Inspiring Conversations with Ashleigh Henry of The Cheetah Company®

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashleigh Henry

Hi Ashleigh, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a business, marketing and sales virtuoso with a rich background that spans dynamic sectors such as automotive, education, higher education, hospitality, and retail. I have emerged as a leading figure in crafting legacy-minded businesses with a sense of levity and ease that isn’t often seen in board rooms. From my early days generating buzz and driving sales in a renowned shoe store, I have always had a knack for influencing customer behavior and pioneering urgent, intention-driven promotions.

My journey has seen me collaborate with illustrious brands including BMW, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Ducati, employing a deep understanding of human and sales psychology to seamlessly close deals. Beyond the realm of automotive, I have adeptly managed multi-million dollar budgets for a global clientele, spearheaded events, and led hospitality initiatives for the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. Furthermore, my expertise has been pivotal in managing a significant retail operation, overseeing a 10,000-square-foot space and a team of 30.

After ascending through various echelons of the retail, corporate, higher education, and start-up worlds, holding esteemed roles such as Marketing Strategist, Copywriter, Social Media Strategist, and Editor, I embarked on a freelance career. This transition marked the beginning of a more profound ambition: not merely to earn a living but to establish a business that embodies the ethos of durability and trend resistance, all underscored by the bold spirit of cheetah print!

Today, I stand at the helm of a transformative movement, having initially launched a now-retired social media and lead generation agency, and presently dedicating my efforts to mentoring female entrepreneurs. Through my comprehensive education, coaching, and consulting services at The Cheetah Company, I guide these entrepreneurs towards building brands that are not only timeless but are also capable of leaving a lasting legacy. My journey and commitment position me not just as a business owner, but as a beacon for those seeking to forge enduring brands and impactful careers.

We have helped hundreds of female founders re-evaluate, reposition, and renegotiate their value in the marketplace to increase peace, profit, productivity, & play in their lives and businesses. We do this by evaluating their life and business systems, team productivity, profit-generating activities, and by designing marketing and sales systems that can outlast trends and algorithmic changes.

We become an extension of our clients’ teams to be success partners towards their desired growth. This sets us a part from others in our industry consistently because of the care we bring to the table, the 10+ years of experience, and consistent interest in seeing our clients achieve their desired goals. Many of our clients have commented on how our care, communication, and consistency is a cut above the rest.

We’re most proud of the clients we’ve been able to serve since 2019; being in the room, at the table, and supporting clients that are positively shifting society forward with their craft has been and always will be a highlight of my life and legacy.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This is such an interesting question because it’s all about perspective, right? As I am writing this in a sweet cafe in Asheville, North Carolina with a storm rolling in… the song “Stormy Weather” by Etta James just blessed my ears and I think it’s a fitting analogy for this question.

I’ve had challenges along the way, stormy weather if you will, but the promise of a sunny day has always been around the corner during any and all of the obstacles we’ve faced.

As a founder and CEO, I’ve walked through grief after losing my brother-in-law very suddenly while being in our busiest and most profitable season of our brand while renovating our first-home to be our first investment property as a short-term rental. At the same time, we were re-evaluating our services, brand, and team members to ensure that we had everyone in the right seats moving towards a common goal with similar values at the helm. The team took over and kept us more than afloat while I grieved and worked through the pain that comes with losing someone so close.

We’ve walked through the usuals that businesses do: high and low revenue/profit months/quarters, right hires and wrong hires, firing and re-hiring, money lost on poor investments, working with folks we were sure were full of integrity as advisors of our brand to learn that not everything was up to snuff.

We, as a team, have walked through perfectionism, tinkering with offerings and the like for far too long instead of just bringing them to market to receive actual market research instead of just working at the whiteboard for answers that wouldn’t be found there.

We, as a team, have walked through hard seasons in our lives, beautiful seasons that also captured our attention — from births to weddings to college graduation.

The struggles, though I’m hopelessly optimistic to be frank, have set us down a sharper path that ended up being a short cut to more success. I thank those obstacles.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
As the Founder and CEO of The Cheetah Company I’m honored to serve female founders worldwide alongside our nationwide team of women! We’ve supported female founders launching pre-revenue startups and established brands of 10-20+ years and everything in-between to help them increase their profit, peace, and play as they move society forward with their unique craft and brands. We specialize in business consulting, specifically in leadership, marketing, and sales, but support female founders in all areas of their businesses directly or by connecting them to our network for deeper support.

We serve our clients through private consulting, coaching and education through our digital products, mastermind, and in-person events and retreats to ensure that our education and energy are accessible to many founders! We also love to expand the way our community can feel supported by us through our collaborative blog space, The Cheetah Cafè, and our podcast, Your Conversation Pit, where life and business-changing conversations happen.

Every day my feet hit the ground of our Blue Ridge Mountain home in Asheville, North Carolina with excitement because I love serving our community with business information that can move their businesses forward into their own personalized next-level. Helping our community move forward in leaps and bounds IS what entices me to ask “who can I serve today, where should I go to be supportive, how can I help, and who can I notice?”

I’m most proud of the results that we’ve helped our clients achieve, not only in life but in leading themselves, their families, and their teams with an eye on holistic harmony in life and business®. This is our proprietary framework that we use to help female founders to build their lives and businesses with their own version of “balance” that looks more like harmony and not a perfect balance between any portion of their lives.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
This is a good question and still so relevant!

Absolutely; as a marketer and sales expert of 10+ years, it was quite a time to look around and see how the market shifted in every industry.

All industries had to pivot and evolve to continue to be relevant and invested in by consumers because their dollars meant more than ever and still do with a looming recession.

The Covid-19 Crisis showed us as a team how to truly focus on serving the potential client in front of us with more intention than ever. We’ve always been keen to focus on our potential clients, current and past clients to ensure that we could build an everlasting relationship with each of them, but the crisis showed us where we could be even more personalized and tailored to their unique needs.

With the rise of AI, we’re seeing another evolution and we’ve discussed our findings on our podcast, Your Conversation Pit®, often, especially in relation to luxury brands.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thecheetahcompany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecheetahcompany
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecheetahcompany
• Other: Listen in bi-weekly to Your Conversation Pit, The Podcast, wherever you stream your podcasts. Find past episodes and extensive blogs of the episodes here: https://thecheetahcompany.com/podcast

Image Credits
Corry Frazier Photography
https://corryfrazierphotography.com/