In episode 20 of The TOP Lessons Podcast, host Kathy Inglot sits down with Ashley Paré, CEO and Founder of Own Your Worth, for a powerful conversation about self-advocacy, confidence, and courage in the workplace. Ashley shares how she helps women make the “big ask,” from negotiating salaries to setting boundaries, by activating self-worth and confronting fear using her transformative “Fear Staircase” framework. Together, Kathy and Ashley explore what it takes to prove yourself professionally, navigate career transitions, and stay grounded when your role or skills are challenged. With candid insights on accountability, growth, and empowerment, Ashley closes with the invaluable lesson she’d give her 18-year-old self, reminding listeners that the key to success starts with believing you deserve it.

About Today’s Guest

Ashley Paré is an accomplished HR professional, speaker, coach, CEO, mom, and wife.  She helps to enhance one’s professional worth by encouraging and helping clients get their “asks!”

Ashley gives female leaders the tools to own their worth and the courage to ask for what they want so they can start recognizing their value and stop proving themselves. Leveraging her global Human Resources experience, she helps clients break through internal and external glass ceilings by using effective language to make “asks” that align their ideal career, impact, and earnings.

Ashley’s workshops create a safe space for leaders to tap into and understand the fear and self-limiting beliefs that hold them back from owning their worth so they can find and use their voice to make an impact at work and in life. By helping clients step into their power and operate from their full potential without fearing what others think, their lives and businesses thrive. Through Ashley’s leadership program, The Activator®, clients learn to lead authentically by owning their value so they can confidently grow their career and take bold action. Ashley is a TEDx Speaker and has been featured in The New York Times, Glamour, Good Morning America, CNN Money, and more.

Key Points from this Episode:

• 0:00 Welcome to The TOP Lessons Podcast!

• 0:15 Are you feeling underappreciated, overworked, and undervalued?

• 0:36 Introducing today’s guest, Ashley Paré, CEO and Founder of Own Your Worth

• 1:58 How does someone become a founder like Ashley?

• 5:10 How do you make the big ask and activate self-worth?

• 7:28 Using The Fear Staircase to overcome fear and shyness related to your ask

• 12:16 Navigating pay cuts based on their job obsoletion

• 18:30 Proving yourself as a professional and handling situations where your skill level may not meet professional requirements

• 26:30 Recognizing your own patterns and taking responsibility for your own success

• 30:56 Ashley’s lessons for professionals looking to make career changes

• 36:03 Ashley’s role as a coach and how she helps women take bold action

• 40:37 Ashley Paré’s top lesson for her 18-year-old self

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Connect with Kathy Inglot on LinkedIn

• Recommend a Guest for The TOP Lessons Podcast: [email protected]

• Connect with The TOP Lessons on Instagram: @thetoplessons

• Subscribe to The TOP Lessons on YouTube

• TEDx | How to Have Your Cake & Negotiate Too

• GMA | This woman earned a 5-figure pay raise and you can, too

• Apply to Join THE ACTIVATOR® Leadership Program

• Connect with Ashley on Instagram: @iamashleypare

Thank You

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