Hi. I am Ashly and this is my story.

December 02, 2020 1 Comment

Age: 30

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

In 2017, I quit my job to travel the world. I was working a job that no longer brought me joy or fulfillment and I wanted to start over. My boyfriend was in the same predicament, but he was more afraid of quitting and leaving than I was. I did most of the work of budgeting and planning to prepare us for a 9+ month trip around the world to convince him we could do it. He finally caved. We left on April 4, 2017. We managed to visit 23 countries on 5 continents in 9.5 months, and we did it under budget. It was the best year ever!

After returning home from such a whirlwind year, I experienced what many people who travel long term do. I felt like I had changed so much in that year, but it seemed like everything at home stayed the same. I fell into a slight depression as I tried to become accustomed to no longer being nomadic, no longer seeing new places, new faces, trying new foods, packing up every few days. And then I remembered why I wanted to go on this trip around the world to begin with. I wanted to start over.

I graduated college with a BSBA in Entrepreneurship. I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I was scared - scared of losing money, scared of wasting time, scared of what people would think, the list goes on. But after quitting your stable job, leaving your hometown, and embarking on a trip around the world, you tend to lose some inhibitions. What better time to become an entrepreneur?

An idea I had thought of even prior to traveling around the world was a solution to a problem that became so much more apparent while I was traveling long-term. I traveled with a 50 pound bag stuffed with clothing - prepared to dress for a multitude of weather conditions and occasions apparently. 50 pounds to carry on your back day in and day out was a lot. I wanted a way to be able to pack light, travel easier, and still feel confident in what I was wearing, not having to repeat outfits day in and day out like some travelers do. I knew I had to pursue my idea of reversible travel clothing to help myself and other travelers like me. So in October 2018, I officially became the Founder of SPLICE clothing, a line of reversible travel clothing to help women pack light & adventure easy so they can focus on the experience instead of the baggage. The line officially launched in January 2020, and you can find the whole collection available at www.spliceclothing.com.

I hope I’m able to design clothing to help people travel easily and confidently for a long time to come. I had no idea where the risk of quitting my job to travel the world would lead me, but the rewards of that decision have been even better than I could have ever imagined.

https://www.instagram.com/spliceclothing/

https://www.facebook.com/spliceclothing

https://spliceclothing.com/blogs/blog

Favorite Quote: “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.”