Meet The Person:

Ashley Pompei. Director of Marketing and Business Development, Montgomery Mall.

Professionally, Ashley enjoys working behind-the-scenes in the shopping center environment. She has been working in the shopping center industry for almost six years with a degree in Marketing from Millersville. As the Marketing Director, she gets to bring ideas to life and gets to work with all kinds of people with always evolving projects. She enjoys working in an industry where people can come to have fun and de-stress with the company of their friends or family for a leisurely activity of shopping.

As a kid and teenager, Ashley enjoyed spending many weekends at this same mall. Now that she is working here as the Marketing Director, it really has come full circle for her. She gets to work on new things, like the big redevelopment project that is currently under way. It’s cool for her to see things evolve from start to finish, with a lot of moving parts and countless details in between. Not many people get to work in an industry that they consider a “hobby,” so she feels fortunate to do something that she also thinks is “fun” at the same time.

Personally, Ashley’s family and friends are the most important things in the entire world. Without those certain special people in her life, she wouldn’t be the same person and she loves each and every one of them in so many different ways. She tries to take a few moments to stop and look back on her life and the specific memories and reflect on those because she realizes just how lucky she is to have some many wonderful people in her life. She likes to look at old photos, reminisce about past vacations or just laugh from retelling stories to help keep her down to earth and makes her appreciate life for what it is. Thinking about all of those things keeps Ashley excited for what the future has to hold an what kind of new memories will be created.

Ashley also enjoys wine (when she is not pregnant) trying new beers (thanks to her brother, Jeremy) good food, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Dairy Queen blizzards, pedicures and foot massages, the beach (she would take any beach but has a particular love for the Outer Banks of North Carolina since she grew up going there, was engaged there and got married there,) her sweetheart dog Cali and as noted above, shopping and fashion. She also likes interior design stuff and sometimes working out and running when she can get into a groove. Maybe someday she will join her husband and run a marathon...maybe. Summer is her favorite season followed by a close second to fall, mainly because it leads into Christmas (her favorite time of year!) She also likes to entertain and throw a good party, an attribute she got from her Mom and she also appreciates the beauty of nature and music, which she inherited from her Dad.

Being a mom and a wife is something that Ashley always wanted to do and she hit the jackpot being able to share her life with Nick and Cooper. With a new baby on the way, she cannot wait for Cooper to have a brother or sister and she hopes they can form a bond that only siblings can create and endure. She loves watching Cooper every day as he comes up with something new and watching the little wheels turn in his head. It is challenging and scary at times to raise a child, but she trusts she is doing the best she can. She loves her family and her ultimate goal in life is to have the same kind of relationship with our children the way Nick and I are both lucky enough to have with each of our parents.

From Ashley “I always go by the old adages, ‘life’s too short’ and ‘everything happen for a reason’. I know they are both so cliché but that is what I believe. Life is too short to worry and stress about little, meaningless details. Have fun and create your own happiness with what you’ve been given and try not to take things too seriously. If something bad happens, yes, it sucks and can be devastating, even life altering at the time, but there is a plan for everyone and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to in the end.”

Influence 51/52Ashley Pompei 7 months pregnant and looking more beautiful than ever

Influence: 

Ashley. Ash. Babe. Honey. Hun. Sweetie. Wife. Mom.

I know that I had said that with this project, the numbers or weeks didn’t matter. Just because you were week XX, did not mean you were the XX most important person to me. Every person has a special place in my life. However, this week is different. This is it, numero uno. My wife, the most important person in my life. There are just so many angles in which I could go in this write up. I could talk for days about our first summer together. It was easily the best time of my life. I could talk about our time in college together and all of those great memories. I could talk about life after college, getting our first apartment together, buying our house, having our son, etc. etc. etc. But I honestly feel as though all of that may fall on some deaf ears. Many times, people don’t want to hear the mushy stories and could really care less. And I get that. So, while trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say to best represent my wife, I was digging through my old shoe box that contains dozens and dozens of letters, notes, cards, and other little things from our time together since we started dating way back in 2001. And before I even got to start digging, I found it - the letter she wrote to me right before our son Cooper was born in April of 2012. The letter was awesome and she said so many wonderful things about me. I had it written down before but realized maybe it was best kept between us.

Here's a fun story on when we were out on our first or second real date. We were out having dinner and I mentioned to Ashley how I really didn't want a girlfriend and that I was hoping to just be good friends. I didn't want to get stuck in another long term relationship and really didn't want it to end bad. So I threw that out there. It was funny because she replied with nearly the same thing. Saying that she didn't mind that either. Well I think I blinked and it's over 13 years later! Not sure how that happened but I know one thing for sure - I am so damn glad it all worked out like it did! These last 13 years have easily been the best years of my life. I cannot imagine how my life could really be any different and just how different it would be without her. My life rocks and so does my wife! 

 My life is complete with you and it only gets better every day. I luve you so much Ashley!