250-room castle.

You’ll probably be tired, but one last walk around downtown gets us into a bit of crafty fun at Wicked Weed, Thirsty Monk, and Bold Rock Hard Cider. The drum circle might be out and there are usually some folks playing violin or the harmonica somewhere in downtown Asheville; just listen for the tune of a quieter life.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My success has only been made possible through a tribe of people that inherited my vision as theirs: Christopher Henry, Erin Keller, Emma Fabros, Melissa Pepin, and Ashton Smith.

Website: www.thecheetahcompany.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecheetahcompany/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleighchenry/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecheetahcompany

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecheetahcompany

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/thecheetahcompany/