Hi Everybody!
I'm Ashley Smith, Head of Community and Blog Manager here at Stage 32. If we've connected in the Lounges, in the comments, at an Open House, or through the blog, I'm so glad to see you again. And if you're brand new, welcome. Truly. You're in the right place.
Before Stage 32, I spent many years working in scripted development and talent management, supporting television and film projects in development with studios and networks like Amazon, FX, Paramount TV, Universal TV, Sony TV, MGM, and Legendary Global. I had the privilege of working closely with writers, producers, authors, and directors, helping shape projects from early drafts through greenlights. That experience gave me a deep respect for both the creative process and the realities of the industry.
At Stage 32, my focus is connection, clarity, and momentum. I help shape our community spaces, curate the daily blog, host events, and support members as they navigate the platform and their goals. What motivates me most is helping creatives move from "stuck" to "in motion" by engaging strategically, building real relationships, and taking aligned action instead of just shouting into the void. More than anything, I want to be someone you can rely on here. Whether that's pointing you toward the right Lounge, the right resource, the right introduction, or simply cheering you on when you need it. Community works when we show up for each other.
Outside of work, I love binge-watching great series, traveling, puzzling, playing video games and board games with my husband, Jordan (who is also my childhood sweetheart), and my sister. I'm a lifelong comic book reader and a huge fan of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and romantasy, which absolutely influences my own writing.
But the hobby I want to share today (since it's the one that most consistently refills my creative well) is cooking. Jordan and I genuinely love cooking together. It's how I destress, how I express myself creatively, and how we spend some of our most connected time together. And most importantly, it always ends in eating something delicious.
The photo I shared with this post is from a meal we made together a couple of weeks ago: Buttered Sweet Corn Gazpacho with Crispy Skin Halibut, Charred Corn and Fresno Pepper Relish, Brown Butter, Homemade Chive Oil, and Smoked Paprika Oil. It was so fun to plate AND even more fun to eat.
We love taking pretty pictures of the food we make and sharing them with friends, so we started an Instagram at @smithtestkitchen just to have a little home for it. Not for anything formal, just for the joy of it. Feel free to follow along if food-loving content is your thing!
Cooking is my creative well-refiller. What's yours?
Whether it's a hobby that has nothing to do with your creative work, a ritual you rely on when the creative tank runs low, a place that always resets you, a person who inspires you, or a completely random passion project that fuels the rest of your life and work, I'd love to hear it.
Drop it in the comments below and let's spend Introduce Yourself Weekend getting to know each other beyond just our projects and work!
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Hi, @Ashley! I hope you're having a great week! That looks delicious. You're right. Community works when we show up for each other. Showing movies and shows refills my creative tank.
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Happy IYSW Ashley Renée Smith! That looks yummy! I've been into cooking too lately, and my fave dish is Sinigang (a Filipino dish), perfect for our rainy weather right now. Thanks so much for all your hard work in Stage32!
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Yuuuuuuuum! Your food pictures are always good! I get hungry every time
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Hi Ashley, your meal looks delicious! Long walks in nature fill my creative well, along with choreographing and performing in floorshows for our dance studio. And good chocolate always helps!
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Hi, Ashley Renée Smith. Me too, I love cooking. But when I feel stuck in my writing, I usually go for a walk, or I sew and knit baby clothing, since I’m an entrepreneur in that area. These two activities take me into other worlds of happiness, and they make my mind feel lighter and ready to write again. Thanks for sharing your new Instagram, and have a happy IYW.
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Good morning, my sister from another mother :))
You’re such a force of nature, truly. Even with miles between us, it always feels like we’re right next to each other. Your joy, your strength, your leadership… they’re part of what makes the Stage 32 community so special. Thank you for being exactly who you are and for the way you care for all of us <3
And that recipe… oh my goodness, I’m melting. It looks dangerously delicious. Cooking is one of my happy places too, and lately I’ve been deep in my Japanese‑style phase. I love challenging myself, so the kitchen becomes another playground for creativity. I guess storytelling follows me everywhere, even into the frying pan :D
Have the most beautiful IYWeekend, Ash. Sending you all the creative sunshine and kitchen magic today.
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I love following your IG and seeing the creations that you and Jordan come up with Ashley Renée Smith. It's actually a reminder (and encouragement) to me to continue on my journey of eating better. I had not had anything fried for so long and yesterday, got sick from one piece of fried catfish. No more fried for me, Captain!
I would have to say that music definitely refuels me. Whether playing the piano or listening to some of my favorites there's not much else that heals and fills at the same time.
And speaking of healing, thank you for your friendship and leadership on this journey. It is astounding that you have this large a load to carry and still find the time to be a good friend who hears with her heart.
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Look at that meal—the plating is top tier. Thank you for this post, self-care is essential and rest is radical in this work. I love to lounging on the couch with my family, nature, knitting, karaoke and cooking when I need to unwind. Thank you for pouring into this Community in the way you do. I’m happy that you have the time and space to rejuvenate! xoxo
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Hello!
Happy IYW to you!
Thank you very much for all the great work and support you give to our community.
That meal looks absolutely delicious! Cooking is such a wonderful way to relax and enjoy a joyful meal with family.
For me, it's going for a walk while listening to music. That simple habit helps me calm my mind, recharge, and often inspires new creative ideas.
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Maurice Vaughan I love that movies and shows are what refill your creative tank. There’s something so grounding about disappearing into someone else’s story for a while, especially for storytellers ourselves, and I completely relate to that as a way to recharge.
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Jaz Lagrimas that sounds so comforting and perfect for rainy weather! Nothing beats a warm bowl of something soul-nourishing on a wet day. I love that you’ve been getting into cooking too, it’s such a wonderful outlet. Thank YOU for everything you do for Stage 32, girl! We’re all in this together.
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Lauren Hackney You’re the sweetest, thank you! I promise Jordan and I will keep posting pretty food to make you hungry on the regular. It’s basically our love language.
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Maria Caeiro I love this so much! Walking, sewing, and knitting baby clothing as your creative reset is genuinely beautiful, and I love that you’ve built an entrepreneurial path around the sewing side too. There’s something so soothing about working with your hands in a completely different way from writing, it gives the storytelling mind space to rest and reset. Thank you for sharing, and happy IYW to you!
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Ingrid Wren thank you so much! Long walks in nature sound so restorative. That’s such a beautiful combination of solitude for the mind AND full-body creative expression on stage. And good chocolate absolutely counts, I’ll fight anyone who disagrees. Wishing you a wonderful IYW!
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Thank you for the sweetest words, Sandra Isabel! You bring so much joy AND light to this community too, and I feel it every single time we connect, miles or no miles.
Okay but a Japanese-style phase?! You’re speaking my whole heart. Please share what you’ve been making, I’m always looking for inspiration. I’ve been using a lot of Korean flavor profiles lately, especially for marinades.
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Leonardo Ramirez I love that our food adventures are inspiring your journey too. And I’m sorry the fried catfish didn’t agree with you (though sometimes our bodies really do tell us what they need loud and clear!). Jordan and I have been leaning heavier into fresh, seasonal cooking lately too, and it’s genuinely made such a difference for how we feel day to day. Music as your refill makes complete sense, especially given how deeply woven it is into your creative work.
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Whitney Davis Thank you so much, and yes, plating is a whole obsession in our kitchen! My husband literally comes home with random plates and bowls sometimes that he discovers at thrift stores or even Target and wants to make sure we have in our rotation for plating food. Which means our cabinet of plates and bowls is chaos. LOL!
I love your list of unwind rituals, especially karaoke, that one made me smile. I’m NOT brave enough to do it myself, but I love to cheer my friends on when they do. Thank you for the reminder that self-care is essential and rest is radical, especially in the work we do. Sending you so much appreciation right back! Truly.
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Meriem Bouziani thank you so much! Walking while listening to music is such a beautiful combination, especially for someone building whole imaginary worlds like you are with sci-fi and fantasy. There’s something about the rhythm of walking paired with the atmosphere of music that unlocks a different creative headspace, and I love that it’s become part of your process. Happy IYW to you too, and thank you for being such a wonderful part of this community!
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Hail, Lord of Community, Lady Ashley Renée Smith
What enchantment hast thou cast?
I strive to heed thy words, yet mine eyes are hopelessly ensnared by the feast. I’ve had to avert my gaze merely to break the spell.
Thou hast discovered my mortal weakness: a home-cooked meal prepared by another.
I am now doubly grateful for the seat at thy table. Honestly, had I known such bounty awaited within these walls, I might have besieged the gates long ago.
As for what replenishes my creative well? Such enchanted fare ranks very high. There is profound, ancient magic in a meal made for you by someone who cares enough to make it.
Banter aside, thank thee, Ashley, for all thy unseen labor in this realm. True community-building can appear effortless only because someone steadfast is doing so much of the work beyond the lantern light.
A cook’s labor, too, often goes unpraised, save perhaps for its highest honor:
A scraped-clean bowl.
And perfect, blissful silence.
I shall take that silence as my cue.
My deepest thanks.
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That looks delicious, Ashley Renée Smith!
What fills my creative well is a combination of things; living life is an underrated component (in fact my latest logline for Funky House is born of boyfriend and I finding a house listing in his city that he has christened, you guessed it, “funky house”), as well as consuming media, even self-therapy and sleep does it. I wanna say there’s no rhyme or reason to my ideas but that’s probably only because I haven’t cracked it yet.
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Thank you Ashley Renée Smith. It´s all about creating. That´s what I love. Creating new things, clothing, stories, solving issues trying to figure out new ways of doing, thinking, living... I like to challenge myself :)
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Ashley Renée Smith bahahaha you two make me smile! ...and hungry x
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The contents of that plate looks so yummy! Thank you for the amazing intro, mine was brief but hey, I'm a man of few words :D . My favourite hobby is driving, I like taking long road trips, mostly to places I haven't visited before. It is often very therapeutic. The attached photo is of a place I visited in Northern Kenya and decided to take out the drone for cool landscape capture.
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Yam yam yam
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What's your favorite food movie/show, Ashley Renée Smith?
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Maurice Vaughan, my favorite food shows have to be- The Bear if we’re talking narrative. But for Unscripted dramas, I love Top Chef, Great Food Truck Race, and Chef’s Table.
My favorite food movies- The Menu, Chef, and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cookoff because I loved it as a kid.
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Adam J. Spencer This comment officially wins my award for favorite comment of the weekend, hands down. You’ve outdone yourself.
Also, “profound, ancient magic in a meal made for you by someone who cares enough to make it” is genuinely one of the most beautiful lines I’ve read in a long time, and I’m going to be thinking about it every time Jordan and I cook together from now on. The seat at the table is always yours, kind sir. May thy own creative well overflow this weekend, and may the next feast be even more worthy of the silence that follows.
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I've seen The Bear, Great Food Truck Race, and Chef, Ashley Renée Smith. The Bear is written incredibly, but it's a stressful, draining show.
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Banafsheh Esmailzadeh thank you! And I love this so much. There’s something so wonderful about real life offering up unexpected creative sparks, especially when a shared moment with someone you love becomes the seed for a logline. Those are always the ones that carry the most heart, because they started from a real place. Sometimes creative refills come from big deliberate moments, and sometimes they come from sleep, self-therapy, and letting the mind rest until the next spark appears. There’s real wisdom in trusting that all of those inputs count. Wishing you a wonderful IYW!
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Eugene Onzere Kaiga The road trip love is such a wonderful creative refuel! My husband also loves a roadtrip.There’s something so meditative about long solo drives (or drives with just the right music), and I love that you’re seeking out places you haven’t been before. Curiosity + movement is such a powerful combination for the creative mind.