Ashleigh King is a dynamic entrepreneur with a background in communications and a love for networking and all things media.
She is a passionate podcaster and public speaker based in the North East of England where she heads up the AK Creative Consultancy. The company offers a full range of services focused around podcasting and its promotion through digital marketing. Ashleigh also runs the Flamingo Heights Podcast Studio in Newcastle upon Tyne, where AK Creative is based. This is a welcoming, quirky, space in the creative Ouseburn area of the city with a sound-optimised studio for hire.
While Ashleigh has a colourful personality and fun outlook on life, she is also serious about business, having recently completed a Masters in Administration (MBA) from Newcastle University Business School. She always wanted to graduate with a Masters degree from Newcastle University, a Russell Group institution, where she worked for over a decade.
Unfortunately, her time at NUBS coincided with a global pandemic which made studying even more challenging, though Ashleigh is tenacious and would not let Lockdown deter her. Her dream was to graduate in the same hall where Martin Luther King received an honorary doctorate in 1967. Following working on a special project commemorating the 50th anniversary in 2017, this felt even more important. Ashleigh fulfilled this dream in November 22021.
From left to right: Ashleigh King and Fejiro Ovah – both former Presidents of the TEDx at Newcastle University Society. Ashleigh and Denise Jones record a podcast, during the ‘NUBS of it’ production for Newcastle University Business School. Fellow Executive Producer, Tim Lozinski of TL Multimedia is pictured in the background. Screen testing in the TL Multimedia Studio during the ‘NUBS of it’.
Ashleigh King – giving others a voice
Ashleigh has always had a gift of bringing people from all walks of life together, and loves to empower people to tell their stories. She believes everyone has something unique to contribute and something valuable to say.
This led her to work with various charities and participate in several community-empowerment events including Freedom City 2017. It also led to the launch of Ashleigh’s#NurtureYourZest podcast, recorded in studio, where she sought to give people a platform to tell their stories and let their voice be heard. An #MBAwithAsh podcast followed, chatting to students studying their MBA, and during Lockdown Ashleigh taught herself how to livestream, recording #NurtureYourZest #100Conversations via Zoom.
COVID-19 was not the only challenge Ashleigh faced in 2020. She also had to come to terms with a surprising diagnosis that she has ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is not always picked up, especially in women and it was a shock for Ashleigh to find this out in her 30’s. It certainly explained many things and today Ashleigh sees it as “a superpower“. Through her Chaos, Courage & Creativity Podcast she hopes to create awareness of neurodiversity, especially among women
Just before the start of the pandemic, Ashleigh traveled to attend TEDWomen in Palm Springs, California, to help secure a license for Newcastle University and she co-hosted the annual TEDxNewcastleUniversity ‘Imagine A World’ conference in April 2021.
Due to lockdown the event had to be delayed by a year and was eventually held virtually on the up and coming Hopin virtual event platform. All the TedxTalks had to be pre-recorded giving Ashleigh a major production challenge, however, she and her team pressed through and the event was attended by 300 delegates from 20 nations with over 2000 messages by chat posted during the LIVE stream.
After the conference Ashleigh worked at Newcastle University Business School where she helped to implement the ‘NUBS of It’ Podcast. During her MBA she also started working on a ‘Learn to Podcast Course’. This is all part of Ashleigh’s vision to assist businesspeople, coaches, charities etc to widen their audience via podcasting.
In November 2021 Ashleigh was nominated as a ‘Disruptor for Good’ in the Northern Power Women Awards. This is in recognition of her efforts to empower other women through, networking, advocating to raise awareness of trauma, and neurodiversity, and leading community events.
She has also been appointed by the Business & IP Centre Newcastle, as a Podcast Expert in Residence. Ashleigh joins a number of professional people who are available for a free half-hour consultation which could lead to access to funding whereby she guides her clients through the entire podcasting roll out process.
Ashleigh is married to Paul King, Co-Founder of Flow Software Solutions and they live in a quirky urban part of town in Newcastle upon Tyne.
From lef to right: Paul and Ashleigh King. Admiring Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Ashleigh is known as the creative entrepreneur with the pink hat.