Meet Astral’s new Marketing Director, Ashley
The good people behind Astral Tabletop continue to grow the team! Learn about our new marketing director, Ashley:
1. Tell us a little about yourself, Ashley.
I’m Ashley! I’m 30 years old and I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband, Andrew, who is a robotics engineer. We have a cat named Sofie. I have worked in communications, marketing, and startups for about a decade. I love blending creative work (writing and design) with analytical thinking (data and research).
Additionally, I’m a narrative designer and contributing writer for companies including Wizards of the Coast, Onyx Path Publishing, and more. I’ve been writing and publishing content on Dungeon Masters Guild for a little over a year and am a member of the Guild Adept program by Wizards of the Coast, which means I’m part of an awesome team producing content for the major D&D 5e releases. (You can check out all my work here!)
I also do other fun projects in the RPG community — I run the RPG Writer Workshop and am a cast member on Tales from the Mists, a gothic horror campaign on Twitch.tv/DnD.
2. At what age did you become interested in tabletop gaming?
I’ve had an interest in tabletop gaming since I was a kid — I have always been super geeky and passionate about science fiction and fantasy. I used to read through the old D&D rulebooks at the library and knew that someday I’d make this a hobby. That said, I didn’t get into RPG tabletop games until I was an adult! Now I can’t imagine my life without it.
3. What was first game to get you hooked? What was special about it?
I was hooked after the first session of Lost Mines of Phandelver. I just absolutely love communal storytelling and roleplay, and the chance to delve into an immersive story with my friends was just the best combination of all of my favorite activities.
4. What was your most memorable tabletop experience?
Playing through the Curse of Strahd campaign was really impactful and emotional for me. I played a character who became so special to me (shoutout to my warlock, Amira and her imp familiar, Chernok) and having her go through this traumatic and challenging experience helped me grow as a person. That campaign without a doubt changed my life — it also inspired me to start writing RPG content.
5. Tell us more about your involvement with Astral
Voidmerch has a terrific shirt design that says “tech witch” and that’s kind of how I view my role here — I serve as the liaison between our dev team and the greater RPG community. It’s my job to be the annoying town crier and spread the word about our platform far and wide! Basically, I have a cauldron filled with words and media and data and need to turn it all into magical potions that draw new people to our platform. (I think this metaphor needs work…)
6. What are you most excited about building here?
Community! I can’t wait to get to know more about our community of creators and artists who have already made Astral so cool and invite more people to join us. We have some grand visions for what our platform can be for GMs and players and I’m excited to bring that to fruition.
7. Is there anything else we missed?
Lest you think that I’m not nerdy enough… I am a ham radio operator (KG7TEC); I lettered in theater in high school; I got married on a medieval bridge in Prague; and I occasionally participate in hackathons with my friends where we build things like Pip-Boys for astronauts.
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