Ardore...The Story

No one had to convince Ashley of the gift that comes with having good friends. But it wasn’t until the late 90s, when working as a life coach in Australia, that she saw firsthand just how devastating isolation can be on a woman’s life. Ashley began to see a significant rise in the number of women seeking her services. Many of these women, in their quest for happiness, had relocated to the Aussie sunshine state of Queensland several months prior, only to find that instead of recapturing memories from happier times, they felt alone, depressed, and even more dissatisfied with their situation.

After an in-depth evaluation of her clients’ lives, it became apparent that a common thread was evident in each of the stories shared. For whatever reason, many of the women had been unable to form quality relationships with other women in their new environment, leaving them feeling disconnected.  Some even began to wonder if something was wrong with them.  Ashley soon identified that it wasn’t therapy or coaching these women needed, simply an avenue to connect with other likeminded women who were also interested in expanding their circle of friends. What started as a free service to help a few clients grew into one of the largest programs of its kind in the region, successfully helping to unite women of all ages for friendship based on mutual values and interests.

2001 was a year of change for Ashley, as she made an exciting move to the United States. Playing such a significant role in the lives of other women who had relocated, and being no stranger to moving internationally herself, the last thing Ashley imagined she would face as a challenge was making new friends! Yet only six short months after leaving her Australian home, Ashley found herself desperately missing the friends she left behind. Working long hours on establishing her company here in the States took her out of the loop of regular type of activities. Even when she did meet someone with whom she wanted to spend time, their lives were pretty much jammed packed too. This resulted in hearing a lot of “Let’s do coffee sometime.” But you know the deal, sometime never came.

T4M Club

So, to address this growing issue, Ashley established the T4M club in October 2001. An acronym for Time for Me, the philosophy of the group was to encourage women to take time out for themselves—to connect, laugh, come together, and enjoy quality friendships. Playing matchmaker, Ashley got to know each of the women who contacted her and connected them up with others that shared similar outlooks on life.

Within three years, the T4M CLUB had grown so significantly that it commanded its own website that allowed women in the region to keep up with regular activities and communicate with one another. The functionality of the site software was limited, as was the capacity that could access the website. As the group continued to receive requests from new members, it became clear that the T4M club had reached a significant milestone. We either had to accept that we’d reached maximum capacity, or bite the bullet and invest a significant amount of resources in building a more comprehensive community website—one without limits or geographical boundaries. After considerable planning with software architects WOW, World of Women, was launched in 2006.

WOW

The vision behind WOW was simple: To help women connect with the right people and the right information to help them create lives they love. As a result of the positive influence she had on so many lives, Ashley received of the Soroptomist International Making a Difference for Women Award for the South East Region in 2005, and WOW has been featured in multiple media publications.

“I always knew that WOW wasn’t about me. While I could address some of the needs of our members, I knew that WOW needed a core team of experts, who could continue to share up-to-date information with women in every area of their lives. In addition, I wanted to find a President for WOW. Someone that was a wonderful example of living life to the fullest, who was real, inspiring, and most of all as excited as I was about the possibilities of taking our vision to women around the globe. 

"I can’t remember the exact day or date that I met Jaylyn. We met over a business lunch to discuss a project for our other respective companies (Begin Communications and Strategic Trans4mations), but I had a gut feeling that somehow our lives were going to change exponentially as a result of that meeting.   It didn’t take long for me to ask Jaylyn if she would consider taking on the role of president and was thrilled when, in spite of her own crazy schedule she agreed and jumped into the position with enthusiasm and vigor,” Ashley said.

Rebranding WOW:

While at work, Jaylyn’s boyfriend was showing a friend the WOW website. Despite having been to the site numerous times, when he typed WOW into the search engine, multiple websites using a similar acronym popped up, and he was unsure of which to choose. Being a communication and branding expert, this raised a red flag for Jaylyn—if her boyfriend couldn’t find the site among all the other WOWs out there, how would other women?

Making the decision to rebrand the site to a less common name was easy, but finding a new name, one that held significant meaning for both Ashley and Jaylyn was slightly more challenging! Ardore, or feverish passion, felt so right for both of them. Six months and countless sleepless nights later, Ardore emerged under its new moniker with a cleaner and more streamlined appeal.

While much of the early years working on the WOW website was focused on building a powerful infrastructure that would allow women to find mentors and connect with others, both Ashley and Jaylyn wanted to take the Ardore company to a new level by introducing and building learning platforms that gives women access to life changing information in key areas of their life, e.g., business, career, finances, parenting, health and fitness, self-discovery, etc.

Additionally, Jaylyn, a U.S. Navy girlfriend of four years, and Ashley being the wife of an ex-naval officer, discerned that adding a military program was not only beneficial, but necessary. Heavily entrenched in the Hampton Roads community, (home to one of the largest naval bases worldwide), they’re aware of the great sacrifices military women make when supporting their significant others—sometimes sacrificing their dreams, goals, friends, locations, and more. For many women, this resulted in a decrease in their overall quality of life. Ashley and Jaylyn wanted to find a solution for them and created a place in the Ardore community where not only can they engage in social and educational experiences, but thrive.

Today, the company, ever focused on delivering quality products and services, continuously looks to add additional resources and improve on those currently in existence. According to Jaylyn “Our goal is to give women exactly what they need in a timely and convenient medium. Ashley and I often engage in day-long brainstorming sessions, ultimately resulting in 10 to 15 new ideas. The beauty of our company is that it allows for infinite areas of expansion and possibilities for the members, and we welcome their suggestions. It’s this autocalytic process of development and growth that drives us: the more we create, the more we and other women find rewarding, and thus the more we create. Each month Ardore grows in function and resources, correlating to the increase in the growth and happiness of women out there. In the end, that’s what it’s about.”