Ashley is widely known for her innovative use of social media to help promote herself as an artist and the causes she works with.

She attended college at the University of Dayton in Ohio where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in illustration. The university's attentiveness to social work and awareness ignited Ashley's interest in social issues which she married with her love of art and painting.

Upon her return to Louisville in 2005, after living in Brisbane, Australia for a short time, she started a website, ashleycecil.com, about art and activism. She also freelanced as an artist, which included private commissions and working with Women 4 Women to coordinate the street painting festival as part of the Champions 4 Her Walk/Run.

In February, 2008, Ashley accepted the offer to manage the Open Doors program at Louisville Visual Arts Association, and since then, the completed number of projects have doubled from the previous year. She hopes that, "in spite of the current economic situation we're facing, Open Doors will continue to expand, and we will partner with new nonprofit organizations to help us recruit under-served participants for community-art projects." Additionally she hopes to increase opportunities for professional artists to use their talent to enrich the lives of others through Open Doors and to be a conduit for creativity that serves populations in need.