Host Helen Jonsen welcomes Ashley Ridgeway Washington— Bio: Ashley Ridgeway-Washington is a former Chief Human Resources Officer, licensed attorney, author, executive advisor, and MIT-trained AI strategy consultant whose career spans healthcare, Fortune 5 organizations, and executive leadership. She is the founder of Leveridge Group, where she advisesCEOs, CHROs, and senior leaders on workforce strategy, culture, leadership effectiveness, and human-centered AI transformation. Ashley is the author of the forthcoming book, Culture Is aSystem, Not a Slogan, which challenges leaders to stop treating culture as messaging and start designing the systems, behaviors, and decisions that shape how work actually gets done. Her work sits at the intersection of people,business, technology, and leadership, helping organizations turn ambitious strategy into sustainable results. 00:00Introducing Ashley 02:47CEO Life in Human-Centered AI 04:10Curiosity and Rural Roots 08:55Law School Reality Check 12:13Leap Into HR 15:17Building an HR Compliance Practice 16:43Working Mom Hustle and Credentials 20:10Choices and Costs 22:26Grace And Bias 24:34Raising Advocates 27:17Fun And Travel 28:36Pandemic Career Pivot 30:20Leading In Crisis 33:11Burnout And Therapy 38:03Elder Care Reality 39:59Rapid Fire Favorites 41:26Advice 42:39 Closing Resources: Ashley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-ridgeway-washington/ Ashley's book picks: Her forthcoming book: Culture Is a System, Not a Slogan plus The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz. She called it her favorite book of all time and said it changed her life.The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho.To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. It was the first book she fell in love with.No Ego, Cy Wakeman. Daring Greatly, Brené Brown. About Helen & This Kaleidoscope CareerI'm Helen Jonsen, the founder of helen jonsen media and This Kaleidoscope CareerI have lived a kaleidoscope career built on decades of experience as a multi-platform journalist in front of the camera and behind the scenes, as a writer and author, and as an adviser to corporate, nonprofit and public leadership. This Kaleidoscope Career gathers the real, unfiltered stories of women who've built careers that defied every template — women who've risen, stumbled, reframed, and come back bolder. Like the kaleidoscope itself, every twist of the lens reveals a new pattern, a new image that couldn't exist without every shard, every color, every fragment that came before it. Check out my new book This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success (De Gruyter Brill) wherever you purchase books or click here. If you would like to be a guest on TKC Pod, apply here. Work with me! I am booking exclusive keynotes, bookstore and book club appearances now. Email helen@helenjonsen.com or set a discovery call here at your convenience.
