Ash Harris Video Transcript
[Interviewer] Welcome everybody, and welcome to the UNG Alumni 1873 Speaker Series. We're glad you've come out today to hear from our presenter. We want to first thank the UNG Alumni Association for sponsoring this Speaker Series, and acknowledge our shared interest groups, which are the Women of UNG and the NGCAA, or excuse me, the NGCCA, North Georgia Corps Association for their support.
This is our fifth presentation in this series, and today's presenter is Ash Harris. He's coming to us from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, just near Boone, North Carolina. And he is a graduate from the University of North Georgia in 2014. Welcome, Ash. Thank you so much for joining us.
[Ash Harris} Awesome, glad to be here. Thanks so much Steven.
[Interviewer] We're excited to be doing this. So, as we jump in, I just want to kind of talk with you a little bit about your career and, and your experience at North Georgia. Tell us a little bit about your career path and what got you here and maybe introduce yourself a little bit further.
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely. So, I currently work at an international humanitarian organization called Samaritan's Purse International Relief.
And that journey to end up here definitely started probably about a little over ten years ago when my mother actually kind of drug me nearly kicking and screaming up to Dahlonega, Georgia. I did not think that school or college was going to be an immediate thing that I did after high school. I actually was planning on enlisting active duty in the US Army. And she, she's worked hard her life to keep me on a kind of a somewhat structured track.
And she really thought that education was, was really valuable to me. It's not something that she had at her fingertips growing up, and so she really wanted to be able to give that off to me. And so, I ended up kind of compromising and joined the US Army Reserve in 2007, as well as going up to North Georgia and enrolling in fall of 2007 in their core of cadet's program as well. And did that somewhat simultaneously for about two years until, including some time training time as well. And then deployed to Afghanistan in part of 2010.
And a lot of things shifted for me in my life at that time and I ended up coming back to North Georgia and did a four-year stint there from 2010-2014 and joined the ... I was in the International Relations program, International Affairs program, and really saw kind of a desire to live and work overseas, work among different people, groups, different communities, and serve them with the talents and skills that I've been given.
And right after college, right after I graduated, I stayed in the North Georgia area. I had met my wife a year or two prior, and we ended up getting married in 2015 and I ended up in construction management, which was completely opposite of what my skills and my passion were at that time.
And after about two years, we, we kind of set out to go back into the field that I felt
called to be in. And I applied to Samaritan's Purse, among other organizations. Some federal
entities as well. About a month-and-a-half after I applied, I ended up moving to Boone, North Carolina. And I've been there for a little over four-and-a-half, about four-and-a-half years now.
[Interviewer] Well, that's pretty, pretty cool. Pretty cool story. Isn't it the way it is for so many people when they have one path and they feel like they're going to go one way and then life just takes us a different way.
[Ash] Yes. Absolutely. Yeah.
[Interviewer] Yeah. Sure, a lot of our students and listeners can definitely relate to that. So, let's dive a little bit further into maybe your career and life experience. And tell us a little bit about maybe some failures that you've learned from. We're going to jump into some of the successes later, but some of the failures that you've learned from in your life and career.
[Ash] Sure. So, I think, kind of some context with what I do with Samaritan's Purse, I work in our security department. Specifically in our international security. And so, it's advising staff on the best safety and security principles overseas as we work in high and extreme risk locations. We have full-time operations in extreme risk countries, such as Yemen, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, all over the world.
There have been a lot of things from the academic side as well as professional side that have brought me onto this team. But it definitely hasn't been without certain failures along the way. And one of those first things I'd definitely, you know, as I mentioned, academics was not really my desire, my forte. And I think that really, I think probably somewhere around middle school, high school, I became very inconsistent. And in my, my academic approach is very apathetic
towards a lot of things. And that had some ripple effects even, even all the way through
my undergrad career. And I would mark that as one of my primary failures, is that I really should have taken that time that I had, and I'll talk about stewardship a little bit, but stewarding that time well. Time and relationships well.
And so, I was certainly a failure. But one of the biggest ones that I regularly recall that because it kind of turned into a catalyst for where I am today, was pretty much the very first job, like career job I had applied to right out of North Georgia. I did not expect myself to even apply to this. I was encouraged by, by a couple of peers to do this, but I ended up applying to a government organization. It was one of those three-letter organizations, and I applied about six months after I graduated. I actually forgot that I applied for that position. There's no way
they'll consider me. So, I just told me put it in the back of my mind.
About four months later they called and said, hey, we're considering your application, want to know if you're still interested in that in that. And that, that first conversation which was supposed to be more like an interview, I was pretty upfront. I was like, I'll be honest with you, I totally forgot that I applied to this. If you can refresh my memory on what this role is. And they walked me through it and that led to a few different stages.
I went before a seminar as well as a panel interview, and that went really well and ended up getting an invitation for kind of what's one of the final phases of the candidate process. They bring you up to Washington D.C. and bring you through some more strenuous tests. And I remember being really excited going up there and I was still like, man I can't believe I've
made it this far. Some individuals and peers that I knew in that previous stage did not make it up to that point. And I ended up walking in on this, this kind of standardized test. And it was about a three-hour long test. Kind of a mix of what they call the GRE and mix of the GRE and the Myers-Briggs. And I can tell you about less than an hour in I knew that I was going
to fail that test. Yeah. I was...
And I finished it out, and then the next day you go to another interviewer, and he sits and talks to you not necessarily about the test, but also about the, about your life, kind of what brought you to this point and as a final, final stage to see if they're what you're looking for. And I walked into that, that conversation ...I was like hey man I know how yesterday went, but let's go ahead
and kind of wrap this up and they don't tell you the results. That's another kicker too, they don't tell you the results of the test. But it was pretty obvious that I'd failed it.
And I left that a little down. But at the same time, realizing like you know I got to this stage that not many people get to you. I know some individuals, colleagues and peers who've gone through that process before, and none of them have gotten to that stage. And only, only one other. And that was as far as they went as well. And I took that and found that silver lining. And I was like there's some sort of potential that they see in me. I clearly have some level of skill that they're looking for, a talent that they're looking for, and I have a passion to serve. And so, I took that to heart as well. And that kind of thrust me on to pursue roles similar to that and reigniting that passion to work within the international community, as well as potentially serve a large group of people working overseas in hostile environments. So, yeah.
[Interviewer] Well, yeah, that's a circuitous path, right? I mean, when you look back on paths they look straight when you look back on them, but as you're going through them, it's like nothing really makes sense as I'm moving through this. Obviously, with you using your failures to push yourself forward. You're not letting them put you backward. You're always allowing
those failures to push closer to success. Yeah, that's a huge learning opportunity for many people.
[Ash] I'm trying, I fail a lot. And I know that a lot of people don't have this resource, but I do have a wonderful wife who really helps me get back up on the horse and keep going.
[Interviewer] Sure. I mean, if you're not failing, you're not trying. So, you're not going
to have failures if you're not trying to do something bold and audacious, so that's good. So, let's talk about some influential people that you've had in your life. Maybe who are two or three influences that you've had that have pushed you along the way that have continued to drive you to where you are now and where you want to be in the future.
[Ash] Sure. One of the first ones that comes to mind, obviously kind of going in chronological order would be my mother. Again, she has always been the one who's instilled a work ethic in me, a heart, a good work ethic in me. She's always persevered through a lot of trials. And I kind of like to say that we grew up together and very much so. And so, she, things that she did not have growing up and mistakes that she made … she would often hand those off to me and really encourage me not to make those same mistakes. And I see myself making mistakes that I will end up, hopefully, handing off to my children and encouraging them not to do certain things. But she's definitely, was kind of that, that cornerstone influence in my life.
And then also think about Dr. Harris, who Dr. Cristian Harris, he's in the Political Science & International Affairs department there at University of North Georgia. And he has been my,
He was my advisor all the way through my undergrad. And he was always so gracious to me. There are times where even if I couldn't sense that I was struggling with whether it was a workload or something like that. He was always keenly aware of that and would help me prioritize certain things over others and kept me on track. I think that it was just incredible to have him alongside.
And you know, there were others in the department as well. I think about Dr. Greathouse, Dr. Miner, as well as Dr. Armstrong Williams. All of them have been influential in my undergrad
career as well as in my current graduate program there at UNG as well.
And then, last but certainly not least, I would say it's, it's a group of men and, basically, a family of people there in North Georgia and Dahlonega. Most of them stem from a church called
Christ Family Church. And Nathan Rainer is a pastor there, but he, Clay Naylor, and John Overton, all of them are UNG alumni. And they really took me in post-Afghanistan and really,
again, a lot of grace there over a couple of years. And to this day, even though I don't live in
proximity to any of them, we still keep up with one another and I try to see them at least
once a year as well. So, they've been just significant influences in my life. Yeah.
[Interviewer] That's great. I mean, to be able to continue to stay in touch with those people and work back-and-forth with them. You help influence them and they influence you. I'm sure that that's a two-way street for all of these people.
[Ash] Yeah, I hope so.
[Interviewer] Yeah, that's good, I would think so, having gotten to know you a little bit here. So, as you've moved through your career, what skills do you think have been most successful for you to get where you are now? And what type of person do you need to be in order to be successful there?
[Ash] Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Great question. I ... there are a lot of, I guess, skills that I've had to
learn and hone over the years. But one of the things I've learned the most, especially in the last year, but that I realize would have even helped me earlier on, is what I would, what I would call is interpersonal skills or really like diplomacy is how I would actually define that. Really trying, as we work, and we communicate with other entities.
I'm in the support department, the security department is a support department to our humanitarian work to our other departments that are that are kind of the doers. And I've got to regularly be able to see things from their perspective and see what their objective, their mission is, and then come to them with solutions that benefit both of us.
So, from security, obviously, it's risk-management and where we want to make sure that our staff are safe and secure. But also, some people would say the easiest way to do that is to not go into those extreme risk locations. obviously. However, we know that there is work to be done there, we know that there are people to be served there. And so, we really want to make
sure, that we come to these good levels of compromise and collaboration to be able, to be effective together in those kinds of environments. And that ultimately comes with being able to sit down at a table and talk to someone and understand where they're coming from, understand what their mission is, and then how we can integrate and collaborate. Integrate our skill and our resources into that, and then collaborate together to be effective. So that's one of the, I would say probably the diplomacy being the best skill that I have, have really tried to hone over the past few years.
[Interviewer] So those, the soft skills and diplomacy, some employers call those employability
Skills. How important do you think it is for students to take the time to really hone those skills while they have the ability to do it in sort of a laboratory type of a setting at university.
[Ash] Yeah, it's, crucial. You know, a lot of, a lot of individuals, a lot of students can really sucked into the academic side of things, and especially in international affairs, its very research driven. You're reading a lot and you're writing a lot, and that's certainly a major part of what I do. A lot of research, a lot of analysis, a lot of understanding of what the environment looks like.
However, a lot of people can become so introverted or introspective, even and focus on what's
in front of them, what their mission is, what they need to do, and they forget that you're now working in a larger organization, you're working in a larger team, et cetera. So, any, any chance you can get, find ways to break outside of the, the pages, I guess is a way that I would describe that.
[Interviewer] Sure. Put the books down from time to time and look at who's
standing around you.
[Ash] Yes.
[Interviewer] Yeah, absolutely. Were there any student organizations at North Georgia or extracurricular type activities that kind of pushed you in that direction as well?
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely. So, one of them was the Political Science & International Affairs Club that we had, or group that we had. I was involved in that for a year or so. And that was just a
neat opportunity to be able to kind of not just necessarily network, but also just collaborate on extracurricular activities or recreational activities with students, within my peers, within my own, my own department.
Then also the biggest organization, organizational influence for me at North Georgia was the
UNG men's Rugby Club. I joined that in 2011. And I was active in that for three years
through 2013. And it was significant both from a team-building perspective, obviously playing
on the pitch with my teammates and learning the game of rugby. I didn't know anything about
it before I started playing. But then also in the politics of it. It was a club organization and I ended up being, I started off as the treasurer and treasurer-secretary, and then ultimately
the vice president of the club. And that allowed me to not just interact with my teammates, but also interact with other entities within the rugby world, the other rugby clubs, as well as even
the recreational department and other recreational clubs there.
So, you think about all the variety of sport clubs that are there at North Georgia. I think at the time there was an equestrian team; a rock-climbing team. All of them were really trying to work together to benefit each of our own clubs, but ultimately to be able to represent North Georgia well in the sport that we are playing. And that was a huge opportunity for me to find those opportunities, to work on funding, sponsorships and whatnot together with those other clubs and their representatives.
[Interviewer] A lot of learning experiences and the continual desire to learn there is just kind of part of part of your life. Yeah, it's fantastic. So, with that, what would you say are some of your
career aspirations? As you move through Samaritan's Purse and other ideas have popped in and out of your head. What are you thinking for your career aspirations?
[Ash] Yeah. So, this kind of actually dates back to my very last semester at North Georgia when there was a diplomat-in-residence from the US State Department who came to North Georgia. And my wife and I have, not since we met, but kind of individually and then when we met, we had a desire to live in work in the Middle East or East Africa. And for some reason I've always felt called to kind of do that while supporting my country in some way, some, somewhat of a sense of patriotism that's left over from the Army and as a citizen of the US.
And when this diplomatic, diplomat-in-residence came he spoke for a little over an hour about the life of a Foreign Service Officer. And I was like, that is, that is so cool, that's what I want to do. And I ended up taking the FSOT, the Foreign Service Officer Test, a year after I graduated and I failed it by 0.5, but I have to wait a whole year to take it again. Which means I have plenty of time to make up that and learn that 0.5 that I missed. So, I ended up taking it the following
year and passed, and then got to the second phase, did not make it past that second phase. That second phase is mostly based on experience and specific projects and things like that. And then I took it again the following year and then passed it again and got to the same phase. And did not have essentially the experience and qualifications to move on past that phase.
And so, at that point, I was really starting to realize time and experience is what was going to be needed. It wasn't something that I could go back and learn immediately, certify myself in, and then go and pass, get through that second phase. And so, I really needed experience and I just set it on the back burner and ended up here at Samaritan's Purse where it really actually helped hone a lot of the skills I do hope to bring to the Foreign Service. And I applied again in November of 2019. And ended up in November of 2020 after several kind of reviews of my application and stuff, ended up doing a panel interview and exams in, in D.C. in November of 2020 and ended up signing a conditional offer of employment with the US State Department to go be in their foreign service.
And so, I was, am still very excited, obviously. Who knows how long that's going to take. We're,
we're currently in the investigation process for that. But my family and I are very excited, hope to be able to kind of find the merging of my time in the Army, my experiences at North Georgia
and education from North Georgia, as well as my obviously experience here at Samaritan's Purse, potentially seeing that move into this opportunity to be overseas with my family with the US State Department.
[Interviewer] Yeah, I think a lot of our current students and alumni can relate to that sense of wanting to serve and wanting to show their patriotism in their career. And so that's awesome to see that you're doing that and maybe one day in the future we'll have a 'where are they now' and we'll be doing this kind of an overview from somewhere else in the world. Let's see.
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely.
[Interviewer] Yeah, that'd be great. What sort of advice would you like to give to our, our listeners, to students, alumni? What's the biggest bit of advice that you could share?
[Ash] Your stewardship, learn the meaning of "stewardship". And at first, I thought about like
stewarding our time well, and we really don't have as much time as we think we do here
on this earth. But it doesn't just have to do with our time. It means stewarding our relationships well, stewarding the opportunities that we've been given, the resources we've been given.
There's a, it's a Bible verse that comes to mind, and that really has been kind of constantly
replaying in my mind over the past few months. But it's in Proverbs and it says: "I passed by the
field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense and behold, it was all overgrown
with thorns. The ground was covered with nettles and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it, looked in, received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, in poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man." And when I read that and when I reflect on that, I'm realizing how much I have been, how much I've been given in a lot of different facets in my life, and I really wanted to take as much opportunity as I can to steward that, those things well, and I have a family now.
I have a wife and two daughters. And I'm really trying to learn as we're changing kind of trajectories or moving in different, different seasons of life, stewarding those relationships as best I can, like my mother did, and really trying to ultimately give what I have off to my children as well, so that they can continue building on what's been given to me. So yeah.
[Interviewer] That's just such great advice, stewarding your time well. So, we have a few more minutes here, and I guess my final question is going to be sharing something ...can you share something about your time at North Georgia? You know, something that happened to you
while you were there or maybe someone you met along the way.
[Ash] Sure. Yeah. Last but certainly not least question here and it is a really neat experience and I can't guarantee this for the rest of the people that attend to North Georgia, but I did meet my wife there as a fellow student in the International Affairs program. And we actually met in my junior year her senior year. I was a couple of years behind because of the Army, and we met in a class called International Political Economy. Hands down the most difficult class in our curriculum, but thankfully, I had her to at least enjoy the friendship and cultivation of that
early relationship.
We met in that class, and it actually came about, it was Dr. Armstrong's class I believe,
that on the first day, as an introduction to the class, she had us go through and name a unique thing about ourselves as an introduction of ourselves. And if, if someone else had that characteristic or that quality, whatever it was that interest, it was not unique to you, and you had to name something else. And so, my wife and I had a debate today on who went first. We did not know each other at this time, this was a first-day meeting. And she said that she would like to live in Somalia one day. And already having a kind of an inkling towards work in that region and even specifically in Somalia, I spoke up and I said, well actually, you know, I would like to work in Somalia or live in Somalia one day. So, she turned around, looks at me like, that's a bizarre thing, but she names another thing. She says, well I like to go barefoot, I like to walk around barefoot, not just at my home, but like all over the place. And I actually was kind of known as
walking around campus barefoot a lot of the time and I was actually barefoot that day too. I was like, well actually you know, that's something I enjoy doing regularly as well, so I guess you'll have to find something else that's unique. We can't remember what she chose after that,
but she was getting pretty irritated.
But afterwards, we introduced ourselves to each other, talked about especially that original desire to live and work in Somalia and among Somali people groups. And sparked a friendship.
For me I wanted more than that. Actually, I tried to pursue her twice. A few months later and
she rejected me. A few months later went by, I tried again, she rejected me. We both went overseas to do different stuff within our internship in our study abroad. And about almost
a year later, I returned after five months then in Latin America and just approached her again and told her that I still had the same affections that I had for her previously, and I guess that third time was the charm. And so, we started dating then, got married about a year-and-a-half later, and we've been, we're in our sixth year of marriage now. So going, going towards our seventh year anniversary. Yeah.
[Interviewer] That's awesome. Yeah. I think you're right that not everybody is going to find their spouse at North Georgia. But there are a lot of great stories similar to yours at North Georgia, which is just awesome to see and hear and see the lives that those people create after they
leave North Georgia. So really cool.
Well Ash, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be a part of this interview and I'm excited to see how your career progresses. It's already gone really well. But like I say, I think it'd be fantastic for us to do one of these again sometime in the future when you're in Somalia possibly. If we can get a live feed out of there.
[Ash] One does not simply walk into Somalia, that's a quote that I regularly tell myself. But yeah, we'll see where we end up for sure.
[Interviewer] That's great. That's fantastic. Well again, thank you so much Ash. If anybody who's listening today wants to follow up and ask Ash any questions, he's graciously allowed us to give out his email address and so you can reach out to him at: asharr2142@gmai.com and we'll have this information as well if you need it. But that's asharr2142@gmai.com . And thank you for
sharing that, and I'm sure that we'll have some people reaching out to you to ask for some advice, the successes that you've found as you've gone through failure, that there's a huge amount of lessons to learn from there.
[Ash] So thanks so much Steven for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, the UNG Alumni Association. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you all so much.
[Interviewer] And we do want to thank the Alumni Association for sponsoring the 1873 Speaker Series. And if listeners out there are not a member already, we'd love to have you as a member. And you can join us by visiting the website at ungalumni.org. We'd love to have you there and also on our website we'll have all of our previous interviews as well as in the near future we'll have this one posted as well. Thanks again Ash.
[Ash] Thank you.
This is our fifth presentation in this series, and today's presenter is Ash Harris. He's coming to us from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, just near Boone, North Carolina. And he is a graduate from the University of North Georgia in 2014. Welcome, Ash. Thank you so much for joining us.
[Ash Harris} Awesome, glad to be here. Thanks so much Steven.
[Interviewer] We're excited to be doing this. So, as we jump in, I just want to kind of talk with you a little bit about your career and, and your experience at North Georgia. Tell us a little bit about your career path and what got you here and maybe introduce yourself a little bit further.
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely. So, I currently work at an international humanitarian organization called Samaritan's Purse International Relief.
And that journey to end up here definitely started probably about a little over ten years ago when my mother actually kind of drug me nearly kicking and screaming up to Dahlonega, Georgia. I did not think that school or college was going to be an immediate thing that I did after high school. I actually was planning on enlisting active duty in the US Army. And she, she's worked hard her life to keep me on a kind of a somewhat structured track.
And she really thought that education was, was really valuable to me. It's not something that she had at her fingertips growing up, and so she really wanted to be able to give that off to me. And so, I ended up kind of compromising and joined the US Army Reserve in 2007, as well as going up to North Georgia and enrolling in fall of 2007 in their core of cadet's program as well. And did that somewhat simultaneously for about two years until, including some time training time as well. And then deployed to Afghanistan in part of 2010.
And a lot of things shifted for me in my life at that time and I ended up coming back to North Georgia and did a four-year stint there from 2010-2014 and joined the ... I was in the International Relations program, International Affairs program, and really saw kind of a desire to live and work overseas, work among different people, groups, different communities, and serve them with the talents and skills that I've been given.
And right after college, right after I graduated, I stayed in the North Georgia area. I had met my wife a year or two prior, and we ended up getting married in 2015 and I ended up in construction management, which was completely opposite of what my skills and my passion were at that time.
And after about two years, we, we kind of set out to go back into the field that I felt
called to be in. And I applied to Samaritan's Purse, among other organizations. Some federal
entities as well. About a month-and-a-half after I applied, I ended up moving to Boone, North Carolina. And I've been there for a little over four-and-a-half, about four-and-a-half years now.
[Interviewer] Well, that's pretty, pretty cool. Pretty cool story. Isn't it the way it is for so many people when they have one path and they feel like they're going to go one way and then life just takes us a different way.
[Ash] Yes. Absolutely. Yeah.
[Interviewer] Yeah. Sure, a lot of our students and listeners can definitely relate to that. So, let's dive a little bit further into maybe your career and life experience. And tell us a little bit about maybe some failures that you've learned from. We're going to jump into some of the successes later, but some of the failures that you've learned from in your life and career.
[Ash] Sure. So, I think, kind of some context with what I do with Samaritan's Purse, I work in our security department. Specifically in our international security. And so, it's advising staff on the best safety and security principles overseas as we work in high and extreme risk locations. We have full-time operations in extreme risk countries, such as Yemen, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, all over the world.
There have been a lot of things from the academic side as well as professional side that have brought me onto this team. But it definitely hasn't been without certain failures along the way. And one of those first things I'd definitely, you know, as I mentioned, academics was not really my desire, my forte. And I think that really, I think probably somewhere around middle school, high school, I became very inconsistent. And in my, my academic approach is very apathetic
towards a lot of things. And that had some ripple effects even, even all the way through
my undergrad career. And I would mark that as one of my primary failures, is that I really should have taken that time that I had, and I'll talk about stewardship a little bit, but stewarding that time well. Time and relationships well.
And so, I was certainly a failure. But one of the biggest ones that I regularly recall that because it kind of turned into a catalyst for where I am today, was pretty much the very first job, like career job I had applied to right out of North Georgia. I did not expect myself to even apply to this. I was encouraged by, by a couple of peers to do this, but I ended up applying to a government organization. It was one of those three-letter organizations, and I applied about six months after I graduated. I actually forgot that I applied for that position. There's no way
they'll consider me. So, I just told me put it in the back of my mind.
About four months later they called and said, hey, we're considering your application, want to know if you're still interested in that in that. And that, that first conversation which was supposed to be more like an interview, I was pretty upfront. I was like, I'll be honest with you, I totally forgot that I applied to this. If you can refresh my memory on what this role is. And they walked me through it and that led to a few different stages.
I went before a seminar as well as a panel interview, and that went really well and ended up getting an invitation for kind of what's one of the final phases of the candidate process. They bring you up to Washington D.C. and bring you through some more strenuous tests. And I remember being really excited going up there and I was still like, man I can't believe I've
made it this far. Some individuals and peers that I knew in that previous stage did not make it up to that point. And I ended up walking in on this, this kind of standardized test. And it was about a three-hour long test. Kind of a mix of what they call the GRE and mix of the GRE and the Myers-Briggs. And I can tell you about less than an hour in I knew that I was going
to fail that test. Yeah. I was...
And I finished it out, and then the next day you go to another interviewer, and he sits and talks to you not necessarily about the test, but also about the, about your life, kind of what brought you to this point and as a final, final stage to see if they're what you're looking for. And I walked into that, that conversation ...I was like hey man I know how yesterday went, but let's go ahead
and kind of wrap this up and they don't tell you the results. That's another kicker too, they don't tell you the results of the test. But it was pretty obvious that I'd failed it.
And I left that a little down. But at the same time, realizing like you know I got to this stage that not many people get to you. I know some individuals, colleagues and peers who've gone through that process before, and none of them have gotten to that stage. And only, only one other. And that was as far as they went as well. And I took that and found that silver lining. And I was like there's some sort of potential that they see in me. I clearly have some level of skill that they're looking for, a talent that they're looking for, and I have a passion to serve. And so, I took that to heart as well. And that kind of thrust me on to pursue roles similar to that and reigniting that passion to work within the international community, as well as potentially serve a large group of people working overseas in hostile environments. So, yeah.
[Interviewer] Well, yeah, that's a circuitous path, right? I mean, when you look back on paths they look straight when you look back on them, but as you're going through them, it's like nothing really makes sense as I'm moving through this. Obviously, with you using your failures to push yourself forward. You're not letting them put you backward. You're always allowing
those failures to push closer to success. Yeah, that's a huge learning opportunity for many people.
[Ash] I'm trying, I fail a lot. And I know that a lot of people don't have this resource, but I do have a wonderful wife who really helps me get back up on the horse and keep going.
[Interviewer] Sure. I mean, if you're not failing, you're not trying. So, you're not going
to have failures if you're not trying to do something bold and audacious, so that's good. So, let's talk about some influential people that you've had in your life. Maybe who are two or three influences that you've had that have pushed you along the way that have continued to drive you to where you are now and where you want to be in the future.
[Ash] Sure. One of the first ones that comes to mind, obviously kind of going in chronological order would be my mother. Again, she has always been the one who's instilled a work ethic in me, a heart, a good work ethic in me. She's always persevered through a lot of trials. And I kind of like to say that we grew up together and very much so. And so, she, things that she did not have growing up and mistakes that she made … she would often hand those off to me and really encourage me not to make those same mistakes. And I see myself making mistakes that I will end up, hopefully, handing off to my children and encouraging them not to do certain things. But she's definitely, was kind of that, that cornerstone influence in my life.
And then also think about Dr. Harris, who Dr. Cristian Harris, he's in the Political Science & International Affairs department there at University of North Georgia. And he has been my,
He was my advisor all the way through my undergrad. And he was always so gracious to me. There are times where even if I couldn't sense that I was struggling with whether it was a workload or something like that. He was always keenly aware of that and would help me prioritize certain things over others and kept me on track. I think that it was just incredible to have him alongside.
And you know, there were others in the department as well. I think about Dr. Greathouse, Dr. Miner, as well as Dr. Armstrong Williams. All of them have been influential in my undergrad
career as well as in my current graduate program there at UNG as well.
And then, last but certainly not least, I would say it's, it's a group of men and, basically, a family of people there in North Georgia and Dahlonega. Most of them stem from a church called
Christ Family Church. And Nathan Rainer is a pastor there, but he, Clay Naylor, and John Overton, all of them are UNG alumni. And they really took me in post-Afghanistan and really,
again, a lot of grace there over a couple of years. And to this day, even though I don't live in
proximity to any of them, we still keep up with one another and I try to see them at least
once a year as well. So, they've been just significant influences in my life. Yeah.
[Interviewer] That's great. I mean, to be able to continue to stay in touch with those people and work back-and-forth with them. You help influence them and they influence you. I'm sure that that's a two-way street for all of these people.
[Ash] Yeah, I hope so.
[Interviewer] Yeah, that's good, I would think so, having gotten to know you a little bit here. So, as you've moved through your career, what skills do you think have been most successful for you to get where you are now? And what type of person do you need to be in order to be successful there?
[Ash] Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Great question. I ... there are a lot of, I guess, skills that I've had to
learn and hone over the years. But one of the things I've learned the most, especially in the last year, but that I realize would have even helped me earlier on, is what I would, what I would call is interpersonal skills or really like diplomacy is how I would actually define that. Really trying, as we work, and we communicate with other entities.
I'm in the support department, the security department is a support department to our humanitarian work to our other departments that are that are kind of the doers. And I've got to regularly be able to see things from their perspective and see what their objective, their mission is, and then come to them with solutions that benefit both of us.
So, from security, obviously, it's risk-management and where we want to make sure that our staff are safe and secure. But also, some people would say the easiest way to do that is to not go into those extreme risk locations. obviously. However, we know that there is work to be done there, we know that there are people to be served there. And so, we really want to make
sure, that we come to these good levels of compromise and collaboration to be able, to be effective together in those kinds of environments. And that ultimately comes with being able to sit down at a table and talk to someone and understand where they're coming from, understand what their mission is, and then how we can integrate and collaborate. Integrate our skill and our resources into that, and then collaborate together to be effective. So that's one of the, I would say probably the diplomacy being the best skill that I have, have really tried to hone over the past few years.
[Interviewer] So those, the soft skills and diplomacy, some employers call those employability
Skills. How important do you think it is for students to take the time to really hone those skills while they have the ability to do it in sort of a laboratory type of a setting at university.
[Ash] Yeah, it's, crucial. You know, a lot of, a lot of individuals, a lot of students can really sucked into the academic side of things, and especially in international affairs, its very research driven. You're reading a lot and you're writing a lot, and that's certainly a major part of what I do. A lot of research, a lot of analysis, a lot of understanding of what the environment looks like.
However, a lot of people can become so introverted or introspective, even and focus on what's
in front of them, what their mission is, what they need to do, and they forget that you're now working in a larger organization, you're working in a larger team, et cetera. So, any, any chance you can get, find ways to break outside of the, the pages, I guess is a way that I would describe that.
[Interviewer] Sure. Put the books down from time to time and look at who's
standing around you.
[Ash] Yes.
[Interviewer] Yeah, absolutely. Were there any student organizations at North Georgia or extracurricular type activities that kind of pushed you in that direction as well?
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely. So, one of them was the Political Science & International Affairs Club that we had, or group that we had. I was involved in that for a year or so. And that was just a
neat opportunity to be able to kind of not just necessarily network, but also just collaborate on extracurricular activities or recreational activities with students, within my peers, within my own, my own department.
Then also the biggest organization, organizational influence for me at North Georgia was the
UNG men's Rugby Club. I joined that in 2011. And I was active in that for three years
through 2013. And it was significant both from a team-building perspective, obviously playing
on the pitch with my teammates and learning the game of rugby. I didn't know anything about
it before I started playing. But then also in the politics of it. It was a club organization and I ended up being, I started off as the treasurer and treasurer-secretary, and then ultimately
the vice president of the club. And that allowed me to not just interact with my teammates, but also interact with other entities within the rugby world, the other rugby clubs, as well as even
the recreational department and other recreational clubs there.
So, you think about all the variety of sport clubs that are there at North Georgia. I think at the time there was an equestrian team; a rock-climbing team. All of them were really trying to work together to benefit each of our own clubs, but ultimately to be able to represent North Georgia well in the sport that we are playing. And that was a huge opportunity for me to find those opportunities, to work on funding, sponsorships and whatnot together with those other clubs and their representatives.
[Interviewer] A lot of learning experiences and the continual desire to learn there is just kind of part of part of your life. Yeah, it's fantastic. So, with that, what would you say are some of your
career aspirations? As you move through Samaritan's Purse and other ideas have popped in and out of your head. What are you thinking for your career aspirations?
[Ash] Yeah. So, this kind of actually dates back to my very last semester at North Georgia when there was a diplomat-in-residence from the US State Department who came to North Georgia. And my wife and I have, not since we met, but kind of individually and then when we met, we had a desire to live in work in the Middle East or East Africa. And for some reason I've always felt called to kind of do that while supporting my country in some way, some, somewhat of a sense of patriotism that's left over from the Army and as a citizen of the US.
And when this diplomatic, diplomat-in-residence came he spoke for a little over an hour about the life of a Foreign Service Officer. And I was like, that is, that is so cool, that's what I want to do. And I ended up taking the FSOT, the Foreign Service Officer Test, a year after I graduated and I failed it by 0.5, but I have to wait a whole year to take it again. Which means I have plenty of time to make up that and learn that 0.5 that I missed. So, I ended up taking it the following
year and passed, and then got to the second phase, did not make it past that second phase. That second phase is mostly based on experience and specific projects and things like that. And then I took it again the following year and then passed it again and got to the same phase. And did not have essentially the experience and qualifications to move on past that phase.
And so, at that point, I was really starting to realize time and experience is what was going to be needed. It wasn't something that I could go back and learn immediately, certify myself in, and then go and pass, get through that second phase. And so, I really needed experience and I just set it on the back burner and ended up here at Samaritan's Purse where it really actually helped hone a lot of the skills I do hope to bring to the Foreign Service. And I applied again in November of 2019. And ended up in November of 2020 after several kind of reviews of my application and stuff, ended up doing a panel interview and exams in, in D.C. in November of 2020 and ended up signing a conditional offer of employment with the US State Department to go be in their foreign service.
And so, I was, am still very excited, obviously. Who knows how long that's going to take. We're,
we're currently in the investigation process for that. But my family and I are very excited, hope to be able to kind of find the merging of my time in the Army, my experiences at North Georgia
and education from North Georgia, as well as my obviously experience here at Samaritan's Purse, potentially seeing that move into this opportunity to be overseas with my family with the US State Department.
[Interviewer] Yeah, I think a lot of our current students and alumni can relate to that sense of wanting to serve and wanting to show their patriotism in their career. And so that's awesome to see that you're doing that and maybe one day in the future we'll have a 'where are they now' and we'll be doing this kind of an overview from somewhere else in the world. Let's see.
[Ash] Yeah, absolutely.
[Interviewer] Yeah, that'd be great. What sort of advice would you like to give to our, our listeners, to students, alumni? What's the biggest bit of advice that you could share?
[Ash] Your stewardship, learn the meaning of "stewardship". And at first, I thought about like
stewarding our time well, and we really don't have as much time as we think we do here
on this earth. But it doesn't just have to do with our time. It means stewarding our relationships well, stewarding the opportunities that we've been given, the resources we've been given.
There's a, it's a Bible verse that comes to mind, and that really has been kind of constantly
replaying in my mind over the past few months. But it's in Proverbs and it says: "I passed by the
field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense and behold, it was all overgrown
with thorns. The ground was covered with nettles and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it, looked in, received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, in poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man." And when I read that and when I reflect on that, I'm realizing how much I have been, how much I've been given in a lot of different facets in my life, and I really wanted to take as much opportunity as I can to steward that, those things well, and I have a family now.
I have a wife and two daughters. And I'm really trying to learn as we're changing kind of trajectories or moving in different, different seasons of life, stewarding those relationships as best I can, like my mother did, and really trying to ultimately give what I have off to my children as well, so that they can continue building on what's been given to me. So yeah.
[Interviewer] That's just such great advice, stewarding your time well. So, we have a few more minutes here, and I guess my final question is going to be sharing something ...can you share something about your time at North Georgia? You know, something that happened to you
while you were there or maybe someone you met along the way.
[Ash] Sure. Yeah. Last but certainly not least question here and it is a really neat experience and I can't guarantee this for the rest of the people that attend to North Georgia, but I did meet my wife there as a fellow student in the International Affairs program. And we actually met in my junior year her senior year. I was a couple of years behind because of the Army, and we met in a class called International Political Economy. Hands down the most difficult class in our curriculum, but thankfully, I had her to at least enjoy the friendship and cultivation of that
early relationship.
We met in that class, and it actually came about, it was Dr. Armstrong's class I believe,
that on the first day, as an introduction to the class, she had us go through and name a unique thing about ourselves as an introduction of ourselves. And if, if someone else had that characteristic or that quality, whatever it was that interest, it was not unique to you, and you had to name something else. And so, my wife and I had a debate today on who went first. We did not know each other at this time, this was a first-day meeting. And she said that she would like to live in Somalia one day. And already having a kind of an inkling towards work in that region and even specifically in Somalia, I spoke up and I said, well actually, you know, I would like to work in Somalia or live in Somalia one day. So, she turned around, looks at me like, that's a bizarre thing, but she names another thing. She says, well I like to go barefoot, I like to walk around barefoot, not just at my home, but like all over the place. And I actually was kind of known as
walking around campus barefoot a lot of the time and I was actually barefoot that day too. I was like, well actually you know, that's something I enjoy doing regularly as well, so I guess you'll have to find something else that's unique. We can't remember what she chose after that,
but she was getting pretty irritated.
But afterwards, we introduced ourselves to each other, talked about especially that original desire to live and work in Somalia and among Somali people groups. And sparked a friendship.
For me I wanted more than that. Actually, I tried to pursue her twice. A few months later and
she rejected me. A few months later went by, I tried again, she rejected me. We both went overseas to do different stuff within our internship in our study abroad. And about almost
a year later, I returned after five months then in Latin America and just approached her again and told her that I still had the same affections that I had for her previously, and I guess that third time was the charm. And so, we started dating then, got married about a year-and-a-half later, and we've been, we're in our sixth year of marriage now. So going, going towards our seventh year anniversary. Yeah.
[Interviewer] That's awesome. Yeah. I think you're right that not everybody is going to find their spouse at North Georgia. But there are a lot of great stories similar to yours at North Georgia, which is just awesome to see and hear and see the lives that those people create after they
leave North Georgia. So really cool.
Well Ash, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be a part of this interview and I'm excited to see how your career progresses. It's already gone really well. But like I say, I think it'd be fantastic for us to do one of these again sometime in the future when you're in Somalia possibly. If we can get a live feed out of there.
[Ash] One does not simply walk into Somalia, that's a quote that I regularly tell myself. But yeah, we'll see where we end up for sure.
[Interviewer] That's great. That's fantastic. Well again, thank you so much Ash. If anybody who's listening today wants to follow up and ask Ash any questions, he's graciously allowed us to give out his email address and so you can reach out to him at: asharr2142@gmai.com and we'll have this information as well if you need it. But that's asharr2142@gmai.com . And thank you for
sharing that, and I'm sure that we'll have some people reaching out to you to ask for some advice, the successes that you've found as you've gone through failure, that there's a huge amount of lessons to learn from there.
[Ash] So thanks so much Steven for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, the UNG Alumni Association. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you all so much.
[Interviewer] And we do want to thank the Alumni Association for sponsoring the 1873 Speaker Series. And if listeners out there are not a member already, we'd love to have you as a member. And you can join us by visiting the website at ungalumni.org. We'd love to have you there and also on our website we'll have all of our previous interviews as well as in the near future we'll have this one posted as well. Thanks again Ash.
[Ash] Thank you.