Hello.  My name is Ashley.  Thanks for checking out my website.  This is…oh, I don’t know probably the 4th or 5th version of ashleyrath.com.  This time it’s all wordpress.  I’m not messing around with coding and dreamweaver and slicing my design up to pieces and putting it together.  Perhaps I became “lazy.”  But wordpress enables me to add cool widgets, post blog entries, and keep a clean and easy-to-update interface.  Hey, I get bonus points for sifting through PHP and CSS to customize the theme!

I’ve made some new goals of this site.  They are as follows:

• Present my design/video portfolio online for future employers
• Write a weekly(ish) journal to keep in touch with friends and family
• Write entries that provoke thinking in regard to economic, social, and political issues.
• Share my passion for independent music, and introduce you to some great artists.
• Post random essays to keep my writing skills sharp.  (They have deteriorated since college.)
• No comments.  The comment option clutters the page and bothers me.
• However, I am still interested in your thoughts.  E-mail me – ashleyrath07@gmail.com

And now for some background:

I grew up in “small town America.”  I have two amazing parents and two extremely talented brothers.  I’m convinced I was born with a baseball glove on my hand, and played baseball/softball throughout my childhood.  My hometown has one traffic light.  It’s not even a red-green-yellow one, it is simply a red/yellow flashing light.  Growing up around Rochester, NY, summers were filled with Zweigles hot dogs, bike rides at Hamlin Beach State park, and baseball.  I just mentioned baseball three times.

Moving on to college…I attended the State University of New York at Oswego.  I really don’t know why I went here.  I think it had more to do with the Syracuse Orange basketball team than anything academic.  Why waste money on an expensive private school when you can attend the state school for 1/3 of the cost and drive an hour to catch the games?  Interestingly enough, I hardly ever went to a game and loved my experience at Oswego.

While at Oswego, I think I explored pretty much anything I was capable of exploring.  Eventually I “settled” into the area of Graphic Design, but still made time for cinema studies, Japanese, and business.  One summer I had a kick-ass internship with the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.  I grew up going to Wings games.  To stand on the field with an all access pass, to sit in the press box, and to update the official website…it was a dream come true.

From 2006-2007 I lived abroad in Japan.  The experience has forever changed my life.  I met several smart, fun, and overall great people from countries all over the world.   I backpacked across three countries in South East Asia and went on a journey in Japan as well.  I filmed a documentary while I was there.  I edited and premiered it during my final and semester at Oswego.

After graduation, I was lost and desperately looking for employment.  Thanks to a friend and Oswego Alumna, I was able to get a job.  So I freelanced with an advertising agency in Central New York for a few months.  The studio was two hours away from my house.  To save time and money on transportation, I would stay at friends’ places closer to work.  I was a vagabond.  I lived out of my duffel bag.  How awesome.

Eventually I decided enough was enough and bought a one-way plane ticket to Los Angeles.  Thanks to a friend, I was able to get a job with a TV production company almost immediately.  This led to some new contacts, which brings me to today.  Currently, I work post-production for reality TV shows.

Other random facts:

Bayside/Rilo Kiley/The National are my favorite bands, I dream about getting a puppy and naming him Winston, Red Pandas and Polar Bears are my favorite animals, I drink way too much coffee, some days wish I lived alone in a tent, the Yankees and SU Orange are my boys, I donate blood regularly, I love letterpressed cards and stationary and enjoy sending handwritten letters to friends.