Ryan-Ashley is a maker, a marketer, and a writer. And of her early childhood, she remembers these things — fear, loneliness, and hunger. She remembers watching her father terrorize her mother; she remembers spending lots of time alone and afraid, making things to pass the time; and she remembers watching her mother argue with fast food clerks in order to get meals for free. The first time she hurt herself, she was six years old. And for the next 15 years she would go through a series of haunting experiences, struggle with depression and eating disorders, and fall asleep at night wishing she was somebody else, somewhere else, with just a little chance to become something more. Even while she thought, "If I could just get a steady job making $10/hr. somewhere, that would be pretty great," she hoped there was something greater ahead for her. She hoped she might do something meaningful. She hoped she might mean something. So she lived and worked as if she was fighting for her life. Thanks to the blind, stubborn hope that gave her the  determination and tenacity to overcome her beginnings, she's now 34 and a homeowner, the CEO/founder of a marketing firm, and a mentor in the Big Brother Big Sister program. She's living a life that at one time never seemed possible. And she's not stopping here. Follow along on her journey at www.instagram.com/ryanashleyanderson