Hi & hello! My name is Ashley (or Ash). I use she or they pronouns, and I live in Madison, WI with my sweet partner, my snuggly dog, and my demanding rabbit. I enjoy making soup (all year long!), sleeping late, watching Twin Peaks, and wandering through thrift stores.

I’ve been doing care work most of my adult life, although not always in reproduction & somatics—in 2007 I took a gap year before college and traveled around the midwest with a small group of young adults to nursing homes, churches, & community centers where we would play music, tell stories, and make connections. In 2011 I worked at a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains where I did the laundry, sorted the mail, and lived in very intentional community. In 2011 I worked at a farm growing veggies (turns out I am not really an outdoorsy-kid!) and from 2012-2018 I worked in restaurants & grocery stores. I learned a lot about communication, community, the cycles found in nature, boundaries, and caring for people’s physical needs through those experiences.

In 2014 I started offering fertility awareness classes—teaching people about how their reproductive system works and breaking down myths & shame that people held about their cycles, menstruation, and fertility. I added in full spectrum doula work (birth, abortion, miscarriage, postpartum, infertility) in 2018 and worked full time as a doula through 2024. Through my own experience with anxiety & burnout I started learning about somatic therapy, which prompted me to learn how to offer those tools to my clients as well! In 2021 I started teaching TRE (tension / trauma release exercises)—another body literacy tool that helps people feel more connected to their bodies, and am currently working to become an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner).

What’s up with all the quilts?

If you’ve ever visited my in-person office, you know how much I love quilts! They line the walls, they’re draped over every surface, they serve as the background for all my zine photos. Not only do I think quilts are just about the most beautiful objects in the world, but I also think they are the perfect metaphor for this work—when we listen to our bodies and ask for support it’s like taking all the tired, worn-out, broken pieces of ourselves and our stories and weaving them into something new, something comforting, something warm & inviting & safe. I hope that this support helps you to feel all these things!