Ashley Sumner: For the Love of True Community
The I Have Cool Friends podcast, hosted by Samantha Peszek, is a show that sparks inspirational conversations with experts about business, wellness, and personal development.
INTRODUCING ASHLEY SUMNER:
Entrepreneur, progressive social facilitator, and Founder & CEO of Quilt, Ashley Sumner, has an intuitive ability to understand human nuances and to bring different kinds of people together. She transformed this natural talent into a career as a community architect for brands and institutions such as Newhouse, Wanderlust, Breakout, and OneRoof, ultimately laying the foundation for Quilt, a new kind of social wellness space to connect, share, and learn with others through daily conversations. Quilt believes that community is the greatest form of self-care. Sam and Ashley talk about Ashley’s burning desire to be in service to people, building community, and the importance of caring. Ashley shares her thoughts on inclusivity and why she chooses to approach conflict with education rather than punishment. Finally, Ashley speculates on the future of Quilt and welcomes and encourages all listeners to join the community and become Quilters!
THIS EPISODE FEATURES INSIGHTS ON IDENTITY, BUILDING COMMUNITY & ENTREPRENUERSHIP:
- Sam welcomes Ashley Sumner to talk about the origin of the social wellness platform, Quilt
- Bringing people together and building community through technology
- The core values that are at the center of Quilt
- How Quilt works
- Steps for building a community from a brand standpoint
- Education over punishment
- Community Building vs. Networking
- The toughest part of Ashley’s entrepreneurial journey
- Ashley’s growing team
- Why Quilt is not currently concerned with revenue and monetization
- What’s next for Quilt
- Sam thanks Ashley for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can follow her and Quilt
WHAT DID ASHLEY SAY?
“I want us as human beings to be able to come together, talk, share, and be transparent with one another in any moment that we want to or need to, instantly. I believe that we deserve that.”
“What are my core values and pillars that I want us to make all of our decisions around? We have three: identity, inclusivity and safety.”
“I personally prefer community building over the term ‘networking.’ When somebody comes in with that ‘networking energy,’ there’s a very masculine, dare I say patriarchal, approach to move something forward.”
“My number one thing comes back to building a culture of care.”
“I believe I was born with this burning desire to be in service of people and create things that can help people.”
