The Story Behind the Storyteller

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. I'm your host,

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Elise Cortez, joining your from Dallas, Texas, which is home base

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for me. This program is all
about helping people more meaningfully and productively connect

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with their work and equipping organizations to
do the same for their employees. I

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bring on guests of a particular perspective
or experience that I think expands the conversation,

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and I often draw on the meeting
and work research I've been doing over

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the last fifteen years, as well
as from my own consulting, speaking and

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developing workforces across the globe. Last
week, if you miss the live show,

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you can always catch to be a
recorded podcast. Did you know that

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by twenty twenty, fifty percent of
the workforce will be comprised of the millennial

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generation We were on the air with
Sherry Elliott Eerie, who is known as

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the Generational Guru. She's the author
of Ties to Tattoos, turning generational differences

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into competitive advantage. We talked about
the ideas in the book series she is

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soon releasing called Crack the Millennial Code, where one book is on marketing,

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second is managing, and third is
motivating millennials. With us this week is

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Ashley Kate Adams, who is a
working actress and producer at AKA Studio Productions,

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Broadway and first National Tour talent starring
in mini productions, which we'll talk

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about. She also inspired and co
produced the film Beauty Mark, which debuted

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at the twenty seventeen LA Film Festival. She is the proud producer at AKA

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Studio Productions of such films as Photo
Op, Rules of Kool, Ace Mulligan

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and The Dodgers. We'll be talking
about how she entered the entertainment industry,

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some hard lessons she's learned along the
way, and how she's persisted in her

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field, and hear about a few
of the direction she's most proud of.

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She joins us today from New York
City. Ashley Kate, Welcome to working

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on purpose. Thank you so much, Alise. How are you doing today?

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I am so great. We got
to give a shout out to how

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we met. Thank you American Airlines
for uniting us. Yes, the two

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of us, Yes, the two
of us run a flight from Dallas to

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LaGuardia a couple of weeks ago.
I guess it was. And she was

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my seatmate that I didn't talk to
for hardly any of the flight until the

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very end, and then I discovered
this prize next to me. So I'm

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so happy to have met you,
and I can't wait to share this story

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with our listeners. Oh, thank
you so much. We definitely made every

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minute count. We did, I
did, I took furious notes and here

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we are, so so First things
first, Ashley Kate, you know,

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of all things, why this career
enacting movies? I mean, there are

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so many things you could have done
with herself, you know, been a

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construction person, been you know,
in marketing, in accounting, for goodness

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sakes, and you chose this field. I think it comes down to kind

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of being a family business like you
know sometimes you hear like a third generation

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business like my father, you know, owned an air conditioning company and now

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I'm you know, passing that down
to my son and his son or his

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daughter. And my family has always
been in the storytelling business. I was

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born and raised in a musical theater
family. My mom and dad had BFA's

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a musical theater just like me,
and so acting has always kind of been

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a home for me, you know. The theatrical stage has always been home

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to me. And then as I've
gotten older, it has expanded and kind

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of grown and evolved into movies.
Okay, I get that. So this

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is the water you've been swimming in
for the last you know, from well,

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I guess the last bit of your
life. You're you're thirty years old.

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We can actually say solutely, you
know, beautiful thirty That was a

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beautiful time in my life. I
might tell you several years ago, but

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I remember it fondly. But you
could have chosen, like I did,

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not to go the path of your
parents. My parents were fantastic entrepreneurs,

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first in farming and then in the
restaurant business, and I loved all of

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that exposure. But I didn't choose
those as a field. You did choose

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your parents field. Why, yeah, I mean, I just had to,

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you know, growing up. Everybody
was like, where do you want

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to live when you're older? Where
do you want to live when you're older?

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And I was like, well,
New York City. And they're like

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why, Like why would you want
to move away from your parents, away

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from Kentucky. I studied school in
Cincinnati, and everybody's like, why in

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the heck do you want to go
to New York And I would always say,

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since I had been fourteen years old, well, it's because Broadway is

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there. And so I think I
just picked it because I just always felt

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this call to the stage, and
I wanted to do it on a grand

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scale, and I just always felt
so passionate about it. And it's funny,

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you know, because my parents were
in the industry, but in a

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smaller market like Louisville, Kentucky,
I knew it was going to be challenging.

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You know. They were never stage
parents, but they always just allowed

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opportunities to be around me, and
so I just kept moving forward and trudging

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forward, and then I ended up
here in New York City. Yeah,

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it's wonderful. Well along the way, and you and I talked about this

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a bit on the plane. You
must have had just a couple of important

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influences or mentors. Yes, no, kind of oh, absolutely absolutely.

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Obviously my mother and father. You
know, they kind of were naturally my

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first voice and acting teachers, not
by choice, just by watching their trade.

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But my theatrical home base in all
of the United States is actually it's

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a little dinner theater called Derby Dinner
Playhouse that my mom still works at and

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she still performs there every single night. And my mom and dad were kind

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of one of the first couples who
helped get the theater kind of off the

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ground in the eighties, and so
all of that, those people, that

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tribe of people that still worked there
today, I watched them. They were

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my mentors. Another very important person
in my life this woman named Sandra Rivera.

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She owned the dance studio in Louisville, Kentucky, and she first,

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oh, she was the first musical
theater dance studio owner in the area,

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because you know, it's a special
field for acting, singing, and dance

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and nurturing all those abilities. So
she started a group with me called the

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Showbiz Kids, and we toured the
United States and lots of theme parks,

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including Coney Island and Cincinnati, and
some theme parks, Rhode Island, all

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around the United States, and so
I performed with her. I also had

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incredible teachers at the Youth Performing Arts
High School in Louisville, Kentucky. I

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was just so blessed with all this
training, and then when I moved to

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college to Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
I can't you know, I wouldn't be

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where I am today without are the
head of our department, Aubrey Berg from

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Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, who he
also gave me my Union Equity card,

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along with Lynd Myers at the Ensemble
Theater of Cincinnati. So those people were

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definitely my first mentors of my theatrical
career. Oh my gosh. You know,

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it's so important who we pick up
in life along the way. In

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fact, I think it's Robert Keagan, if I'll give to him credit for

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saying this. He says that the
sum total of who you become in life

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are the people you happen to recruit
into your life along the way. Isn't

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that amazing? It is amazing,
and you are so correct, and that

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is so true. I just have
to share with you quickly, you had

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that inner voice that told you to
go to New York City, and I

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think we talked about this on the
plane. I grew up in a very

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small town in northeastern Oregon that had
at the time when I was in high

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school, four thousand, eight hundred
people and maybe a couple. And I

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worked from my parents in the restaurant
business that they had, and my dad

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wanted me to take the business over
when I was eighteen. But what he

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didn't know, Ashley Kate, was
all those years that I was waiting tables

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for him, people would come through
this little town of ours going someplace else,

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and they were from really exotic places
like Portland, Oregon, which is

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where like Portland, Oregon, which
is where I decided to haul myself too

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when I got out of high school, so I could appreciate this. You

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had the call for New York City. I had the call for Portland,

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Oregon. That's right, I know, I know. And so you you

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were being called to Broadway and you
got there by age twenty three? How

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did that happen? I did?
And you know, it's so funny growing

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up being this black sheep of a
musical theater family. I was just so

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passionate and I would always say,
I want to make it to Broadway by

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sixteen, and my young younger self
thought that if I didn't make it by

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sixteen, that I wasn't a success, talk about you know, just like

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having a little too much drive there. But I did make my Broadway,

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isn't that crazy? I did make
my Broadway debut at age twenty three and

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the gorgeous revival of La Kasha Fall, and the show had been on Broadway

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two times previous before that. I
mean that is thanks to my incredible team

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at the time, my first agent
actually from Kentucky, my first manager actually

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I spoke to him today. His
name's Chase Jennings, and he vetted me

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into Station three Entertainment. They got
that appointment in from some incredible casting directors

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up here in New York City,
and I booked it. It was an

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immediate replacement because one of my dear
friends actually got pregnant with her child and

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she was playing a very conservative role
going home to meet the parents, so

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they couldn't have Anne on my arm
if you will pregnant. So my first

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role in that show every night was
the role of Collette, and it was

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to cover and stand by for that
role. And then I was very lucky.

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It was very interesting how how life
creeps in. I made my Broadway

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debut on a Tuesday evening and we
got told that the show would be closing

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the next Wednesday. So the next
day, after the matinee show, I

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got told the show would be closing. So it was a very high highs

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and very low lows within the first
twenty four hours. I can appreciate that

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well, just quickly. What was
it like though, to be on Broadway

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at age twenty three, I mean, just a true dream come true.

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And there's this great song in Act
two of Lakaje. It's called the Best

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of Times, and the whole song
is about the best of times is now,

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and it's about being present in the
moment. And I remember every night

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because I did get to do I
think I did thirty one shows before it

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closed, you know, when we
got that notice, and I just remembered

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looking out into the seats, thinking, this is it. This is what

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I've dreamed of, you know,
my whole life. I've dreamt of this

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my whole life, and it just
it was. It was the coolest thing

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ever. And you try to slow
down in the moment, you try to

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appreciate it. And you know,
just be kind to everyone you meet and

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say thank you as much as you
can. Truly was a dream come true.

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And I got to tour with the
show for the next nine months across

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the United States and play gorgeous venues
like the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC

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and the famous fabulous Fox Theater in
a Saint Louis And truly a dream come

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true. Well if you can,
that's amazing. It's just so wonderful to

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see somebody go for the gusto in
their life and get that. I mean,

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you know that. I speak on
passionate purpose all the time because so

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many people are walking through their world
and they're dead Ashley Kate, They're not

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living that, they're not screaming for
their dreams like that. Yeah, So

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would you sketch for us just briefly
a little bit of your career. I

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want to talk more about some of
your actual work in the third segment,

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but sketch high level what you've done
to date. Okay. I was in

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the closing Broadway company of the Tony
Award winning lacajo Full. I was in

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the first national tour of lakajo Full
as well, in the role of Collette.

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I have been seeing on television and
shows like Tina Phay's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

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on Netflix. I have been seen
in USA's Royal Pains. My voice has

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been heard on television shows like HBO's
True Detective and then Michael J. Fox

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Show on NBC. And then I
have been in such films as One Message

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Pitching Tents, which is currently available
on vod and Apple TV on Amazon Prime.

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And then I've produced three television series, one called Rules of Cool that

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I created with my best girlfriends not
long after Lakaje, Capital Advice, Mulligan

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and a few others. So I'd
say that's the broad strokes, if you

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will. That is one of those
kind of things where I look at you

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as a thirty year old person and
I see all you have done and it's

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just fantastic. Oh my gosh,
you are very kind, Thank you,

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and it's funny. You know,
as artists and as entrepreneurs, sometimes inside

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of us, you know it never
feels enough and we just keep pushing ourselves.

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So I truly appreciate that affirmation well
absolutely. And you know, sometimes

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you don't really know just all you've
done until you talk with other people,

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and you just start to say it
out loud for yourself, and then you

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start to just sort of hear what
other people are doing now that we want

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to compare ourselves to others. But
right you know, there's something about going,

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oh, wow, I've really done
all this stuff in these short years.

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Absolutely, and I think coming from
a place of being an actress first

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and then you know, in the
later part of my twenties expanding to also

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becoming a producer. I looked at
how busy this week was, and you

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know, as you said, we'll
kind of discuss some of these amazing events

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going on in my life this week, and I looked at it and I

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go, oh, my god,
I actually created every single one of these

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opportunities for myself, and that is
who That's a lot, you know,

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to be like, wow, Okay, I build all these things from the

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ground up, and it's just I'm
grateful that I've been able to do it.

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I don't know how, but it
takes a village, I'll say that

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it does. And I think it's
wonderful that you talk about, you know,

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being aware that you generated these opportunities. They didn't just come to you

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and just land on your doorstep.
You generated them. Of course you had

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help and you had people around you, but you generated them. And there's

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I think the reason I want to
say that to our listeners is that there's

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so much that we don't understand about
how much we can empower ourselves and empower

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that we do have to create the
lives and the futures that we want for

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ourselves, if only we'll get into
action and start at it. Absolutely,

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you could dream it, you can
do it. I truly believe that.

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Well, all right, well let's
do this. Let's take a short little

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break here because I want to be
able to take the next segment and really

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hit the lessons that you've learned,
some of the experiences you've had along the

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way. So I'm your host,
Alice Cortez. We went on the air

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with Ashley Kate Adams, who is
a working actress and producer Broadway and first

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national Tour talent. She joins It
today from New York City. We've been

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talking a bit about her background,
her history, how she got into this

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space and being on Broadway by age
twenty three, and how her young career

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at age thirty has unfolded. Stay
with us, we'll be right back.

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We're going to talk about important lessons
and experiences. Then. Elise Cortez as

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a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

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leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She will

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help ignite meaningful development within your workforce
that will increase employee engagement, performance and

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retention. To learn more or to
invite Elise to speak to your organization,

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00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:45.919
please visit her at www dot Elise
Cortez dot com. She would welcome the

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opportunity to help get your employees working
on purpose. This is working on Purpose

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with Elise Cortez. To reach our
pro grham today, send an email to

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Elise ali Se at Elise Cortez dot
com. Now back to working on Purpose.

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If you're just joining us, My
guest is Ashley Kate Adams, who

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is a working actress and producer at
AKA Studio Productions, Broadway and First National

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Tour Talent, as well starring in
many productions which we'll talk about a little

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bit later. She also inspired and
co produced the film Beauty Mark, which

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debuted at the twenty seventeen LA Film
Festival. I'm your host Elise Cortez.

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So we've talked before about how you
got yourself into this business. What I

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want to talk about are some of
those really crucial lessons and experiences you've had

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along the way that it really shaped
who you are. There's something about right,

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There's something about being in that space
and recognizing those things at the time

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and then letting them inform your being
that I really think makes you a pretty

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spectacular young woman. Thank you,
You're welcome. So to start this is

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hard. You lost your dad in
August of twenty sixteen, and we talked

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on the plane about how important that
was a reset for you. So tell

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us about your dad, what he
means to you, and how his death

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has helped to reset. My dad
just was the best human being. His

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name was Ernie Adams, Ernest Adams, and he's an actor and a singer

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and a lover of the arts,
married to my mom for many years,

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and he has three beautiful children.
I would like to think I'm the oldest

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of three. He he just always
encouraged me to live my dream and kind

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as we were talking about this calling
to go to New York, you know,

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to my dad, it was never
too big of a dream and he

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understood it, and he said to
me many times, you know, my

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mom and dad are very talented people, and they could have moved to New

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York and they could they could have
done this career. They could have also

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you know, been on Broadway.
But my dad always knew that he wanted

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to settle down and start a family
so the next generation could do it.

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And I always just meant so much
to me. And when I was in

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my mid twenties and this kind of
rumbling started inside of me to kind of

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create and lead my own work,
my father was just my biggest cheerleader and

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my biggest fan. Of course my
mother as well, but my father just

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you know, every day on his
lunch break, he would call me from

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work and we would talk about what's
next, and he would he would help

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me have courage on the path as
I was kind of like starting out in

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an area that like you know,
just was dark, like I didn't know

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what was truly going to be before
me, and he just was always so

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encouraging to me and just like my
right hand man. And yeah, so

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in July of twenty sixteen, I
was teaching for this amazing company. I

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work for a Pier called a class
act New York. I teach Broadway boot

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camps for them as well as I
direct their productions. And I got a

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call in the middle of class that
my dad had gone to the doctor and

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he got moved to the cancer wing. And I'm not kidding you. Five

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weeks later he passed. Still unbelievable, in August twentieth, twenty sixteen,

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at seven fifteen pm. Unbelievable.
Yeah, And how was that a reset

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for you? I think, especially
when you are a young adult and you

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lose your rock and one of your
parents, you know, kind of out

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of order of your life. Right. It's like you think, oh,

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I'm gonna maybe grow older, hopefully
get married, hopefully have children. Then

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you think maybe years and years after
that, you know, you might lose

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somebody. I think having those sequence
of events challenged and having the loss of

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that spirit and presence in your life, it caused as you to literally reset

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your life, to literally refocus how
you function. And that's what it did

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for me. I mean, it
literally gutted me out. I mean,

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the grieving process is not fun.
And to be frank, I had a

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very charmed life as far as loss
was concerned. You know, I lost

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all of my grandparents when I was
in my twenties, and like the closest

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person to me who passed, and
there were you know, many people as

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I've kind of talked about in my
life and my family's artistic life. I

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mean, we lost like our deacon
at church. I mean that was the

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closest thing I had for loss other
than my incredible three of my grandparents who

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passed. And yeah, my dad, I just I lost him, and

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it forced me to look at my
life in a completely different way in order

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to continue moving forward, in order
to continue living with purpose. I'd see

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that as so profound. And again
I talk to my listeners a lot about

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when life's you know, gives you
lemons. Can you can you find a

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way to make lemonade? And your
ability, right, your ability to step

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out of that with resilience and even
more resolve and focus is a testament to

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you, Ashley Kate. It's a
testament to you, and I want to

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acknowledge that and honor that in you
here. Thank you that that means a

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lot. You're welcome. Yeah,
I know, right, life is,

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you know, here's a great thing. Right, We as human beings come

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equipped with this full, beautiful spectrum
of emotions. And do you know how

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many people try so hard to wedge
out those that emotional spectrum because it's hard

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to live in the emotional space but
can also be so beautiful and contributing to

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our lives. And so I want
to also acknowledge how you are handling yourself

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and dealing with all the emotions that
I know are willing in you right now.

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Yeah, he's proud. This is
cool. I think he wherever he

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is right now, he is he's
very proud that this is happening. You

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know, it's it is special.
Thrilled again that I got to cross paths

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with you and now you're part of
my life, My dear, you're not

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getting away from me. So I
know, what are the other things we

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talked about on the plane, which
I think is hopelessly interesting and definitely something

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I would would want you to share
with our listeners. Is you've talked about

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some important lessons you've learned along the
way around boundaries. What do you mean

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about boundaries and what have you learned? So? I think the biggest lesson

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that I was forced to learn from
my father's death was the idea of valuing

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myself, valuing my energy, valuing
my potential, valuing my place in other

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people's lives, valuing my place within
the creation of properties of ideas. Because

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when the person passes that's trying has
been trying to teach you this lesson your

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whole life, you know, you're
left out in the middle of the water,

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and it's like you better, no, now, you better you know

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know the lesson by now, because
you have to. You're the only one

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who can, you know, keep
reminding yourself of this because that person can't

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physically be there anymore to reassure you. And so with that value comes I

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think a new reflection and just understanding
of boundaries. And I think when you

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grow up as a young woman in
the entertainment industry, you're taught that you're

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kind of on this bottom of the
bold the totem pole, if you will,

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especially as like a blonde, outgoing
actress. You know, people,

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you've heard it a billion times.
It's like people look at you, they

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think you're a dime a dozen.
They can call you into the room and

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you know, the first film I
ever worked on, it was a non

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union film, and I was getting
my feet wet and I tell you it

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was a really just a really challenging
experience and I was not treated properly by

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that director, and that really informed
I think my future, and I wanted

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to create a safe space for work, and I think that's why now I

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created a case Pseudo Productions. And
you know, I've learned many hard lessons

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with creating my own work. And
when you are a producer, when you

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are a young creator, all you
want to do is share, share,

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share, You want to get everybody
excited, come together for common purpose.

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And you know, sometimes you can
fall into challenging you know, relationships in

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your personal life. But for me
it's more so you know, been in

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business sometimes where of course people are
going to be attracted to that energy and

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that drive and you know, a
genuine gentleness and kindness for other people.

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And so that has been a huge, huge lesson for me to learn over

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the past few years too. You
know, you kind of hear that saying,

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protect your heart, protect your art, and I definitely am going to

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do a better job of that moving
forward. Well, speaking of that,

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I know a little something about this
because what we talked on the plane,

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I want to have you talk and
share your experience about the movie Beauty Mark

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at first, of course, what
the story is about and why you wanted

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to make the film, because I
also know there's some lessons in that as

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well and something incredible experiences you've had
along the way there. So Beauty Mark.

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Yeah, Beauty Mark is an incredible
film that actually comes out today on

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vod and at the Amazon. It
is distributed by the Orchard. Yeah,

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it's incredible. We had the New
York premiere last night, which I was

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very proud to attend. It is
written and directed by Harristerran and it was

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shot by Karina Silva, who is
my home girl and one of the best

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dps in the business. Yeah.
So I had the idea to share my

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story. So, and by my
story, I mean my personal story from

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my childhood. So I would say
one of the you know, most traumatizing

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things I've been through obviously as a
young adult, as the loss of my

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father, but before that, when
I was a young child, I've unfortunately

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was taken advantage of at a location
when I was a child, and so

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some things, if you will,
were taken away from me in that respect.

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So I decided to share a version
of that story with a colleague of

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mine. We had produced a film
together and that that you know, story

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that I had got turned into this, this beautiful and haunting script called Beauty

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Mark. You are amazing. I
really appreciate that. You know that we're

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talking about this. It's a very
important thing to talk about. It's a

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huge part of your life certainly,
and what what you've experienced and what you've

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created. So okay, so the
film comes out today, do you what's

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the plan for it? Is there
in terms of promoting it, in terms

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of what you what you hope it
will do well? I think within my

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understanding, I think the fact that
we got this distribution deal with The Orchard

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is unbelievably huge. I mean,
there's just an incredible, incredible company distributor.

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Many great films have come up through
them and been introduced to the world.

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It was incredible to make our premiere
last year at the La Film Festival.

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So it's one many accolades like the
Woodstock Film Festival, at Austin Film

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Festival. You know, those things
stuck up. But the important part that

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you know, sometimes people forgetting the
journey is this story of sexual abuse and

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a young woman coming back to her
home state of Kentucky and trying to take

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her power back and trying to find
her voice back. And I'm proud to

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say that through the creation of this
film and pre production, I got to

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complete that full circle for myself.
And if you can believe it, right

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before my father passed, because there
was healing, right, there was a

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lot of healing that had to happen. There are a lot of conversations my

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family had to have as to why
things were handled in a certain way when

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I was so young in the early
nineties, you know, living in Kentucky,

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and why the church responded in a
specific way, why certain charges were

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pressed were not pressed or charged.
It was kind of fascinating how it all

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00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:07.359
kind of snowballed at once right and
happened, and then you know, it's

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some challenging business lessons happened. And
I actually was in Kentucky when the movie

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filmed. By that time, I
had become a co producer on the film,

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and I was no longer in the
film, but I was also h's

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so intense. I was also in
town at that time because that's when my

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father was passing. So talk about
a year to gut me out. That

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was twenty sixteen. Oh my gosh, I just can't even imagine. I'm

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so happy that we're having this conversation
when this is just coming out though,

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and that we're talking about this because
it's such an important topic for so many,

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not just women, but also for
men who have been through this experience.

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So since I wanted in this segment
to talk about important lessons and experiences

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for you. You know, you've
alluded to some of this, but what

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were some of the important lessons you've
got from putting beauty mark out in the

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00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:10.279
world. I mean, I think
I can go back to the original idea

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of protect your heart, protect your
art. I think sometimes when we when

403
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we work with friends, you know, we don't necessarily think when we trust

404
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.400
people, when we love people,
that we you know, need to put

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00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:29.880
things down on paper. And I
just I just want to encourage everybody,

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00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:34.079
you know, it's just important to
kind of to to write things down and

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00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:40.000
and even if it's even a small
email of consent, you know, just

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to really think about those things.
Because when we get excited and when we

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create, and once again, we
just you know, want to give,

410
00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:49.400
we want to share, we want
to excite people. You know, sometimes

411
00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:55.799
we forget to kind of you know, dot dot our eyes and cross our

412
00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:00.799
t's And I think that's a large
kind of lesson I learned. And I

413
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:04.799
also think I did learn a lesson
of value with that. As I said,

414
00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.799
there was a time where telling this
story became very challenging for me,

415
00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:14.279
and and the working environment because of
it became very challenging for me, and

416
00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:18.599
so I kind of I gave away
a lot of my rights on the film

417
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.039
and a lot of my percentage on
the film and my major title on the

418
00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:26.359
film. And that was my choice. And I felt at the time I

419
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:29.319
was I was making, you know, the correct choice that which I did

420
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:33.279
so with absolute integrity that I stand
by to this day. But you know,

421
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:37.200
when when it's something that comes from
your your core, it's that's a

422
00:31:37.400 --> 00:31:45.559
that's a challenging thing to to truly
share and say I release this, and

423
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.880
to want the story to survive.
More than anything, it was the hardest

424
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:55.480
thing I've done in my life,
besides losing my father. I just so

425
00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:57.839
so applaud how you have come through
this. And again, yeah, at

426
00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:01.000
such a young age and a folded
into your being and your your sense of

427
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:07.160
experience and purpose and self is,
and to come through the other side bigger

428
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:15.359
and stronger and more capable. It's
it's beautiful. It's weird because when I

429
00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:20.160
met you, Miss Elise, I
was. It meant so much to me

430
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:23.519
that I met a person like you
that was able to affirm me in these

431
00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:25.759
certain ways. And that's why,
you know, we kept kind of getting

432
00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:30.079
emotional on the plane, and I'm
getting you know, I get emotional right

433
00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:35.559
now talking about this. There has
been so much pain and so much loss

434
00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:39.240
in the recent year and a half
two years of my life. But man,

435
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:45.720
I'll tell you one of those lessons
and gifts is true clarity. And

436
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:50.359
there's a lot of clarity going on
right now, and I am just trying

437
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:58.160
to move forward as quickly and diligently
as possible and trying to rock and roll.

438
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:01.160
You know. You know what I
so appreciate about what you said about

439
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:05.319
our meeting is, you know,
we never know what's going on with other

440
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:08.359
people when we crossed paths with them. I didn't know at the time when

441
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:10.519
I met too, what you were
going through, and I didn't know,

442
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:15.559
you know, what our interaction really
was. I knew that I knew that

443
00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:20.480
I felt lifted, and I felt
an incredible energy by talking with you,

444
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:22.599
but of course I had no idea
what you were happening on the other side,

445
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:28.240
So oh my gosh. It's just
appreciate so much that kind of connection.

446
00:33:28.599 --> 00:33:30.920
What we know, Ashley Cage,
is that what people want desperately in

447
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:35.079
life, in addition to to of
course making something in the selves, is

448
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:38.799
they want meaningful connection with other people. Yeah, and for me, you

449
00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:45.680
were and are a meaningful connection.
Thank you, Elise, You're welcome.

450
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:49.519
Well, let's take a quick break
here. I want to talk about your

451
00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:52.440
work. After the break, I'm
Elise Cortez, your host. We've been

452
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.640
on the air with Ashley Kate Adams, who is a working actress and producer

453
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.519
Broadway and first National Tour talent.
She joined it to day from New York

454
00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:01.720
City. We've been talking a bit
about some of the important life lessons she's

455
00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:06.640
learned and those experiences in how she's
incorporated them into her being. After the

456
00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:08.920
break, I want to hear about
her work in acting and producing. Stay

457
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:13.719
with us, We'll be right back. Elise Cortez as a speaker and engagement

458
00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:19.719
and development catalyst. She designs and
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops

459
00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:23.519
and can bring her expertise to your
organization. She will help ignite meaningful development

460
00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:29.719
within your workforce that will increase employee
engagement, performance and retention. To learn

461
00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:32.440
more or to invite a lease to
speak to your organization, please visit her

462
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:37.920
at www dot Elise Cortez dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help

463
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:50.559
get your employees working on purpose.
This is working on Purpose with Elise Cortez.

464
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:55.159
To reach our program today, send
an email to Elise ali Se at

465
00:34:55.199 --> 00:35:01.519
Elise Cortez dot com. Now back
to working on Purpose. If you're just

466
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.519
tuning in, my guest is Ashley
Kate Adams, who is a working actress

467
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:08.880
and producer at AKA Studio Productions,
Broadway and First National Tour Talent, as

468
00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:13.559
well starring in mini productions which we'll
talk about here in this next segment.

469
00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:16.280
She also inspired and co produced the
film Beauty Mark, which debuted at the

470
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:21.639
twenty seventeen LA Film Festival. I'm
your host, Alice Cortez. So we've

471
00:35:21.639 --> 00:35:24.079
been talking about how you got into
this business. Some amazing lessons have helped

472
00:35:24.119 --> 00:35:27.960
make you who you are. For
this last bit together, I want to

473
00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.960
have you share a bit about the
actual work you've been doing, acting and

474
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:35.519
producing. So, if I heard
this right on the plane, you have

475
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:39.320
produced eight shows by the age of
thirty, Is that right? Yeah,

476
00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:46.320
so there's been many more actual shows. There's been eight television or film properties

477
00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:52.000
that I've produced, but I've produced
probably an additional ten concerts in the New

478
00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:54.760
York area, places like Joe's Pub
fifty four below, New York Musical Theater

479
00:35:54.840 --> 00:36:00.400
Festival, and then I also produced
the world premiere of the play The Rodgers

480
00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:06.039
out in Los Angeles two years ago. So I got to ask this question

481
00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:09.000
because when I share with people that
I meet, and certainly you know,

482
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:13.639
men that I might actually meet for
the first time on a date over time,

483
00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:16.239
they often ask me, you know, they try to like tap me

484
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:21.119
down, you know. So I
want to understand, right what motivates you

485
00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:23.000
to work as hard as you do
and see things through to completion. Where

486
00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:30.639
does that come from? You know? A big part of it is reflecting

487
00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:36.840
on it all and understanding holy crap. If I did not kick my butt

488
00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:42.320
into gear, some of these things
would not be in existence. And I

489
00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:45.800
think, especially with the lesson of
finality through my father's quick passing, I

490
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:52.320
think truly understanding that we have no
moment like the present that keeps my butt

491
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:57.559
in gear. I would say five
hundred percent of the time. Wow,

492
00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.599
that's that's so great. I mean, and there's something about that motivation.

493
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:02.440
And some people, you know,
have it so big and so hard and

494
00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:06.440
so strong, and others on the
other inter spectrum just have a hard time

495
00:37:06.440 --> 00:37:10.239
getting motivated. So when I see
it as stoutly showing up as it is

496
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:14.280
for you, I just I have
to ask that question. So yeah,

497
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:17.360
and you know, and I just
it's interesting. You know, if you

498
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:22.239
look at my life on paper,
you know, I'm this bubbly blonde girl

499
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:25.079
from Kentucky and grew up in the
theater and went to the best musical theater

500
00:37:25.159 --> 00:37:28.840
school in the nation, and you
know, like when you look at my

501
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:31.440
life on paper, I'm extremely privileged. Right, We've been talking about the

502
00:37:31.480 --> 00:37:36.800
idea of privileged in the nation recently, and but at the same time,

503
00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:39.239
you know, there is a flip
side to what was actually going on in

504
00:37:39.239 --> 00:37:44.039
my childhood what I've actually had to
face in my young adult ears. And

505
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:47.000
I've had to work for everything I
have. I have never gotten a break,

506
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:51.719
as you noticed, even when I
got my big Broadway debut. It

507
00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:54.960
got taken away the next day,
so I've never had anything handed to me,

508
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.559
and believe it or not, I
think it's been the biggest blessing of

509
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:05.039
my life. I would agree,
and I would be remiss not to share

510
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.519
with our listeners. Here, I
want to hear about a couple of the

511
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:09.920
movies that you either acted in or
held a particular important role for you.

512
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:14.679
What were they and why are you
proud of them? What resonated for you

513
00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:19.599
with them? Okay, I can't
start this list without talking about Rules of

514
00:38:19.639 --> 00:38:22.599
Cool. Roles of Cool was the
first series that I created with two of

515
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:29.760
my very best friends, Caitlin Cook
and Lacey Jecca. It's an incredible series

516
00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:32.000
about two girls coming of age in
New York City and it was just a

517
00:38:32.039 --> 00:38:37.360
mirror and expression of our lives in
the early twenties in the city. And

518
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:43.039
that sold actually to full screen.
So it's a very cool day because when

519
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:46.480
I was actually filming Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
on Netflix, which was also a dream

520
00:38:46.519 --> 00:38:51.519
come true because I'm literally being like
spoken to from like Tina Fey and then

521
00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:53.280
I buy Tina Fey and then I
like go into my dressing room, and

522
00:38:53.320 --> 00:38:57.079
I'm working with my literary agent and
we are, you know, doing a

523
00:38:57.119 --> 00:39:00.239
deal to sell my very first TV
show to a platform. So I can't

524
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:06.639
I can't talk about the list without
talking about Rules of Cool. Another one

525
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:10.679
which is very important to me,
the trailer just released yesterday. It is

526
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:16.559
Mulligan and it's an up and coming
drama. It's the first series narrative television

527
00:39:16.599 --> 00:39:22.840
show about golf that was actually created
by my incredible boyfriend Patrick Cannon, and

528
00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:27.639
I'm executive producer of the show.
He created the show and stars in it

529
00:39:27.639 --> 00:39:31.199
and I am co star in it
as his girlfriend Mona. So that's another

530
00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:36.840
great series that you guys can check
out Mulligan and check out the trailer.

531
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:40.239
We just hit twenty thousand views in
like twenty four hours. Obviously, Beauty

532
00:39:40.280 --> 00:39:45.920
Mark comes out to day on vod
Apple TV all of that magic. It's

533
00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:51.199
a feature film. And then I'm
actually leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow morning to

534
00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:53.559
work on one of my best girlfriends. Her name is Corbyn Reid. You

535
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:59.639
might know her from How to Get
Away with Murder or Valor on the c

536
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.199
you. It's her short film called
blind Site, and I'm one of the

537
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:07.639
lead producers on that film as well. So those are some of them,

538
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:09.559
those are the ones that are bopping
around this week. Let's put it that

539
00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:13.800
way. Okay. I got that, And I understand how they can change

540
00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:15.840
import or connection for your according to
where you are in life. I totally

541
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:21.920
get that. Oh yes, okay, Now what about what about producing movies?

542
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.360
How did that start? What's the
history there? So? When I

543
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:35.159
was about twenty five years old,
I was in a production at paper Mail

544
00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:37.599
Playhouse, which is a very prestigious
regional theater, and it was very interesting,

545
00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:40.760
like I just had these emotions while
I was on stage, and I

546
00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:45.840
was just like, gosh, I'm
sitting here and I'm in the show and

547
00:40:45.880 --> 00:40:49.880
I'm singing all my high seas and
I'm in pretty dresses. Why am I

548
00:40:49.960 --> 00:40:53.360
not feeling creatively as fulfilled as I
thought I was going to? You know,

549
00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:59.559
when I got to this moment of
my stage theatrical career, right,

550
00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:04.719
I'm this doesn't feel right? And
what was happening inside of me? I

551
00:41:04.760 --> 00:41:07.239
had this incredible wig gentleman named George
who was putting on my wig and he

552
00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:10.119
goes, Ashley, has there just
been anything inside of you that you've been

553
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:14.559
wanting to work on and I'm like, you know, I was talking to

554
00:41:14.599 --> 00:41:17.159
another friend of mine who as a
producer. I don't even know what producers

555
00:41:17.239 --> 00:41:22.519
do for TV and film and you
know, theater, but he said maybe

556
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:27.760
I should try to think about producing, and I swear to god, in

557
00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:31.840
twenty fifteen, it just started kind
of like not falling in my lap.

558
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:37.880
But there were these properties like the
Dodgers, like Rules of Cool that came

559
00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:42.480
to me as the Cool Girls originally, you know, that started coming to

560
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:44.679
me and people were like, you
know, you might be the right person

561
00:41:44.760 --> 00:41:49.159
to kind of lead this project along, and so I just started doing I

562
00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:53.920
started, you know, bumping into
things, learning on my feet and in

563
00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:58.880
the job and literally just throwing myself
into the lion's den to figure out how

564
00:41:58.920 --> 00:42:01.800
to make things. And that's,
to be honest, that's how it started.

565
00:42:04.519 --> 00:42:07.400
It sounds about like you from what
I knew of you already. I

566
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:10.719
got that, okay, And you've
already mentioned a few things that you've you've

567
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:15.679
produced, But are there any in
particular that you produced that you're proud of?

568
00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:20.840
Rules of Cools has to be because
I literally knew nothing and it was

569
00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:22.920
a new medium, right, I
mean, I didn't know anything. I

570
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:27.840
didn't know how to hire actors,
how to do contracts, how to work

571
00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:31.199
with the union. You know,
we literally created that from nothing, raised

572
00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:36.360
twenty thousand dollars in three months.
We didn't know investors, we didn't know

573
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:39.280
how to do this. We created
a crowdfunding campaign. I mean, I'm

574
00:42:39.280 --> 00:42:46.840
just so proud of starting that from
idea through completion. And you know what

575
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:51.880
else, I mean, Mulligan,
that was huge. We filmed this past

576
00:42:51.960 --> 00:42:54.079
October. I'm just so I'm so
proud of that. How we all came

577
00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:58.639
together. There was a crew.
I think between cast and crew, there

578
00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:01.920
were seventy five of us us that
worked in Pittsburgh for two weeks. People

579
00:43:01.960 --> 00:43:06.800
worked for little to no money just
to tell this story of this ex prokeoffer

580
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:08.920
getting out of jail and going back
to work at his family's driving range.

581
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:14.000
And I'm just so I'm so proud
of that and how everybody came together and

582
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:16.360
how no one was greedy and it
was all about the story. And then

583
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:21.599
I would say, beauty, Mark, I'm incredibly proud of producing that.

584
00:43:21.960 --> 00:43:24.480
It was such a hard subject matter
obviously for me to talk about because it

585
00:43:24.519 --> 00:43:29.360
was my life. And then to
talk about it in a you know,

586
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:31.880
kind of an entertainment setting. I
mean, it was a movie that nobody

587
00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:37.039
wanted to see get made, that
nobody wanted to put funding towards. And

588
00:43:37.079 --> 00:43:40.599
also how I handled myself with integrity
throughout the formation of the film. I

589
00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:44.679
would say, I'd say those are
the three that I'm proud of stud for

590
00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:51.079
producing those. Yeah. So going
back to what you just said about Beauty

591
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:54.519
Mark and the person that you are
proud of that you are who came through

592
00:43:54.559 --> 00:43:59.880
all that. When you through your
work, Ashley Kate, what is it

593
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:02.320
important for you to convey what are
you are? Is there something about your

594
00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:07.360
work that you're expressing or that embodies
who you are? Yeah, I mean

595
00:44:07.559 --> 00:44:13.800
I think in the work itself,
if you see a property that's my name

596
00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:19.719
on that I've been on the ground
four from from creating this story, it's

597
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:22.840
just honest storytelling. And a lot
of the stories that I think AKA studio

598
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:29.760
productions or I get behind, they're
just very authentic. They're different. Nobody

599
00:44:29.800 --> 00:44:31.760
has told it before. It might
be the first time you've heard something,

600
00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:37.000
or you know, like Blindside is
unbelievably special, Corbin. This is she's

601
00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:42.480
a well known actress, but this
is her first film that she has you

602
00:44:42.519 --> 00:44:46.960
know, written herself, and she's
an African American woman. She's also directing

603
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:52.800
it for her first thing that she's
directing. So I try to truly bring

604
00:44:52.920 --> 00:44:57.159
up new talent that's that's growing up
around me, that are that are my

605
00:44:57.239 --> 00:44:59.960
peers, and I try to give
them places to kind of jump off,

606
00:45:00.159 --> 00:45:01.639
and I try to, you know, try to support them. So I

607
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:06.400
think that's one way that you would
know, kind of work as my own.

608
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:08.760
But I also just I try to
lead. I know it sounds so

609
00:45:08.800 --> 00:45:13.719
silly, it's just I try to
like lead with with love, and I

610
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:17.719
try to give people a really great
safe environment to create in to where everybody

611
00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:22.960
can kind of lead their own department. And a lot of people I hire,

612
00:45:22.039 --> 00:45:25.159
you know, I might hire them
a department up of what they might

613
00:45:25.199 --> 00:45:29.599
do, say on a network television
show or something. You know, we've

614
00:45:29.599 --> 00:45:32.239
worked with like first ads who then
have become directors for things for us,

615
00:45:32.719 --> 00:45:37.679
you know, or something like that, or a camera operator, right giving

616
00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:42.039
them the opportunity to be a director
of photography. That's that's really important for

617
00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:46.360
me. So I would say things
being authentic, things being new and original,

618
00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:51.360
and and just like young women in
the industry, trying to give them

619
00:45:51.400 --> 00:45:58.639
opportunities. No wonder we connected,
no wonder right, I mean wonder the

620
00:45:58.719 --> 00:46:04.360
authenticity piece being genuine, stressing yourself
in a way that's loving and gentle and

621
00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:07.320
caring, bringing up other people,
helping them find their way. That is

622
00:46:07.400 --> 00:46:10.519
all beautiful. And if that's what
you stand for, Ashley Kate, I

623
00:46:10.559 --> 00:46:15.159
am more than delighted to know you
have you in my life. What a

624
00:46:15.239 --> 00:46:21.119
gift you have been. Thanks.
Thanks, I'm just trying. You know,

625
00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:24.159
we've only got we got one shot
at this life and it all means

626
00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:28.199
something, it really does, yes, And you and I talked a bit

627
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:30.199
about that, and speaking of that
here we are coming to the very close

628
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:34.840
of the show already. Wow,
I want to give you the chance to

629
00:46:34.920 --> 00:46:37.679
share with our listeners across the globe, just maybe in one minute, what

630
00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:43.239
would you like to leave them with. I would just say, to be

631
00:46:43.360 --> 00:46:47.239
true to yourself, whatever that means
in the moment, to press your instincts,

632
00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:55.239
to listen to your gut, to
guard your heart, but still attempt

633
00:46:55.320 --> 00:47:02.480
to be soft and open, to
appreciate the relationships you have, the people

634
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:08.559
in your family, the people in
your business relationships and look out, look

635
00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:12.400
out for each other, look out, look out for others around you,

636
00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:15.480
and I just I truly believe that
you know in turn, they will be

637
00:47:15.519 --> 00:47:20.079
looking out for you as well.
Beautiful way to finish, Ashley Kate,

638
00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:23.039
thank you so much for being on
the show, sharing your brilliance, your

639
00:47:23.079 --> 00:47:27.280
beauty, your wit, your charm, your heart everything. It has been

640
00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.239
incredible to have you here with us. Oh, thank you so much.

641
00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:32.639
Thank you so much for having me. So glad that American Airlines brought us

642
00:47:32.679 --> 00:47:37.320
together. Thank you, American Airlines. Thank you. If you want to

643
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:40.519
learn more about Ashley Kate Adams in
the work she does, visit her website.

644
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:45.000
That's one place to start. It's
Ashley Kate Adams. Let me spell

645
00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:51.280
that for you A s h l
E Y K A t e A Dams

646
00:47:51.440 --> 00:47:53.960
dot com. Ashley Kate Adams join
us next week when we're on the air

647
00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:59.320
with Rachel Murlough and her recently released
book that she's talking about, just succeed

648
00:47:59.360 --> 00:48:01.000
Without a Poet Achieved. See you
then, remember that work is at least

649
00:48:01.039 --> 00:48:07.400
one third of our life, so
let's work on purpose. We hope you've

650
00:48:07.480 --> 00:48:12.480
enjoyed this week's program. Be sure
to tune in to Working on Purpose,

651
00:48:12.800 --> 00:48:17.199
featuring your host Alice Cortez, each
week on the Voice America Empowerment Channel.

652
00:48:17.679 --> 00:48:21.840
This week, find your life's purpose
at work.