Ashleigh Larsen - Rebirth
This year at Nena & Co., we are highlighting one powerful and inspiring woman with each of our monthly Heritage & Society launches. Each of our H&S bags has a beautiful meaning and inspirational story behind it, and we'd like to share these stories through women and their own unique experiences.
Weaving is a way of telling a history or story of the past and the present. Each symbol in a master weavers design can tell you of a religious belief, a bit about one's lifestyle, it can speak of the local terrain, or fables passed down from generation to generation. Each H&S design has a significant meaning that we feel needs to be told.
This collection was created to empower women in Guatemala by providing them with ethical wages and helping preserve the dying art of weaving that is a means to express herself and take pride in.
We want the message of taking pride in who YOU are to be passed along to woman in the USA and around the world! In an effort to redefine what beauty means, each Heritage and Society release will be represented by an unexpected iconic woman. Each Icon was chosen to help interpret the age-old symbolism on the each H&S bag and to help us apply that symbolism to our everyday life by sharing inspiring life changing experiences or everyday stories that we can all relate to. Sharing our personal journey can be the best way to help celebrate our uniqueness as women but also to share our commonalities.
I asked Ashleigh to be our Reborn Icon because the story she told me of her experience of going from a “yes man” to “growing a backbone”, as she puts it, really resonated with me. To me, Ashleigh is an everyday hero that most of us can relate to. Hers is a familiar coming of age story when she decided to shed an old thought process and take a new stance on life and what was important to her instead of others.
Here is her story:
Q: Tell us about your story and experience
A: When I was younger I always felt like I needed to say yes to everybody, even if it was at the cost of my own sacrifice. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and if I said no I felt like that that’s what I was doing!
I was also diagnosed with ADD ( attention deficit disorder) when I was younger, and when I got a little bit older I found out that I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome).
Later on in life the doctor said that I probably wouldn’t be able to have children! I went through 6 rounds of IVF. During my first round of IVF, I overstimulated severely and in the end had 10 Liters of fluid drained out of my abdomen. My kidneys were starting to fail and I was worried that I was going to lose my son and myself! Lots of prayer went into this and I just had to have faith that whatever happened was not in my hands.
I had that beautiful boy, and I wanted to have more children. I got pregnant with my second, Ava and I had placenta previa with her which is terrifying! My pregnancies were never easy! My Braxton Hicks started at 10 weeks with each of my children, so I was always very careful about the activities that I did. I had Ava via C-section and she was awesome! Then with Vivian, she decided to come at 36 weeks unplanned while David was driving home from Texas! I was in labor for 24 hours before I had to go to an emergency C-section! I did six runs of in-vitro, three frozen, and three fresh cycles. I was only able to get pregnant with the fresh cycles.
It wasn’t until I went through these and other trials in my life that led to me finally having children, that I developed a back bone!
Q: How does your story represent rebirth?
A: To me, rebirth represents a change in who you are. I know that after I became a Mom that I changed as a person. I couldn’t allow people to take advantage of me, because I wanted to teach my kids to not allow people to take advantage of them.
Q: How have you been able to move on or improve from your experience?
A: I have been able to take many things from my experience! It has made me a much stronger person, a much more patient person and I feel like anything that I have gone through that has been extremely hard has made me more well-rounded.
Q: What are the things that help keep you going on the hard days?
A: Honestly lots of prayer and self talk, exercise, and maybe even some snuggle time with my kids or our dog. I just look for natural endorphin pick-me-ups. But I also sometimes grab a quick Dr. Pepper to get a little caffeine boost.
Q: If you had one piece of advice to share, what would it be?
A: Put your big girl panties on, focus on what’s most important and just keep going!
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: So, I’m actually terrified of flying so if we go anywhere it’s usually to Disneyland with the kids. But, if I could go anywhere it would be Scotland, Ireland or Bora-Bora. I know, complete opposites. The reason why Scotland and Ireland, is that’s where my family is from. Bora-Bora, well...it just looks magical.
Q: What’s your favorite weekend activity?
A: We try to be really active with our kids, key word is “TRY”. Museum of Natural curiosity, bowling, riding bikes, swimming, etc. But we all know that those things take up a lot of energy. My absolute chill out favorite thing is hanging with my handsome husband and my kids, we love going to a movie and eating sushi!
Q: Describe your fashion/style and why you think Nena & Co. fits in to that style
A: During the week I’m usually pretty chill and I wear anything that’s comfortable such as Nike/Lululemon. On the weekends I dress up into something nicer. The nice thing about Nena is it goes with anything and complements anyone nicely! How I pick out my bag for the day is I either base it off of my personality, or how I’m feeling that day!