Welcome to the Crab Shack

I didn't plan this episode. I didn't plan any of it, honestly.

I didn't plan to be sitting in my garden in my hippie zero shoes recording my first episode in over a month and a half. I didn't plan to become the Christian education and youth and children's ministry director at our local church. I didn't plan for any of the shifts that have happened in the last ten months — the ones you may have already felt if you have been here for a while.

But here I am. Finally home. And I am so ready to bring you along.

What This Episode Holds

• Why Ashley has been quiet for the last month and a half — and what she has been coming home to in the meantime
• The shift that has been building for almost a year and what finally coming home to God, her husband, her kids, her community, and herself actually feels like
• How a feral, F-bomb dropping woman became a church director — and why that is the least surprising thing in the world when you know her whole story
• Letting go of the polished performance and showing up from the garden, from the wicker chair, from the real
• What the Crab Shack is, where this podcast is headed, and why the mission has never been more alive
• The truth about grace — why she is done declaring it and finally just living it
• What radical responsibility actually looks like when you stop trying to beat everyone else's narrative and finally come home to your own

Who This Episode Is For

• The woman who has felt the shift in Ashley and wanted to understand what changed
• The woman who has been keeping herself chained up while calling it discipline or loyalty or love
• The woman who is afraid to say the G word out loud but feels something pulling her toward it anyway
• The woman who is done with polished and ready for real
• The mother who is building something and needs to hear that none of it disqualifies her — it qualifies her

"I am not extraordinary. I am just an ordinary girl living out her extraordinary purpose. And we all have the power, the strength, the grace within us to do that."

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

Success can be loud and lonely at the same time. In this episode of Making HERstory, host Ashley Crabb gets real about the hidden loneliness that often comes with entrepreneurship — even in a world that praises collaboration and community. She explores the ways comparison, competition, and isolation creep in when women forget their own worth and power. This conversation is a reminder that sisterhood in business, female connection, and authentic community are what keep us grounded when the noise gets too loud.

If you’ve ever felt unseen, isolated, or like you’re cheering for everyone but yourself — this episode will remind you that you’re not alone and that your story, your voice, and your worth still matter.

This Episode Is For You If:

• You’ve felt lonely even while running a thriving business.
• You’re craving deeper connection beyond networking.
• You want to stop comparing your journey to everyone else’s.

🦄 About This Episode:

Inside this episode, Ashley opens up about the paradox of success — how you can be thriving and still feel unseen — and the real reason women feel isolated even in rooms full of support. She shares the reminder that different doesn’t mean better, and that sisterhood is the strategy that sustains us through growth.
🌶 Why success can feel lonely even when everything looks “right”
🌶 How comparison and competition quietly disconnect us
🌶 What real sisterhood in business looks like — and how to find it

Available now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube!
If this episode hit home, subscribe so you never miss a new one.
Leave a 5-star review for the episode that moved you most, and share it with the women who need it.
Tag @itsashleycrabb so Ashley can hype you up and keep the movement going.

If you’re ready to start building your story from the inside out, download the Tell Your Story Starter Kit or book your 30-Minute Clarity Call to start building your brand, your fire, and your story from the ground up.

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

I spent 30 days telling you what I learned from a $5,000 retreat I never even went to. But I never gave you the full story.

Today I am giving you the full story. And then we are putting it to rest for good.

This is not an episode about regret. It is not a cautionary tale or a warning or a confessional. It is the story of the most expensive yes I ever said — what it cracked open, what it cost, and why every single door that opened after it was worth more than the five thousand dollars I left on the table.

What This Episode Holds

• The full story behind the $5K investment — the yes, the unraveling, and the moment she finally said no and asked for her money back
• The woman who made that investment — desperate, still looking to other people for the answers, still not trusting herself — and the woman who came out the other side
• How postpartum entrepreneurship pulled her into a world of targeted noise and how she kept reaching for the wrong rope trying to climb out
• The moment she realized she had been trying to learn from someone whose life she did not even want
• What it actually means to say yes from a place of abundance versus yes from a place of desperation — and how to know the difference
• Why this investment, as painful and expensive as it was, is the thing that finally unlocked the chain keeping her buried underneath narratives that were never hers
• Peeling back the onion — why becoming is not about finding the woman you lost but about finding joy in every single layer of who you are

Who This Episode Is For

• The woman who has made an expensive decision and is still carrying shame about it
• The mother in the online business world who has been targeted, overwhelmed, and has grabbed every rope thrown at her trying to find solid ground
• The woman who has been saying yes from a place of desperation and is ready to learn what a yes from abundance actually feels like
• The woman who has been looking to everyone else for the answers and is starting to suspect she has had them inside her all along
• The entrepreneur who is done following someone else's path to someone else's life

Key Quote

"It was a full body yes in a desperate place. It wasn't a full body yes from a place of abundance and self-trust and self-knowledge and self-worth. I was still thinking that I was not worthy and enough and that someone else was going to save me."

You are not behind. You are not too much. And you do not have to choose between your family and the life you are building. Keep peeling back the layers. The woman underneath every single one of them is worth finding.

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

In this raw and deeply personal episode, Ashley Crabb dismantles the belief that returning home—or becoming a mother—will magically heal generational wounds.

After moving back to Pennsylvania while pregnant, Ashley believed she would be the one to bring her family back together. That her growth, her presence, and her children would be the catalyst for change. But instead of transformation, she found herself facing the same patterns, the same pain, and the same roles she thought she had outgrown.

This episode is a powerful reckoning with the “eldest daughter” identity, the martyr complex many mothers unconsciously carry, and the invisible labor of holding generational trauma.

Ashley shares the moment everything shifted—the line she drew in the sand, the boundary that changed her life, and the realization that healing doesn’t come from saving others—it comes from no longer abandoning yourself.

This is a must-listen for mothers who feel the weight of “holding it all together” and are ready to finally put it down.

Key Topics:

• The illusion that moving home or becoming a mother will fix family dynamics
• The “eldest daughter” role and how it shows up in motherhood
• Martyrdom, victimhood, and the identity of being “the one who fixes everything”
• Invisible labor and generational emotional weight carried by mothers
• Assigning unconscious responsibility to children to “heal” a family
• The breaking point: realizing nothing changes if you stay in the same role
• Boundaries with family, addiction, and choosing self-respect
• The difference between saving your family vs. building your own
• Letting go of control and releasing what isn’t yours to carry
• Rewriting your identity as a mother and woman

If this episode resonated, share it with a mother who feels like she’s carrying it all.
Subscribe to Wealth in Mothers by Ashley Crabb for more conversations that challenge the narrative of motherhood.

Leave a review to help expand this movement and amplify mothers’ voices.

Follow Ashley Crabb for deeper thought leadership on motherhood, identity, and generational wealth.

Take a moment to reflect: Where are you still trying to fix what isn’t yours to carry?

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

Welcome back babes to another episode of Making Her History — the space where women stop shrinking, share their truths, and turn their moments into roars.

Today’s guest is Annie Cullen — a high school art teacher, professional fine artist, and Doctor of Education (EdD) who’s blending research, creativity, and real-life lived experience to create safer, more human spaces for students and adults.

Annie’s story is full of pivots (and bold detours): from moving to New York City with a paper resume and portfolio, to wedding photography, to the classroom, to earning her doctorate in May 2024 — not to “move on,” but to better serve the kids she sees every day.

This conversation is about so much more than art class. We talk about confidence as a muscle, why relationships shape resilience, what trauma-informed care actually looks like in everyday moments, and how wellness can be as simple as breathing, boundaries, and learning to be kinder to yourself in real time.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why Annie pursued her doctorate so her ideas would be taken seriously — and used locally to help students
• How art becomes a safe space for teens because it’s expressive and not performance-based
• The role of one supportive adult as a resilience factor for kids experiencing adversity
• A practical, research-backed approach to confidence building (especially for teens)
• Why “self-care” doesn’t need to be big — sometimes it’s breathing, unclenching your jaw, and saying no
• The need for more spaces where men can experience softness, creativity, and support too
• How Annie’s fine art, workshops, and Wellness Wednesday content all connect under one mission: helping people exist with more compassion, autonomy, and agency

Connect with Annie Cullen

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annie.cullen.artist/

If you loved this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little more support, softness, and permission to be human.

Subscribe to Making Her History so you don’t miss the next story.

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

If you’ve ever thought, “My life isn’t dramatic enough to matter,” this conversation is for you. Because you’ve been taught to measure worth by spectacle instead of truth.

This episode is a reclamation of the ordinary. Of the quiet pivots. Of the chapters that didn’t explode but still changed everything. It’s an invitation to stop waiting for your story to feel impressive and start seeing it as valuable now.

What This Episode Holds
• Why so many women don’t struggle to tell their story — they struggle to believe it’s worth hearing
• The truth about trauma and why it is not the entry fee for storytelling
• How authority has been wrongly tied to suffering instead of lived experience
• Why ordinary moments and subtle identity shifts are often the most connective stories
• How perfection and polish quietly disconnect us from real resonance
• What changes when you stop hoarding your life and let it matter in real time

Who This Episode Is For
• Women who feel like their story isn’t “enough” yet
• Women tired of believing they need trauma, polish, or expertise to be worthy
• Women craving deeper connection without performance
• Women navigating visibility, identity, and self-trust
• Women ready to stop shrinking and start owning the life they’re actually living

If this episode stirred something in you, you’re invited to take the next step in a way that feels grounded and supportive. Download the Tell Your Story Firestarter, a free resource to help you pull the threads of your story in a way that feels true.

You can also book a 30-minute vibe check — a no-pressure conversation to talk through what you’re building, what’s asking to be said, and what’s next. Book it here: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

Be sure to follow and subscribe to Making Her Story so you don’t miss future conversations rooted in truth, identity, and becoming.

Your story doesn’t need to be louder, darker, or more impressive to matter. It matters because it’s yours. Let this be an ordinary moment where you stop playing small and start recognizing your life, exactly as it is, as leadership, identity, and legacy.

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

Motherhood changes everything — including the way you see yourself when you catch your reflection on a random Tuesday and don’t recognize the woman staring back. If you’ve ever felt lost in the “sweats and survival” season, this one is a reminder that finding your style isn’t about vanity.

It’s about coming home to yourself. About redefining your normal. About being seen — by you first.

What This Episode Holds
• The identity shift that happens after kids and why it can feel like whiplash
• Why getting dressed can be a form of self-care, not performance or pressure
• How “influencer culture” can turn into overbuying, overwhelm, and a closet full of clothes you don’t even like
• What it looks like to rebuild style with intention, sustainability, and self-trust
• Erica’s journey from CPA to full-time stylist — and what it takes to choose the path you actually want
• The truth about style after motherhood: it’s not about trends, it’s about how you want to feel in your own life

Who This Episode Is For
• Moms who feel like they lost themselves somewhere between diapers, deadlines, and survival mode
• Women who want to feel confident in what they wear without chasing trends or buying more random shit online
• Women craving a “new normal” that feels like them — not who they were before kids
• Women who want to feel seen in their clothes again, without pressure to be a “fashion girl”
• Women ready to choose themselves in small, tangible ways that actually change everything

Resources & Next Steps
If Erica’s story hit home and you’re ready to start reconnecting with your style:

• Follow Erica on Instagram: The Wardrobe Staple — https://www.instagram.com/the.wardrobe.staple/
  
  
• Take the free Iconic Mom Style Quiz — https://www.thewardrobestaple.com/quiz

If you enjoyed this episode, follow Making Her Story, leave a five-star review, and stay close. More feral stories from female CEOs are coming.

You don’t have to become someone new to feel good in your skin again. You get to rebuild from where you are — in this season, in this body, in this life. And if style is part of how you find yourself again, you deserve that too.

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min

Most women aren’t afraid to tell their story.
They’re afraid to tell the version that would change how people see them.

In the first episode of 2026, Ashley Crabb opens Making HERstory by calling out the real reason women keep editing, softening, and swallowing their truth. This is not an episode about content tips or marketing hacks. This is a conversation about story as identity, leadership, authority, and legacy.

Ashley breaks down why polished stories don’t create connection, why perfection kills resonance, and why your story doesn’t need to be fixed or validated before it’s worthy of being heard. This episode is a reminder to stop telling the safe version of your story and start telling the one that actually creates transformation.

This Episode Is For You If:

• You’re tired of showing up as a polished, palatable version of yourself.
• You feel called to share your story but are afraid of being misunderstood.
• You’ve been told your story needs to be cleaner, clearer, or more impressive to matter.
• You want to build trust, authority, and connection without betraying who you are.
• You’re ready to stop shrinking and start owning your lived experience.

Inside This Episode, We Talk About:

• Why stories aren’t the longest way to a point, but the shortest way to memory and transformation
• Why no one connects to perfection, only recognition
• How editing your story kills your authority and magnetism
• Why you don’t need more credentials, a bigger platform, or outside validation
• How telling your story with rooted audacity and feral realness builds trust, leadership, and movement

Your story doesn’t need to be more.
It doesn’t need to be less.
It doesn’t need to be fixed.

You need to fucking own it

Available now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube!

If you’re ready to stay feral, hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, drop a 5-star review, and share this podcast with the women who need it most. Tag @itsashleycrabb so Ashley can hype you up and keep this fire going.

RESOURCES + LINKS

Website

Book a 30-Minute Vibe Check with Ashley

Download Ashley's The Tell Your Story Firestarter

Download Ashley's The Entrepreneur’s Story-Driven Experience Method

Follow Ashley on Instagram

RESOURCES + CONNECTION:

Find Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsashleycrabb/

Download the Tell My Story Firestarter: https://ashley-crabb.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Book a Vibe Check Call with Me: https://calendly.com/itsashleycrabb/30min