This Future Nurse Traveled solo to 14 countries - Ep.47
Ashleigh served as a surface warfare officer in the US Navy for 6 years. After separating in August 2019, her plans of attending Yale School of Nursing’s CNM program abruptly changed. Out of the Navy and out of a job, Ashleigh used the unexpected gap year to travel throughout Africa and Europe - all thanks to the FIRE movement. Ashleigh will start Yale’s Graduate Entry Pre-specialty in Nursing program in Fall 2020.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy (00:00): Oh right. Nurses on Fire. I have the honor of having Ashleigh Evans join us today. Hey Ashleigh, how are you?
Ashleigh Evans (00:11): What's going on Naseema, how are you, I'm excited to be here.
Naseema McElroy (00:15): I am really happy to talk to you even though these are some crazy times and I know I've been like on an emotional roller coaster and you know I have a lot of stability in my life, but you know with you going through a major transition, which we'll talk about in a little while, it has to be really trying. But before we get into what's going on with your current situation, I want you to share your story of just like your background and why nursing became important for you and what you saw yourself doing as a nurse or being as a nurse because you're a future nurse. You will be a nurse very soon. So let's talk about what you've been doing professionally these last few years and what you want to be doing relatively soon.
Ashleigh Evans (01:15): Okay. So I'm gonna try not to take it too far back. But my mom was a single parent nurse in the Navy. When I went to college, I went to college on a ROTC scholarship. So basically, you know, and there is a nursing program for this as well, but the Navy will pay for you to go to college if you serve your time back. But I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be an OB GYN. So I didn't do the nurse Corps scholarship and I was a biomedical engineer for my undergrad. And then when I became a senior and it was time to service elect or I choose my field, the way it works is you request what field you want to go into and then they come back and tell you what field you're going to go into. So I requested to go, you know, it's a medical school cause I wanted to be a doctor and the Navy was like, no, you're going to drive ships. Yes. That's, that's how that went down. So I was a surface worker officer I drove ships for six years
Ashleigh Evans (02:17): and it was rough. It was not the field for me, but what ended up happening is I got mixed in with a doula here in Jacksonville, Florida and she took me to my first home birth and then I started researching midwifery school and then I found Yale and I remember calling her in July of 2017 and being like, Hey, Yale has a nursing program for midwives. And she, I remember her looking at me and saying, you're, you're going to be a midwife. Like I can see it, I can feel it. You're going to be a midwife. And then I got the opportunity to visit the campus and I met two other women of color minorities and they like let me tag along with the whole day. And I just followed them like this little puppy dog and I left that campus and I said, I'm going to be a nursing student at Yale.
Ashleigh Evans (03:11): Like I saw it, I felt it and it was just, it fed this part of my soul that I hadn't felt since I had been in the Navy and it was just fate. As soon as I left the campus and July of 2017 I was like, I'm going to be a student at the school one day. And then the opportunity came and going to Yale.
Naseema McElroy (03:31): So you got into Yale in 24 the 2018 school year, correct?
Ashleigh Evans (03:37): For the 2019 school year.
Ashleigh Evans (03:40): Oh yeah. Yeah. For the 2019 school year you got accepted into Yale and what happened? Did you start right away?
Ashleigh Evans (03:50): I did not start right away. What happened? I still ask myself what happened. So in July of 2019 about six weeks before I was supposed to start school, the particular ship that I was on was like a brand new ship. I mean like I'm sailing it from Wisconsin through the great lakes to Florida because it had just been built and the shipyard in Wisconsin, so we come out of Wisconsin, we sailed through the great lakes, we get to Montreal, Canada, and just this freak accident is like super unfortunate series of events. We ended up hitting another ship and my CO was fired, useful and back to the States. Craziest. I've been in my life going back to the States and we get this new CO and the CO is a captain and you know he's the one in charge of the ship. It's July. My plan is, it's the end of June.
Ashleigh Evans (04:47): My plan is on August 3rd we have this huge ceremony for the Navy to commission the ship. And then I am like leaving that day I was a commissioning coordinator so it was kind of like my ceremony, you know, carry out this ceremony is going to be a huge day and then I'm flying out to get ready to start school that day. That was the plan that I had come to agreement with with the previous CEO. And it's news to you. Where he was coming from was like, you know, I'm just getting to the ship. You just got an accident. I don't know. You know, I don't know anything. But he was like, no, you're not going. No. And it's like six weeks before school starts. And the reason why it was terrifying was because the way the Navy works is you have to request to get out of the Navy a year in advance. My request to get out was already approved. I was getting out of the Navy regardless, and my plan was to go to school. My income would come from the GI bill. So you know, my plan to live was going to be go to school, get GI money, you know, become a nurse and now I'm getting out in that plan is gone. My income has gone. Like there was no, there was nothing, you know,
Naseema McElroy (06:06): wait, how away really? How like by you going to nursing school, you forfeited that or how did that go away?
Ashleigh Evans (06:15): Okay, so it did it go away. Like I still have my GI bill, but you can't get that money if you're not going to school. Every time you get GI benefits, you know, you have to tell them like, I am taking courses this semester. You have to give them proof that you are in school. So they don't just give you the money. You have to tell the VA, Hey, I am attending this school for this semester. And then they'll give you the money monthly, you get a monthly stipend.
Naseema McElroy (06:43): So he told you that you can't leave, but you had orders to already that like it was already in the works for you to leave.
Ashleigh Evans (06:52): So this is a technicality called separation leave. Right. So you not hold me pass my separation date, but it's kind of like paid time off. You can tell me if I could take paid time off or not. Once I quit the job, you know, once my two weeks notice is over was over, I'm, I'm out. But until that point, he still controls like when I can actually leave. So my date of August 3rd he didn't approve my separation, the date he actually approved the date of August 16th but school started August 19th and I still needed to find a place to stay and buy books and you know, get there. So he didn't say I couldn't go to Yale. He just said you can't leave when you're planning to leave. And that kind of effectively.
Naseema McElroy (07:40): Oh, okay. So that left you and a very interesting position because all your plans, like not only did you get into like this tragic accident, but now your whole plans are flipped upside down. So at that point, what decision did you make?
Ashleigh Evans (08:01): So I remember like going back and forth, because he did give me a date of August 16th when school started August 19th and everybody was like, girl, you better get to Yale. Like you better make it happen. And I just coming from this, the experience of having, you know, hitting a ship and then, you know, still having to push on and get the ship to Florida just to roll into the ceremony. I was like, this is not how I want it to start my new life. This isn't how I wanted to get out of the Navy. This isn't how I wanted to start a nursing program. I'm so like, thank God for the FIRE movement. Because I had gotten into real estate, I had paid off my all my debt, you know, preparing for this transition. So I had saved maybe about 15 it's like $15,000 and I was just like, I'm out, I'm leaving.
Ashleigh Evans (08:48): You know, as soon as I get out of this organization I'm, I'm leaving the country. So my last day in the Navy was August 1st of 2019 and then I flew to Johannesburg was the first place I went to on September 11th and then I just traveled to like six different places in Africa. Um, and then I went to Europe or the reserves and I traveled like four or five places in Europe or something like that. Ended up being 12 countries, but I just traveled for four months.
Naseema McElroy (09:16): Hold on Ashleigh one second. I just want to ask you before we get into this extraordinary journey that you went on. Yeah. How often, how common is it for shifts to run into each other?
Ashleigh Evans (09:28): Not common at all. It was, it was a freak accident, so I thank God I wasn't on the bridge. Like I wasn't the one driving that day. But I do remember extraordinary current. The current was fast to the point where you could see like the white caps, like when you go whitewater rafting pilots, we were in Canada, the pilots didn't speak English. So there was a little bit of heightened anxiety. Yeah, I don't, I don't want to give too many details cause I know it's like sensitive to people who were in the Navy. But the tugs were what was holding us in a place and those tugs got away and within 10 seconds of those tugs getting away, we were alongside of the ship that was parked next to us. We were leaving and there was a shift more to the pier behind us and within 10 seconds. So those tugs getting away. We were alongside of the ship. It is not common. There's a sound that you play to let the ship know that you're about to run into something.
Ashleigh Evans (10:26): And if there'll be times where you can still hear it going off, you know, because it's just, it's the one sound that you never, never want to hear. Never want to hear. Yeah, it's, yeah, it was intense. I'm not gonna lie. It was a very bizarre period in life, but you couldn't, you couldn't take the time to grieve and kind of fill it in because like you still had to get to Florida, you know what I mean? It was very much your, your CO was gone. Like you still had to pick up and move on. Carry on. Cause yeah, the Navy doesn't stop.
Naseema McElroy (11:02): So the ship was okay. Like it was still drivable I to say that, but it wasn't enough damage that it was like the ship had to be totally decommissioned. Like it was fine enough to keep on going.
Ashleigh Evans (11:16): Yes.
Naseema McElroy (11:17): How about the other ship?
Ashleigh Evans (11:18): It was huge. So my ship is very, very small. Oh, okay. Okay. We didn't have damage to the point where there was like water intrusion. No one got hurt. So we got very, very lucky in that regard. The other ship had like this much paint, like a tiny amount of pain. Oh wow. You know, it was similar to like, I would say like a smart car hitting a like pickup truck. Honestly. Maybe even at 18 Wheeler. Got you. It was crazy. That's crazy. Okay. Well,
Naseema McElroy (11:54): I'm joking because I know everything was okay. Your ship was ultimately okay. It just caused a whole bunch of commotion and stirrup in the administration of your ship because obviously it was an incident that wasn't supposed to happen, but it totally thwarted all of your plans. Like just that little incident, that freak incident, thrawted your plans and you know, I'm always a believer in everything happens for a reason. It's kind of hard to hear, especially right now when these things are still affecting you right now. So you were supposed to start Yale nursing school in the fall of 2019 that was, that's a fall. Yes. Fall of 2019 but you had to postpone your admission, right? Or defer. Right?
Ashleigh Evans (12:41): Right. Yeah.
Naseema McElroy (12:42): So you decided to leave the Navy, you know, I'm like, forget it. Like I'm leaving, I'm not starting Yale. I'm going to defer a year, you know, I'm not staying here. I'm going to travel the world. So that's where we're at. So you went to how many different countries on $15,000
Ashleigh Evans (13:00): yeah. I was like, you know those kids traveling on a prayer that like hold those signs. I was one of them. I was not like that. I know went begging it in different countries because who does that? But I was balling on a budget. I was, I was traveling on a budget. I think it was, it was the 12 or 14 I think it was 14 to be honest.
Naseema McElroy (13:22): Okay. So yeah. So you just decided to travel like first of all, like why did you decide like this is going to be your gap year and why did you decide on all the places that you went?
Ashleigh Evans (13:34): I cannot tell you why I wanted to go to, I just wanted to go to Africa and I know people get like kind of bristly about the word Africa's cause they're like, it's not a country, it's a continent. But I didn't know anything about Africa at the time. The only place I had been was Morocco, which I did go back to. But I want to go back to Morocco. Like, I just, there was something about Africa, I don't know where it came from. And it was like, that's where I needed to be. Um, and I had wanted to travel solo while I was in the Navy and I kind of had problems with like the security of different places and you know, we have like secret clearances and top secret clearances and stuff like that. So there's all kinds of hoops and paperwork you have to fill out.
Ashleigh Evans (14:18): And I was having problems, you know, traveling alone when I was active duty. So there was just something about it that was like, Ashleigh, you have to go here alone, you have to do this by yourself. The plan was to go to Cape town for my first like place, but they're a riot. They're riots and Johannesburg at the time. And Cape town, there was this girl who had been, you know, very brutally murdered just a couple months before and they were, there were huge protests about this girl femicide and, um, it just wasn't a place that I wanted to be by myself. So I went to Victoria, falls in Zambia, fell in love, had amazing time, just a beautiful time. Livingston in Zambia. Victoria falls in Zimbabwe. I did two nights on, um, in a Safari in Botswana. Then from Botswana, I went to Namibia and had the time of my life and just found pieces of myself that I didn't know existed and just found joy in grace and friendship and love and just had a blast. And then I caught a cold. So I went home for a couple of weeks.
Ashleigh Evans (15:33): Yeah. As soon as my mom heard like the slightest rattle in my throat, she was like, Ooh, come home. It's time you gotta come. It's time to come back. She's like, Barry, she doesn't like me being far away. It was time for me to go back. I flew into Spain, which is where I went to high school. So that was kind of like a home played for a little bit. Mmm. Who went to Spain, went to Morocco and then Morocco to Italy, Italy to France, France to Amsterdam. And then I went home and I just got tired. Wow. And then I went back one more time to Italy and then I went to Zanzibar and Kenya and then I was done.
Naseema McElroy (16:15): Oh wow. And this was from September 11th to when,
Ashleigh Evans (16:21): so Naseema and I met in March. This was like literally maybe a week and a half before. Yeah, maybe.
Naseema McElroy (16:28): Wow. Oh my goodness. Wow. I guess I didn't realize all that stuff happened before
Ashleigh Evans (16:37): you were seeing me like rush out of coming through it.
Naseema McElroy (16:40): Wow. Wow. So what is the like coming from the military and just like, I can just, I'm assuming it's very strict and very regimented coming from that to just traveling the world alone. What was that like?
Ashleigh Evans (16:59): I've never thought of it like that. It was great to be honest. There's so many kind of, uh, social norms that the military has and just being able to break those social norms was, you know, amazing. You know what I mean? So I remember having this experience of, one of the hoops that I had to jump through to travel was I had this boss and he was like, I don't think you should travel solo. I don't think you should go by yourself. And I went to Toby, I went to a Safari by myself and I'm like sitting in this tent at night and I can hear like the lions and that whole offense like around me and just being by myself in like this national park and I can hear lions and all of these actual things that can kill me going around, Hey, but I'm here on my own fruition and all my own autonomy and I'm here because I made this decision and I had never felt so in control and in charge of my own autonomy. And I've just like terrified and in love at the same time. Like, you know, I'm super scared, but just the fact that I am, I'm scared of something that I did like that makes no sense. But that's how I felt like I felt in charge. That's how I felt.
Naseema McElroy (18:24): Yeah. The feeling, the words that are coming up when you're describing those feelings to me sounds like it just feels like liberation maybe for the first time in your life. And that's just what it was coming up for me. But liberation is something that you had kind of started working towards because you said during this time when you were on your ship that you were working towards financial independence, you had discovered the fire movement. Tell me about that and what you had done to save all this money to go on this trip.
Ashleigh Evans (18:56): So FIRE finances has always kind of been my kind of outfit. Great. Because there there's something that you can control. So I first started with real estate. I remember kind of looking at myself in the mirror. I think it was 24 at the time. I had been in the Navy for about a year and I just remember being like, very Ashleigh, this will be the first and the last job that you work for money. The next time you work a job, it's going to be because you want to be there. Not because you are paying someone back or because you need the money. Like this debt. And I met this stranger. I was stationed in Washington state at the time. He was a guest at my church and I was like, wow. Hey bro, are you a millionaire? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, I'm trying to be a millionaire too.
Ashleigh Evans (19:46): I'm trying to be a millionaire by 30 and he's like "bet" bring all the money that you have. All of it, meet me in Atlanta and I'm 24 and dumb. And I'm like, okay. And I did that. I brought all of my money, which was $5,000 and I met this band that I met at my church one time. Basically he told me to meet him at the courthouse steps and he taught me how to buy a tax lien and that was my first rental property and that's how I became a landlord. And then, you know, life goes on. I bought my second house, I learned how to hire property managers, I did my first rehab and basically real estate was teaching me how to be my own boss and kind of learn how to run my own business. And it gave me that outlet from the Navy.
Ashleigh Evans (20:41): I guess I'm a bit of a rebellious person cause I've always needed something that I could call my own. I'm going through this organization, so become a landlord. I ended up getting my two tenants and then 2018 happens right before I'm about to apply to Yale. And that's when, you know, my life kind of takes me into this place where it's like, yo, you're getting out of the Navy in August of 2019 you, you're, you're about to apply for Yale. You need to, you need to pay off your debt because you're, you're leaving this organization. So I'm like, but bet, it August of 2018 and about $30,000 in debt. I have two houses that I have like no emergency fund for. I'm like, I need to pay all this stuff off. So I get a roommate, sell my car, like bumming off of people's cars. And it took me about six months before I paid off all 30,000 in debt. And then while I was in Wisconsin getting a ship, that's how I saved the $15,000 because I had no debt and that's when, you know, we hit a ship and everything kind of figured out from there.
Naseema McElroy (21:45): So you are kind of on your path to starting your path toward financial independence with your real estate. When did you like actually discover though that there are these people out there that were part of, you know, this fire movement?
Ashleigh Evans (22:00): November of 2016 I was, so the way tax liens works is like you have this grace period before you get the property and then once you get the property it's yours. And I had to, you know, rehab it and Paula Pant was not as big as she was now. She was still kind of talking about real estate and um, I think she was on like house number three or four. But she had just had Doug Nordmann on her show. Doug Norman's daughter was also in the Navy and we were in power school together. We were stationed together and when I started talking to his daughter, that's when I kind of discovered like this whole thing, like this is a thing, FIRE, there are people in this and they do this thing. I think the next year after I had met Doug Norman's daughter is when I went to my first Camp FI and they looked at my finances. They were a mess. And that's kind of when I, you know, realized that I could retire early. And I could, you know, there were people who could help me through this and that's when I became a part of the community because it's a dope community and I meet dope people like you and I love it.
Naseema McElroy (23:11): So I have mentioned camp five before I was, I actually attended my first campfire this January and it was a wonderful experience. I was actually a speaker there, so it was great. But the community, I mean even though I was a speaker, it was just like speaking to like your classroom, like your, your, your class. Like when you're in school and it's not like I'm like above everybody else. It's like I'm a student just like everybody else. We're all learning and growing together. Everybody's in solidarity, working towards one common goal and everybody's genuinely there to help you. And you're alongside of pretty influential people in the personal finance space. People who have done some amazing things and have amazing platforms, but at the end of the day are just there to learn like you and share space and karaoke and drink and hang out and camp and do all these fun things just to get to know people on an individual level. And so if you're interested in personal finance and fire and you are a little bit intimidated by maybe you know, reaching out to someone on different platforms or going to a big event like FinCon, which is really only if you have a platform camp is definitely where it's at. So just Google campfire, I always forget what the website is.
Naseema McElroy (24:37): You know what for as influential as Camp FI is in itself, it's pretty like low key and pretty like low tech. You'll find it and you'll say it's really the thing that everybody's raving about. Yeah, that's it. That's it. So yes, I too, it's a camp which I, you know, adamantly say black people don't camp. And you know, obviously me and Ashleigh are both black women.
Ashleigh Evans (25:07): The camp you have to go to.
Naseema McElroy (25:09): Yes it is. The camp that you have to go to. All right, so you've traveled the world, you've experienced that. You're planning to start nursing school this fall, fall 2020 at Yale, big ups to you, Ashleigh, for not only getting into Yale, but being phenomenal enough to turn this tragedy into triumph and using it to pay it off all this debt, saved all this money, and now you traveled the world.
Naseema McElroy (25:38): You found parts of yourself that you didn't even know existed, and now you're back in the States and you are prepping to go to Yale, which is not just going to yell. It's like situating your life in Connecticut. It's buying a house, it's getting a job. It's all of the things. And like you said, we met in March and you know, super excited. You're super excited. I'm super excited for you. I'm like following along this journey. And then lo and behold, two weeks later, no COVID had already hit.
Ashleigh Evans (26:19): Yeah. We probably shouldn't have done it to be honest.
Naseema McElroy (26:22): Exactly. So COVID had already hit, we were already scheduled to go to this conference in Cincinnati,
Ashleigh Evans (26:31): which was amazing. It wasn't a really good conference.
Naseema McElroy (26:33): Yes, it was an amazing conference. So, and it was the first week of March, I traveled from Oakland to Cincinnati to attend this conference.
Ashleigh Evans (26:45): Uh, Ashleigh traveled to attend this conference. It was an amazing conference. By the time we got back home though, S got real. And that's when like the next week or so people started announcing shelters in place, you know, things started going, uh, Costco, you know, lines got crazy. Toilet papers started going missing. Like it was really it, you know, that's when the stuff hit the fan and everybody in the world has been impacted by this. And the scary part about it is we don't know what our next week is going to be like. So many people have lost jobs. There's been so much instability just we have to stay home. The way that people work, live, spend time with family, see each other has totally been interrupted and everything has been shifted and there's so much uncertainty that nobody knows what's going on. And here you are with your car packed from your mom's house about to drive to Connecticut. Right. So yeah, you were on your way to New Haven, like literally getting ready to go. You call your real estate agent in New Haven. And what does she say?
Ashleigh Evans (28:12): So before I called the real estate agent, I had messaged another student and at Yale, because I had my job interview was supposed to be there. This was on a Monday, my job interview was at Friday and I'm like, is Yale open right now? And she's like, no, do not come here. It is not open to your clothes. So I emailed my, the people I was supposed to have my interview with and I'm like, Hey, is my job interview still this week? And they're like, no, we're rescheduling all job interviews online. So you know, I'm literally, I texted her probably around midnight cause I was supposed to get on the road earlier that day and I put it off. Um, but I'm supposed to be on the road. I was supposed to be on the road, I took a nap. It's about midnight. My plan is to get on the road and like three, four hours as soon as possible because I'm supposed to meet my realtor that Thursday. And once I, once it kinda hit me like Ashleigh, like it is not responsible to go, I kind of put it off and I avoided my realtor for maybe like six hours, cause I have like three houses that I was supposed to see. And I wrote back and I was like, I'm sorry dude, I have to bail. Like the day that I was supposed to leave was a day that we were, you know, people were like, it's irresponsible not to shelter in place and we need to start hunkering down. So I'm still in Florida. Yeah. Mmm. But I'm going to probably next week now that I got the job and they deemed it essential and I'm going to leave next week and I started on the 4th of May.
Naseema McElroy (29:51): So we're recording this on April 20th happy four 24 you guys who partake, I don't know how much you're going to be doing that right now, but Hey to each his own. So you're leaving now to go to new Haven to start your new life. But this is still amid pretty questionable ties be in a lot of uncertainty because you and we've all seen in the news at multiple schools have decided not to reopen in the fall. And so you're starting in the fall and not only that, you're under contract on a house there, you're starting this job there and so you are ready to shift your life to be a nursing student at Yale, but you don't necessarily know what it's going to that's going to look like if it's even a possibility. So like what feelings does that bring up for you right now?
Ashleigh Evans (30:50): I don't even know how to feel, but I'm not even gonna lie to you. What I try to do, so there's like it, there's two parts of me, right? Like part of me is trying to keep it in perspective. Like you are a nurse like you, your life is on the line, right? I am still sitting in a very fortunate position. It is a privilege that I am focused on when I'm going to start school and not am I going to give this virus to my loved ones? Am I going to catch the virus myself? Like, am I going to be Covids next victim? So I'm still grateful. I still need to put gratitude at the forefront because this is still a very good position to be in. You know, I am safe, my family's safe, everyone's safe. But at the same time, like I would be lying if I said there isn't a sense of frustration just with the situation at large, you know, coming from a military family, coming from the military myself, I should be alongside you guys right now.
Ashleigh Evans (31:55): I should be, you know, part of the fight. Okay. It is very weird to sit here and watch people die and not be able to do anything to help that. Um, so I would be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating to contribute to some way, shape or form because I would already be in nursing school right now. Um, so that's where we're at. Yale hasn't released an official statement yet. We kind of, you know, I had already had a big sister assigned to me because I was supposed to start last year we were talking and she was like, look, don't play it on them to start on time because it's a hazard to the faculty. The faculty is over 65 so they're a high risk population. So she was like, you know, made plans to start our online. I don't know how you do your nursing school online. Like how do you do clinicals? I don't know. So
Naseema McElroy (32:45): there are no clinicals by the way. No hospitals open to clinical. There's no students in the hospitals at all. It's only essential personnel. Right. And then who knows when that's going to be lifted. So even the structure of how most nursing programs are set up and have been set up for, forever has totally been interrupted, is totally different. So yeah, it's just so much like change for everybody.
Ashleigh Evans (33:18): And then to like add, you know, another factor to the mix. A lot of the midwives who teach a Yale are still practicing. A lot of them went to New York, you know, to go help with the midwifery shortage that they're experiencing over there. So there's, you know, part of it is like they don't even have time to think about the upcoming year because they're still working. Like they, you also are part of the team that's fighting coven. Everything. Everybody's lives have been appended. And you know, again, like I'm in a fortunate position because, you know, there are certainly worse places to be, but I have no idea what's going to happen at all. I have no idea what's going to happen in August and I don't know what's going to happen in December. I may be living in this, I planned a house hack, you know, I'm maybe living in this four bedroom house by myself. I don't know which, you know, I try to keep the gratitude at the focus, like worst places to be worst places to be. Thank God for financial independence because, you know, it's not a financial concern. I'm okay financially and that's a blessing. That is a great reason to consider financial independence. But yeah, the uncertainty, it's rough, you know? No one likes not feeling like they have control over their own life. Especially me. I hate that.
Naseema McElroy (34:41): Yeah. The personality type of somebody who typically is on this journey of being financially independent is one of control because a lot of it obviously the independence part, the freedom aspect, the control to do what you want on your terms is particularly, um, uh, like exactly. And it's just like, it's part of like who we are. It's ingrained in like our personality types and so being in control and kind of knowing what your next moves are and anticipating those next moves. Planning for the unexpected, but you know, anticipating in advance and having things planned out. It's kind of how we operate and not having any kind of locus of control like at all at all. You have no control is devastating. I mean like not saying that it's different for anyone else, but I'm just saying like with personality types, it's like you just want to go out there and fight. You want to do something, you have to be moving, you have to be doing something. Even when you're a nursing school, you're like, I'm in this because I know what my impact is going to be and I'm going to work, I'm going to do this, I'm going to come out and I'm going to be the best midwife and I'm going to address the, you know, black mortality and morbidity and we're going to fight this together. And you have like all this Gusto behind you. You're just stuck.
Ashleigh Evans (36:04): Helpless. That is what, that's just not a word. You know, that is like major malfunction. Like shut it down. That's not how we operate. Helpless is not a field that I operate well in, but that's where honestly we, everyone in the country is right now in some way, shape or form. Every single person is helpless. You know, all medical staff can do is just treat patients and pray to God that it ends. You know, all I can do is, you know, get to Connecticut and start my little job and do what I can, you know, in wait shelter in place, go to work and wait that, that's all any of us can do and it's horrible. I think it's an American thing to just, you know, try to push your way through it. Like we're all taught that. Like if you work hard at it, there's a way to get through anything. And this time there's just not, there's nothing we can do, bruh. That hurts. It sucks. That sucks.
Naseema McElroy (37:08): It sucks. It's horrible. But the one thing that you have been doing is sharing your story of how you traveled the world on a shoestring budget and how you were able to just as a naive 24 year old build a little real estate empire. And
Ashleigh Evans (37:27): anyway, my two houses anyway,
Naseema McElroy (37:33): Hey, but those houses got, you to unlock the level of freedom that you wouldn't have known if you hadn't discovered it. And now you know real estate, like once you know it, you know it. That's something that you forget like, and so you useat to get your property in Connecticut now you know how to house hack, which you're going to be doing successfully. And even if you, like, even if it's just you in that house is still a house that you can afford. It's still a house that you know is going to allow you to unlock other levels of freedom in the future. But you are doing some amazing things and you're still still very much an inspiration for me and so many other people out there because you have a phenomenal story. You have a phenomenal voice. You look at things the way other people can't.
Naseema McElroy (38:29): I know you look at things away, I can't even look at things and you just in being where you are are super impactful and I want you to remember that because everything happens for a reason. We'll come back to that like, you know, with your ship crashing and all that stuff, everything happens for a reason. And I know that you have a phenomenal place in this world and this is just giving you testimony to share with other people. So I know it's hard. I'm right there with you, girl. I feel like you're my sister and we're going through this together because I know what it feels like to be in limbo. And I mean just everybody is impacted. Like I said, in some kind of way. It's just hard right now. It's hard in the hospitals, it's hard to be there and yeah, I'm just the labor and delivery nurse, but I'm very essential and
Ashleigh Evans (39:28): are a phenomenal woman. A phenomenal being. Like every time you post a picture or a video dancing, you know you, you were such a light and you really do just kind of shine. You just exude this brilliance everywhere you go. So there's no such thing as just an L and D nurse who we go ahead and nip that in the bud. You know, you with everything going on in [inaudible] and hospital policy changing, you know, you are literally all that people can have sometimes and that is not to be, the menu dies. I don't know if that's a word. Minimized.
Naseema McElroy (40:07): Well thank you. Yeah. And I always just say I'm just a nurse to be a facetious, but, well thanks. I'm glad you feel that way Ashleigh. But honestly like you are phenomenal. You give me hope for what the future of nursing is going to be. And I just wish you all the best in everything that you do because I know that the world needs you. I need you. And you know,
Ashleigh Evans (40:38): Naseema's gonna make me cry.
Ashleigh Evans (40:43): Just keep up the faith girl. It'll all work out the way it's supposed to be. If there's the one thing that I've had to really learn in life is that everything is, has been and will always be okay. And just be able to sit in that. And like you said, as Americans, we're used to going, going, going and grinding. And sometimes we need to just sit and be still. And I think if anything, this crisis has allowed us the opportunity to do that. So I encourage other people to do that. And even though I know you're going stir crazy at your momma's house and you're ready to go, know that this is just a slight pause in your trajectory to extraordinary success and I'm wishing you all the best. So Ashleigh, on a lighter note, how can people get in contact with you if they want to reach out to you, learn more about your traveling, learn more about your real estate, or just want to check on you and see how you're doing and follow you through your nursing school journey. How can they get in contact with them?
Ashleigh Evans (41:53): So my most active, um, page is my Facebook page. It is Ashleigh Evans, real estate investing and solo traveling consulting. We are still working on a name.
Ashleigh Evans (42:07): I'll put the link in the show notes because y'all aint gon' remember that.
Ashleigh Evans (42:14): But, so baseball is definitely my most active page or you can visit my website and this is much simpler@Ashleighovens.com
Naseema McElroy (42:24): but it's not simple because your name is not just spelled like Ashleigh, you have to have that I in your name. So we will post all the links in the show notes. But make sure you guys reach out to Ashleigh because she's just, I mean, we're all just at the beginning of our journey, but I just feel like this is just the beginning of like where she's going to take off and accelerate. She going to be doing big things. Y'all, y'all want to know her now, so, yeah. You know, she could be like, Oh yeah, I remember her. You know, back when I was, you know, before I was this bomb, you know me and Y. Oh yeah, girl. I know she had that little podcast I was on. Yeah.
Ashleigh Evans (43:13): Anyway, trying to keep up with you guys. Let me just put that up. They're like, before you know, you guys were the envy. You guys are the ones, you know, hearing the truth as far as black females and FIRE, you're one of the originals. You're like an odd GFI or so. I'm just trying to keep up with you. We'll just try to make it.
Ashleigh Evans (43:40): Well, Ashleigh, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I appreciate you. I just love hearing you share your story and I just know you're going to be doing great things, so thank you again.
Ashleigh Evans (43:53): Thank you. Naseema. The pleasure is seriously all mine. It's my honor. Seriously.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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