Ashley is originally from Orlando, Florida. The daughter of James and Gloria Mills, she moved with her family to Raleigh, North Carolina in high school. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Media Communications from North Carolina State University with a minor in TV/film production. She makes her home in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and was named by Jezebel magazine as one of Atlanta's "50 Most Attractive People" in 2015 and was just most recently named by Rolling Out Magazine as one of Atlanta's Top 25 Women in November 2016.
Ashley competed for the title of Miss North Carolina USA in 2010 and placed in the top 10. On November 10, 2012, she made history becoming the 5th African-American woman in 61 years of the pageant to be crowned Miss North Carolina USA. During her tenure as Miss North Carolina USA, she created an anti-bullying campaign and, with help from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, she has been able to speak with over 25,000 students statewide about the serious problems of bullying. She now resides in Atlanta, Georgia and works full-time in entertainment as an actress and model.
Miss USA
Ashley represented the state of North Carolina at the Miss USA 2013 pageant held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She placed in the top 10, becoming the first North Carolina woman to place at the Miss USA pageant since Kristen Dalton won the title in 2009. The eventual winner was Erin Brady of Connecticut.
After the pageants
Following her time as Miss North Carolina USA, Ashley worked in fashion as a catalog and runway model, and acted in small parts on television and in commercials. In 2015, she caught the attention of independent filmmaker Rick Prince (of the SyFy TV competition series FaceOff who cast her as the lead in his first feature film. Soon thereafter, she landed a major recurring role on Tyler Perry's scripted drama for TLC, Too Close to Home. She announced in 2019 that she will have a role in the upcoming ABC TV seriesThe Baker & The Beauty, an adaptation of a highly successful scripted musical comedy TV series in Israel.
