Ashley is the founder of Startup Baddie and a strategic product lead and community curator for startups and brands navigating product fog, misalignment, or scaling friction. She helps early-stage and established teams design what’s needed next — whether that’s a feature, a launch, or an entirely new way of engaging the people they serve. Her work spans product, content, and community — always focused on building the right thing and getting teams aligned to deliver it.
Ashley is also a knowledge content creator, breaking down business concepts and future-of-work shifts in a way people can understand and apply. She’s the creator of Founders, Funders, Fractionals (F3), a hub for founders, investors, and fractional leaders exploring how work gets done: through clear roles, trusted people, and flexible ways of working.
Before founding Startup Baddie, Ashley spent a decade in product strategy and execution — including corporate finance work at JPMorgan and Prudential.
She holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a BS from Seton Hall. Offline, you can find her watching Bravo, sipping wine, or checking out the latest immersive pop-up experience.
Let’s face it, the old brand playbook is burning before our eyes.
Remember the phrase, “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see?” In 2025, that skepticism has only deepened, leaving many of us questioning who and what we can trust and what is real.
Edelman's 2025 Trust Barometer confirms that distrust of business and its leaders is at an all-time high. They reported that “68 percent of people globally feel that business leaders purposely mislead people by saying things they know are false or exaggerated.” While 6 in 10 people hold grievances against business, the majority still believe that, after non-governmental organizations (NGOs), business is the next most capable institution in “fighting divisiveness and repairing the social fabric.”
We see this in our daily lives. The technology behind AI is making photos and videos more realistic. Social media algorithms shift constantly and push people toward extremes. Platforms that once felt like places for discovery, connection, and information exchange now require vigilance and media literacy. It is not obvious how brands compete with that.
Community offers a path forward. It is time to reintroduce community, this time from a business lens, and why I believe the new playbook will require brands to build one or partner with one in 2026.
Let’s start with a simple question. What is community?
Merriam-Webster defines it as “a unified group connected by shared place, identity, interests, or purpose.” It describes the shared sense of belonging and fellowship that binds individuals together.
Put even simpler, and the way I define it in my own work, community is a group of people tethered by a shared understanding of something, whether that something is a profession, an interest, a challenge, or a goal, with the excitement that participants can feel seen, understood, and at home. When people are in an environment that reflects who they are and supports what they are working toward, their lives transform exponentially. I see this every time I bring people together inside F3, the community I built for founders, funders, and fractional leaders.
Too feel good for you? That is the biggest misconception. The idea that community is nice to have or soft. That it has no measurable value. That it sits outside of the core business. That it cannot contribute to the bottom line.
The truth is the opposite. Gen Z shows this clearly. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, nearly “60 percent of Gen Z feel a connection to people who use the same brands they do.” In the same story, Jess Xu, associate strategy director at Edelman, said that “brands have become extensions of identity. People do not want to be marketed to. They want to co-create.”
Over the last month, I have shared my belief with friends and colleagues that all brands, big and small, ranging from tech to consumer goods, should be creating or partnering with communities. Reactions vary, but most people end up asking the same thing: what does this have to do with the business?
Here is what I tell them. If communities are meant to support humans and understand their problems and pain points, and brands are meant to create solutions for them, why would it not be appropriate for brands to create opportunities for people to belong and for the brand to understand its audience better?
I call this The Community Flywheel Framework (TCFF). I believe offline interactions are how brands will stay relevant and competitive. It is the loop where belonging builds trust, trust reveals insights, and insights help brands stay close to shifting consumer behavior. TCFF works best in real-life (IRL) environments, delivering value to consumers and helping brands learn faster, stay ahead, and innovate with intention.
Ashley’s The Community Flywheel Framework for brand building.
What encourages me is that some brands are already leaning into this shift. Anthropic hosted its Claude Cafe in New York City (NYC) in October 2025, where attendees had an immersive experience with their products. More than 5,000 people attended, and the experience earned more than ten million impressions. Notion has NYC meetups where community members cowork and share real use cases. UNO turned pop-ups into cultural moments this past summer, transforming game nights into repeated IRL engagement.
There are other insights that illustrate why brands need to choose community and IRL activations in 2026. These are patterns I see repeatedly in my work:
People want support. Life is chaotic. Trust is fragile. When a brand creates a space that feels safe and human, people respond.
Community can gather people across the broadest or smallest intersections and still create value.
People are overwhelmed by constant connection and screen time and are actively looking to redirect their attention.
Business exists to solve human problems, but those problems get overlooked when leaders focus on everything except the customer. Community brings the focus back to the people at the center of the work.
As AI becomes a core way we source information, brands that win will be the ones closest to their communities. They cannot wait for outside reports to tell them what is changing. The brands that stay ahead will be on the ground listening for behavior shifts, recognizing patterns early, and using those insights to strengthen their products or create new opportunities.
Circle’s 2026 Community Trend Report reinforces this shift and adds supporting data:
Community now ties the entire customer lifecycle together.
People are discovering brands, learning from peers, and evaluating choices inside communities long before they hit the buy button.
48% percent of respondents say people first engage with a community before purchasing.
69% percent of businesses say community will be a bigger part of their 2026 strategy.
So how do you get community and IRL activations to work?
Here is what I have learned building F3 and supporting people through community experiences. These principles are where brands should start as they think about making this work for them:
Design them intentionally. When you decenter your brand and reconnect to the problem you solve, you create space for trust. People do not want to be sold to. They want to be connected with. Connection builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty drives purchase.
Accept that community is an active experience. Whether you are an individual or a company building community, you have a responsibility to help your members succeed.
Rethink what an event can be. People are tired of showing up only to hear someone talk. What most IRL experiences lack is space to apply knowledge and connect with others. This is where creativity matters.
If AI is leveling the playing field and adding noise, the brands that win will not be the ones shouting the loudest online. They will be the ones closest to the ground, listening, learning, and creating spaces where people feel connected.
Community is not charity. It is a better way to do business. If people are discovering brands, shaping opinions, and making decisions inside communities, then brands that invest in IRL connections will always have a competitive advantage. The brands that embrace this now will shape the next era of consumer behavior.
You can subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Startup Baddie, here and check out her URL and IRL events in the NYC/NJ area.