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Ashley James

@ashleylouisejames

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Voice for Women | Broadcaster | DJ
🥇No.1 Sunday Times bestseller
✍🏻 BIMBO 💖
🎙️ @thismorning
🤱🏼 Alf & Ada's mama
💌 [email protected]

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I made my ambitions very clear and now the Sunday Times Bestseller chart is here and I can now officially say… that BIMBO is an instant No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller. OMG!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH 🩷😭💅🏼I won’t lie, I was SO nervous to take that call, and I NEVER expected to get Number 1. WOW!! I had made my ambition to be a Sunday Times bestseller so public that I was genuinely scared of failing out loud. We are so conditioned, especially as women, to downplay our ambitions. To be humble. To not want “too much”. To quietly hope rather than boldly declare. 💭 And as human beings, we are terrified of failure. How many of us would love to try something new, a hobby, a business, a career pivot, but we don’t because we’re scared of looking silly if it doesn’t work?I am so grateful to 25 year old me for quitting my job and living in my overdraft trying to “make it”, while friends were getting promotions, buying houses, climbing ladders. It is so hard not to feel left behind. I have failed at so many things. I have been rejected more times than I can count. But I genuinely believe every single one of those moments led me to this book. 📚✨I was SO loud about wanting BIMBO to do well that I worried I’d jinxed it. But bestseller or not, I am SO SO proud of it. Proud of the words. Proud of the honesty. Proud of what it stands for. 💖Of course my ego is happy. I’ve dreamt of this moment since I was a little girl. But more than that, I care deeply about making the world fairer and more equal for women and girls. I care about raising good men. I care about challenging the labels that shrink us. 👑🔥Every review, every message, every share, whether you have 1 follower or 4 million, it has ALL mattered. 🫶🏼So not to be a total cringe bag or dish out fake positivity, but please take this as your sign to dream big and do the thing you’ve been putting off. 💅🏼💭✨WE BLOODY DID IT. 😭🩷Now… how do we get BIMBO domination in the US? 🇺🇸💄👀 by @ashleylouisejames

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3 months ago

Couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer (literally)… BIMBO book cover reveal! 🤐💋I can’t believe I finally get to share this: the cover of my debut book, BIMBO: Ditch the Labels. Find Your Voice. Reclaim Your Confidence.This cover has been such a labour of love, and seeing it come to life feels surreal. This is a mock up because I couldn’t wait any longer to show you what we’ve come up with! The final version will be printed directly onto the book (no jacket). It’s honestly a work of art. I wanted it to feel like something you’d be proud to show off in your home, but of course the words inside will also change your life.BIMBO is about how the world silences women through labels, shame, and outdated expectations, and how we can take our voices back. It’s about shaking off everything that’s made us small and learning to take up space again.BIMBO is out on 12th February, making it the perfect gift for yourself, your Galentine, or a mum in your life for Mother’s Day. You can pre-order it now, and there are still a few signed copies left. All links are in my bio. 💖Pre-orders are SO important for the book charts and to show retailers my book deserves a spot, so I just want to say how grateful I am to everyone who orders a copy. THANK YOU. I’ve truly put my heart and soul into this book.We’ve spent long enough being told to be quiet, to behave, to stay in our place. It’s time to unzip our voices. 🔥 by @ashleylouisejames

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7 months ago

Should women pay less tax than men? Ashley James says the fight for equality isn’t that simple… by @ashleylouisejames

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9 months ago

“It was this real lightbulb moment for me” @ashleylouisejames on #Bookshelfie this week, talking about how @lucyfjones’ 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction longlisted ‘Matrescence’ transformed her perspective on motherhood.Listen to discover the four other books that have shaped Ashley and more, wherever you get your podcasts – or watch #Bookshelfie in full on YouTube and Spotify. Bookshelfie will be taking a break over the summer, returning later in the year with even more brilliant guests and bookish conversations. Subscribe to be the first to hear when the new episodes drop, and if you’ve enjoyed the season so far, why not rate #Bookshelfie on your podcast platform of choice?With thanks to our sponsor, @baileysofficial by @ashleylouisejames

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Teaching her that she can rule the world 🌎✨Women before us fought to open these doors. My job is to make sure she never doubts she belongs behind them. ❤️🌍💪 by @ashleylouisejames

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3 days ago

The half term juggle has come to a close 🤹‍♀️Jet lag has been such a nightmare this week I feel like I’ve been sleepwalking! I always say it’s worth it 1000x for the experiences, but wow east to west jet lag hit Ada hard - which meant not very much sleep for me!I didn’t take a single photo at This Morning and I’ve spent the rest of the week trying to work and do fun things with Alf. This weekend we bought a paddling pool and I had a massive clear out - I always start tidying the kids rooms and never have the energy for my own one! Anyone else? 😂Alf is at such a good age - he’s started coming out with the funniest things and also giving me 1000 kisses every day. He has wanted to go on an open top bus for age so i took him and he loved it but basically just pointed out the most random things like the traffic lights turning orange! He said the best part of this weekend was going on a bus with no roof ❤️The work highlight for me was definitely seeing BIMBO in the window @waterstones at Battersea Power Station! It was so unexpected and it was nice to share it with the kids! I genuinely don’t think it will ever feel real and I’m just so appreciative of the support and daily messages I get in my inbox about it. ❤️ the only reason I went to Battersea power station was to fix my phone screen at the Apple Store and turns out - IT WAS MY PROTECTIVE CASE that cracked. Oops. So glad we went there now though to see BIMBO (very appropriately named). 🤪💅I also realised I had so many snaps on my camera roll from Margate and I needed to share them because it’s become my new favourite place in England (after London maybe 👀). I loved it so much - especially the art and interiors. I also signed my book at @themargatebookshop in case you’re local. I saw it in the front by the door so ran in to proudly say it was my book and ask if I could sign it! 😭Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely weekend - bed time for me to watch Amandaland! lots of love ❤️ by @ashleylouisejames

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4 days ago

“Women only have power because men gave it to them.” 👀It’s a strange and ignorant thing to say when you look at history.Firstly, who decided power belonged to men in the first place? Who decided women needed permission to vote, own property, access education, run countries or make decisions about our own lives?Women weren’t given the vote or power - we fought for it.We weren’t handed rights out of kindness. We campaigned, protested, organised, marched, wrote, spoke out, went on hunger strike, were arrested, force-fed, mocked, ridiculed and ignored.Every right women have today exists because women have refused to accept the limits that were placed upon them.And if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that progress is never guaranteed.We’ve seen rights that women fought generations to secure come under threat again. We’ve seen conversations about rolling back equality protections. We’ve seen attempts to restrict reproductive rights. Around the world we’ve seen girls’ freedoms reduced, child marriage laws weakened, and women’s autonomy treated as negotiable.Because if you believe rights were given by those in power, you also have to accept they can be taken away by those in power.That’s why history matters.Not because it tells us how far we’ve come, but because it reminds us how quickly things can move backwards.Power wasn’t given to women.Women fought for every inch of it.And every generation has a responsibility to keep fighting for the women and girls who come next. And I’m so grateful to all the women using their voices and positions of power to resist going backwards ✊💜 by @ashleylouisejames

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5 days ago

Is doomscrolling the new smoking?! 📱🚬 With tech companies under fire for app addiction, the debate is heating up. Ashley and Nick discuss if we need a total social media ban for under 16s, or just better education 🛑 by @ashleylouisejames

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5 days ago

Have you noticed how easy it is to become a “difficult woman”? Honestly, all it really seems to take is speaking confidently, having opinions, refusing to stay quiet, or not making yourself smaller to make everyone else comfortable.It’s almost like we can’t win…If we speak up, we’re bossy.If we’re emotional, we’re hysterical.If we’re ambitious, we’re intimidating.If we’re confident, we’re arrogant.And if we dare talk about politics or social issues online, we should apparently “stick to holiday posts”. 🙃I actually laugh now when people tell me to stop talking about politics because the irony is… I didn’t always have the confidence to express my opinions publicly. I spent years worrying about being liked, about sounding too loud or too opinionated, about whether people would think I was “too much”.So the fact I now sit on the This Morning sofa every week talking about issues I care about still makes me feel really proud.One thing I have noticed though is how quickly my intelligence gets questioned the moment I talk about politics. I’m not convinced men’s intelligence is questioned in quite the same way, even when people massively disagree with them.But also… politics isn’t supposed to just belong to a handful of men in suits anyway.You don’t need a politics degree to care about childcare costs, women’s rights, the NHS, housing, education, safety, maternity leave or whether disabled people are properly supported. Politics affects every single one of us and our everyday lives.And honestly, I think more women should feel confident enough to have opinions and say them out loud - because if we don’t, someone else will always speak for us. ✨ by @ashleylouisejames

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7 days ago

I can’t stop thinking about this case 💔Two teenage girls were raped in two separate incidents by a group of boys, and the judge decided prison was not necessary.These girls not only experienced the trauma of rape, but then the humiliation of footage being shared online, with one reportedly called a “slag.” They still found the courage to report it, endure a court process where victims so often feel like they’re the ones under scrutiny, and then listen to concern being shown for the futures of the boys responsible.What message does that send?Women and girls already live with the reality of sexual violence shaping so much of our lives. The “text me when you get home.” The keys between our fingers. The knowledge that if something happens, the victim will likely be questioned more than the perpetrator. In England and Wales, 1 in 4 women have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16, yet fewer than 3 in 100 rapes recorded by police result in a charge.We’re still reeling from the Epstein revelations and the lack of accountability. We can see in plain sight how powerful men are protected and excused. When Spain passed a law simply saying sex without consent is rape, conservative politicians argued their biggest concern was that it would be unfair to men. Too often, the conversation centres the impact accusations have on men more than the impact sexual violence has on women.As Gisèle Pelicot said, shame must change sides. But we can’t do it alone.I want judges who are good judges of character. I want sexual violence treated with the seriousness it deserves. And I want a system that stops failing survivors. It shouldn’t take national outrage for justice to be served. by @ashleylouisejames

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I think we have to be really careful about how we talk about childhood obesity, because children’s health is not happening in a vacuum.We’ve got more than 4 million children living in poverty in the UK, parents are exhausted, healthy food is often the most expensive option, youth clubs and play spaces have been cut, and children are growing up surrounded by ultra-processed food and constant advertising.And I think sometimes we frame this purely as individual failure or bad parenting - particularly blaming mothers.What’s striking is that until now, some children whose parents were on Universal Credit still didn’t qualify for free school meals. So we’ve spent years debating whether hungry children deserve food at school, while simultaneously worrying about childhood obesity, when actually food insecurity and obesity can be deeply linked because the cheapest foods are often the least nutritious.Of course personal responsibility matters, but we also have to acknowledge the system children are growing up in. If families are financially stretched, short on time and living in an environment where unhealthy food is the cheapest and most heavily marketed option.And I also think we need nuance when talking about how we measure children’s health. Alf recently got a letter from the NHS saying he was overweight when he very clearly isn’t. A lot of these assessments still rely heavily on BMI, which was never designed as a complete measurement of individual health - especially in growing children. So you do have to wonder how many families are being unnecessarily alarmed or shamed by outdated metrics.For me, the answer isn’t pretending obesity has no health impacts, because it absolutely can. More than 6,000 children have now needed treatment at specialist NHS obesity clinics in England, some with serious complications like type 2 diabetes and liver disease.But equally, I don’t think fat-shaming children or making them fearful of food helps either. We should absolutely care about children’s health - but we need to do it with compassion, support and honesty about the world families are trying to raise children in.What do you think? ❤️ by @ashleylouisejames

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9 days ago

Emptying my camera roll after the best week ever ✨👑❤️🎢I can’t believe we’ve stepped off the plane to the exact same weather as we had in Orlando ✨🥹🥵☀️ I live for the heat so I couldn’t be more delighted and I feel like we’re all well and truly acclimatised! I’ve had the leaf vacuum and jet washer out in the garden and I’ve just got the kids to bed and am looking through my camera roll.Disney World with the kids really has been one of the happiest weeks of my life - it’s probably helps that I’m such a huge Disney fan and I think it brings out your own inner child - but getting to experience so much magic and firsts with Alf and Ada - especially when they believe all the magic - is such a core memory. I think we went to Magic Kingdom every evening the last 4 nights so we really did squeeze every moment out of the experience. I’ve honestly never seen Alf so happy - I’m pretty sure I said that last year - but he comes out of his shell and it’s been a joy to watch him be so brave on the rollercoasters (still can’t believe he did Space Mountain, Gardians of the Galaxy, and Space Mountain 😱 ) - and seeing him volunteer to be on stage was a treat too. And Ada getting over her fear of characters and giving Jesse the biggest hug as well as watching her be transformed into Belle - probably my favourite Disney princess. I’m already excited to print out all of these photos and add them into our photo album! I feel so incredibly lucky to get to have had this experience with the kids - I just remember thinking all week that my heart could burst. I know kids holidays are tough in the early days but I love getting to hang out with them and have adventures with them now! Also getting to meet @stueyarmfield @francishaugen and Rebel and Rio was also such a highlight. Loved seeing the kids play together. ❤️Anyway I’m off to finish my jet washing before I’m on This Morning tomorrow, but I’ll do a question box on stories and answer any burning questions tomorrow afternoon. ❤️✨Hope it’s been helpful for anyone planning a trip and I really am happy to answer any questions.Thank you @waltdisneyworld - I’m already excited to come back. AD PR EVENT ❤️✨🎢👑 by @ashleylouisejames

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