Not many people can say they’ve traveled the world with cultural icons such as Jay-Z, but Ashley LaRae Sampson isn’t your average woman. Raised in a multiracial family in Salt Lake City, UT, she accepted a full-ride scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to attend Arizona State University and then Los Angeles-based Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. After finishing a certificate from the fashion institute, she landed style consultant roles with Jay-Z, Kanye West, Keyshia Cole and The Dream and more. During that phase of her life, Ashley learned the power of active listening, observation, and how to project and maintain personal brands.

Her personal brand has evolved. She was president of her high school’s student council, she traveled the world with music artists, she became an investment banker with J.P. Morgan, launched StylePHX in 2010, worked at The Art Institute of Phoenix, and is now refocused on StylePHX (which helps leaders convey powerful messages to their target market through CEO & personal branding, marketing, image & style, and social media) and MIND STYLE SOUL: a transformative studio focused on helping organizations and individuals bridge the gap between professional development and mindful empowerment. Just like she teaches her clients today, she learned to strip away the societal conditioning to follow her unique path and be authentically her.

In our dialogue, Ashley reminded me why all persons deserve work-life integration and how we can remove old belief patterns, learn experientially, grow from the inside out, and be 1% today than we were yesterday. She talked about the importance of being real with yourself, finding accountability partners, and releasing yourself of others’ perceptions of you. Cradle to grave employment is dead, so it’s in your best interest to define your brand and allow others to hear your voice.

She loved Gary Zukav’s book The Seat Of The Soul, Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins, The One Thing by Gary Keller, Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends And Influence People, The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn, and Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. Ashley dedicates her free time to community empowerment as the Chair of Phoenix Valley Young Professionals, Co-Chair of Marketing for Girls in Tech Phoenix, Vice Chair of Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams’ Business Council, and a Youth Mentor with New Pathways for Youth. She used to be a stylist for people: their wardrobe, their fashion, their “look” and image. But now she’s a stylist of people: their love, their light, their freedom and power. For more about Ashley, visit http://www.stylephx.co; Twitter – @ashbashstylephx; Instagram – @ashbash_stylephx; Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/THEashLaRae; and https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-larae-sampson-537bb516/.