MARKETING AND BRANDING BY-THE-HOUR
MEET POWER HOUR FOUNDER, Ashleigh Young
Where were you born?
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Favorite Superhero?
Wonder Woman.
What’s your Myers Briggs Personality Type?
INFJ which is apparently the rarest personality type in the US. Only about 1.5% of the population falls into this category.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I always knew I wanted to go into advertising and marketing, because I had always been fascinated by the power brands had to impact pop culture. Throughout my career, I actively sought out opportunities to work closely with the world’s most famous marketers and brands to uncover what made them successful, including Avon, Dove, General Mills, Maybelline, and Ralph Lauren, working across every facet of brand communications: from developing global positioning to executing local market strategies across traditional, digital, and brick-and-mortar channels. An ex-boss once told me he always admired how I navigated my career path to create such a multi-faceted skillset. It was the ultimate compliment.
What made you start Power Hour Consulting?
After 25 years working in advertising both agency and client side in New York City, I needed a change. I knew from experience that I worked faster and better when untethered from the daily politics and processes of full time positions, so I decided to offer clients a more flexible and cost efficient way to get the best of what I offered.
What was your initial vision for Power Hour?
To make exceptional branding, marketing and business expertise available by the hour to anyone who wanted to take their advertising and marketing efforts to the next level, but weren't quite ready to hire an agency or full time CMO.
Where did the resume & career offering come from?
After receiving my CWC1 Wellness Coach certification from the Institute for Wellness Education in January 2018, I started getting requests for help from colleagues who were looking to "go beyond their resume" to brand and market themselves more effectively to give themselves an edge in today's competitive job environment. This is when I realized that branding is branding, whether you're marketing products or people!
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done since starting Power Hour?
Probably making my national TV debut at 48 years old as a brand spokesperson in a 60 second News Watch commercial and as a live HSN On-Air Guest for one of my beauty clients.
What’s the thing you enjoy most about what you do?
I love so many things about my current role: the flexibility, the variety, the fact I get to work from home with people I genuinely like and respect, and most of all being able to see the direct results of my efforts pay off in my clients’ business results.
What’s one thing you want to do more of in 2022?
Continue to leverage my interest and passion working with female founded brands that market to women over 40, identify new low cost acquisition strategies to drive growth to help fill the gap paid social has left in many brands’ strategies, and to help more people take control of their lives and their personal wellbeing.