Lead by Example
March 11, 2022 | Words by Ashley Khalipa
To celebrate Women’s History Month, every Monday and Friday during the month of March, we’re highlighting just some of the many women that are a crucial part of NCFIT. Today, we highlight Ashley. Ashley is a mom to two beautiful children and the founder of Ava’s Kitchen.
There is nothing that can prepare you for being a mom.
On top of that, having a girl is an added pressure to make sure you raise her to be a strong, confident woman who can grow up to be an independent woman.
I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANY RIGHT WAY OTHER THAN TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
You just hope that they take the good that they see and learn from the mistakes. Watching my daughter fight Leukemia for two-and-a-half years and come out of it even stronger proves that everything I worked so hard to teach her paid off. Now, she is the strongest person I know.
ONCE AVA GOT SICK, I REALIZED HOW IMPORTANT NUTRITION IS WHEN BATTLING CANCER.
I had always cooked healthy meals for my family, so this wasn’t a difficult task for me, but there are so many families who have no idea what to cook once they get home from the hospital. I started Ava’s Kitchen as a simple Instagram with healthy recipes and now it has turned into so much more.
Soon after creating Ava’s Kitchen, I realized I wanted to create my own charity event that revolved around food. This is when I teamed up with Michael Mina (Mina Group) and we created the Ava’s Kitchen Benefit. It was a unique event that had four guest chefs showcasing a dish front and center of all the attendees. We wanted to keep it small to create an intimate experience that was unlike any benefit people had ever gone to. We feel we have created such a special event and work hard to continue making it even better each year.
