Ashley Powdar is a senior director who joined the Reimagine Main Street team in February 2024. 

She holds a dual B.A. degree in Political Science, Modern Languages and Cultures from Pace University. Previously, she served as a content strategist for AARP’s national employer and entrepreneurship programs. She has 14 years experience working in and advocating for small businesses in the United States, South America and Africa. As a first generation American and third generation seamstress, she’s deeply energized by entrepreneurship and social impact issues. An entrepreneur at heart, she operates a female artisan group in Georgetown, Guyana under her social impact brand Ruby Sampson. She is a winner of the 2021 Guyana Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s Creative Industries Grant, which powers a scholarship program for the Carnegie School of Home Economics’s Garment Making Program. Her brand also supplies sewing equipment to local seamstresses and trade schools.

A devout traveler, Ashley has lived in Spain, China and Eswatini and visited over 40 countries across 6 continents. In her spare time, she loves binge watching a great show, testing secret products for the nation’s leading black hair care brands and writing on workforce development and entrepreneurship issues. Her work has been featured in Essence, The AFRO, Naturally Curly, AARP, Style Caster and more.