Ashlee Lawson lawsonas@gmail.com StartingBloc (LA ‘14)

Q3. Is there anything else you’d like to share that we did not ask

about?

I’m Ashlee. A (late) twenty-something, college graduate making waves in my professional career! Thus far, there isn’t anything would take back. I have made all of the right decisions, at the right times, and am currently on track to achieve all of my professional goals.

Only, this isn’t a perfect world, and most of the above is not reality. My name is indeed Ashlee and I did have the pleasure of attending and graduating from The University of Michigan, but that is where it ends. Now, six years post-graduation, I can’t help but wonder where things went wrong.

As a teen, I can remember daydreaming about the future. All I could envision was success and stability in my professional life. Attend a great college, land an awesome (well paying) position at the firm of my choice, and live happily ever after climbing a shining corporate ladder. Then I “grew up”. The daydreams began to fade.

I do not say all of this because I am not proud of my accomplishments, but as an acknowl-edgement of the fact that I have yet to scratch the surface of my potential. I am aware that I am standing in my own way. I strongly believe that participating in the StartingBloc Fellowship program will present the tools, resources and network of do-gooders crucial to bringing those daydreams back to the forefront.

Over the last six years, unfulfilling jobs, countless job applications, and even more disap-pointments, there has been one constant: my desire to be an agent of change. Encourage social responsibility, connect people to their communities, and promote ‘paying it forward’. As technology and (social) media continue to alter the landscape of interaction between people, it is my hope to find ways to encourage presence, foster philanthropy and disrupt the non-profit norm.