Meet Ashley Reid | a.k.a. Momma Swell

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Reid and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I made WiseOcean for my sons. It was something that was very personal, made from home for us. I didn’t want them to struggle with learning how to love themselves later on in life. I truly wanted to help them bypass that laboring journey as much as possible WiseOcean never started as any kind of a business. I made songs like most parents do. Mine came from a place inside of me that taught them coping skills and how to love themselves. My love for them ignited a calling that I have been preparing for by my own struggles. Eventually, I thought of “wouldn’t it be nice for their friends to be healthy too”. It took a succession of circumstances for me to have the idea of turning WiseOcean into something to share, and then nurture as a business. A major catalyst was losing a job and realizing that all of the effort that I put towards other people’s dreams, I can put it towards something that I’ve been working on with my family and community for years. WiseOcean became a business as organically as it started. I’m so grateful to Tamara Fowler of Wiggle Giggle and Katrina Sloan of The Play Pad for giving the first residencies to WiseOcean Live with Momma Swell, and to Debra Snow, Commissioner for the City of Holly Hill, for WiseOcean’s first concert. You grow by the people who believe in you. The first thing that shows up is your heart. My heart is huge for our children. WiseOcean is love.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think I’ve been an artist from the moment that I made it to this earth. I know we say that all children are creative, and they are. Expression is something we need to nurture in them for their emotional intelligence. I’ve been an artist my entire life, down to my bones, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I played photo shoot as a little girl and kid. I petitioned to be in the dark room in high school years before it was allowed through policy. I was blessed to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York and graduated with a BFA. I managed the former Daniel Reich Gallery in Chelsea, NY before I graduated from college (thank you to my dearest Chris Verene and Sissel Kardell). I had my first solo exhibition as a represented artist by the Nowhere Gallery of Contemporary Art in Milan, Italy, one year to the date of my college graduation. I’m so grateful to Benedetta Pignatelli for showing my art to Orio Vergani, the first person to give me a chance to show my work. God rest his soul.

Life made a pivot in the recession of 2006 and I found myself in Brooklyn working in a hair salon, and making friends that I still have to this day. And of course, continue to create. Everything that I’ve done in my life, whether I’ve walked dogs or was a president of a production company, being passionately creative is something that has never ceased. In every phase of my life so far, I’ve been an artist and I’m grateful that these are the gifts that God’s giving me in order to serve others, for His Glory.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would make soup in my kitchen and build us a fire in the backyard. We’d get stuck in a laugh at least once and listen to my obscure playlists under the trees. We do this in real time, often. There’s nothing like a good kickback.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve always been a major believer in the power of community and absolutely none of this would have been possible without God working through the heart of mine. I have the greatest “framily” ever: Cassius and Sheena Walton, Lindsay Harper. Chioma Thompson, Casiana Foghis. Andrea and India Powe. My brother Aaron Reid and my Uncle Craig. Sage Kai Abram, who have made WiseOcean with me as I’ve made it for them. I can keep going and going. I am fully aware of this incredible abundance of love in my life. It does not matter what trials I face I am surrounded by it. I thank the Lord for this every day. Shout out to my tribe. I hope to be as much of a blessing to you all as you have been to me and the boys, 10 times over. I LOVE YOU!

Website: https://WiseOcean.org

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/wiseocean

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@wiseocean?feature=shared

Image Credits
WiseOcean at Wiggle Giggle
WiseOcean at The Play Pad
WiseOcean for the City of Holly Hill