We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Kuczenski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I have always struggled with work life balance because I love to work and I love to be perceived as a hard worker. In my 20s, I was definitely a people pleaser as well as incredibly ambitious, so I had no work life balance and worked however many hours it took to get the job done. I was literally working any hours I wasn’t asleep. I have a very different outlook now! In the grand scheme of things, the extra hours didn’t matter much. I don’t think they impacted my career in any significant way. But they did take away time I could have been spending with loved ones. So now that I’m married, and my family is older, I’m much more cognizant of carving out time to spend quality time with family. I’m also very aware of the effects of stress on my health as I get older, so it’s become more important to me to find time for rest as well! Of course it’s important to work enough hours to do your job and do it well, but it’s also important to work to live and not live to work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
On some level I’ve always wanted to be a content creator – I just didn’t know it because there was no word for it when I was growing up! I have always loved fashion and culture, and I went to UCLA for writing, wanting to be a magazine editor. I had a fashion blog in my early 20s but it was very much just a hobby – I had no inkling it could be a business, and I stopped blogging after a few years. I started interning at a magazine and freelancing as a red carpet reporter after college, and by my mid 20s I was writing features and producing photoshoots for major publications like Harper’s Bazaar Singapore and Conde Nast Traveler China. This was all print at the time and before everything really went digital. It felt like I was living my dream, getting to create beautiful images out of my imagination, BUT I was only ever doing it part-time, freelance, and I didn’t like the uncertainty of that.

Print was really on its way out at that time as well, and I knew I needed to make a move because the jobs and the budget were just no longer there, so when my ‘day job’ in retail management for a high-end fashion jewelry brand offered me a promotion I took it – and I had to make a difficult decision to stop pursuing journalism as a career. I truly loved that job for many years, but I also felt this pang of longing being surrounded by beautiful design and creativity and not having an outlet for creativity myself. So in 2019, I decided I wanted to start this side project of becoming a content creator specifically to address that need. I found so much joy in getting back into the world of photo production, styling, and writing, and I loved that with the social media element there was this exciting new opportunity to build a community of likeminded people as well. I am very inspired by the music, films, and fashion of the 1960s and 70s, so one of my favorite things about what I do has been being able to incorporate that inspiration into my content and connect with other people who appreciate those things. I hadn’t imagined this would ever turn into a real business for me, but the business side ended up coming naturally to me too – I found it a logical progression to figure out the science of pitching to brands and marketing products in my content, because I had already had so much experience pitching to magazines in my writing career and selling products in my retail career.

Starting my business ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I ended up being laid off from my job of 10 years when the pandemic hit, and what was once a fun project became a true lifeline for me in the roughest time I’d ever been through in my career. Three years later I can honestly say it got me through the pandemic! I felt somewhat silly trying to get back into blogging and content creation as a professional in my mid-30s – and I’m sure many of my peers judged me for it – but I could never have imagined how crucial something that started out as a creative outlet or hobby would end up being to me, and I can’t overstate that. I have zero regrets; it has been a wild ride and such a blessing! I’m so grateful that I’ve not only been able to do what I love and share my passions with the world; but also that I’ve been able to meet so many amazing, talented, likeminded people through what I do, and to build such an incredible community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I live in Silverlake and I love the Silverlake/Echo Park/Los Feliz area so much – there is so much to do here, so many of the places I would recommend are pretty close to home! I am also a nature lover and a vintage LA history buff, so I love to recommend places that explore those unique sides of Los Angeles.

Activities:
-LA Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
-Echo Park Lake
-Huntington Library and Gardens
-Griffith Observatory
-Getty Museum
-Melrose Trading Post

Dining/Drinks:
-Clifton’s Republic
-Bacari Silverlake
-Tam O’Shanter
-Hotel Figueroa
-Nic’s On Beverly
-Spartina
-Figaro Bistrot
-Kitchen Mouse

Coffee Shops:
-Boulon D Amour
-Valentine Sweets

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mom! She raised me to be tough and independent. I might not have appreciated it growing up, but I realize now how much effort she put into setting me up for success in life.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashley_kuczenski

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.