Beyond the Plate is a monthly lunch series hosted by Cara Flynn, designed to spark meaningful conversations over great food. Each month features a new guest speaker exploring topics that inspire curiosity and growth—like relationships, wellness, mindfulness, personal empowerment, and more. Come hungry for connection, community, and fresh ideas that go far beyond what’s on your plate.

Ashley is a natural storyteller. Her wry sense of humor and unfiltered candor are guaranteed to entertain and are sure to get a laugh. As with most things in life, she takes a direct and unapologetic route with her narrative. This is what draws people into her story. By being raw, relatable, and real.

Until a few years ago, her story was like many others; married, working, raising a son…and then everything changed, and her story became tragically, uniquely, her own. In October 2022, her husband, Jeff, passed away after a sudden illness. The traumatic rollercoaster of events during his short illness is almost hard to comprehend.
In the months that followed Jeff’s passing, she knew she had to make use of the painful transformation she was experiencing. She had to tell the story; the one about love. The love she and Jeff shared, the love Jeff felt for their son, the love he had for life. Most importantly, the love that fills the space created by profound loss, the kind that holds us up, and puts us back together. The kind of love that sounds like laughter and tastes like tears. The love that keeps us in our life when all we want to do is get off the ride. The love that reminds us that
it’s never too late to begin again.
She first shared her story on Cara’s ‘1 Year, 1 Fear’; podcast and plans to write a book about loving and losing her person, then losing and finding herself. Her aim is to help others understand their unique experience of sorrow and grief but also to find incredible meaning in life after loss. Ashley lives and works in Coralville with two of her great loves – her son, Jack, and their dog, Bugsy.