This Entrepreneur Wants to Empower Women Through Her Own Business

This article was originally published in West Fort Bend Living on January 24, 2025. Ashley Massie was adamant about one thing when she propelled herself into the role of entrepreneur: it was that she would use her passion “to start a program to help someone else.”

“I needed something to ground me, every single day for the first two years,” said Massie, referring to the ups and downs that tend to accompany the initial years of running a business. If she had at least one focal point, aside from what was necessary for success, she could endure the tough times.

Through her business venture she would help others, Massie decided, and spent time thinking about where she should aim her efforts. Women transitioning from women’s shelters is the population the 29-year-old entrepreneur settled on because of the reasons abused women will return to their abusers.

In a 2005 study, among 104 female residents in a facility for intimate partner violence victims, reported that 66.3% had separated from and returned to their abusive partners at least once, and of them, 97.1% stated that they had returned multiple times. The National Domestic Violence Hotline stated the common reasons victims will return to their abusers include feelings of shame or fear, concern over their immigration status, having a disability, having children, and lack of confidence and especially resources for their own livelihood.

“They feel like they don’t have the skills to make it on their own or that they don’t have an out, especially when there are kids involved,” Massie explained. “I thought maybe I can give them that, give them a way to reroute their life.” So, as a franchisee with Floor Coverings International, Massie developed what she calls her 10-year plan.

Right now, she has one Floor Coverings International location open in Rosenberg (the office is located at 1114 Lawrence Street) with a mobile showroom containing 3000 flooring options. It serves areas throughout Fort Bend County, Texas – including Sugar Land, Rosenberg, Missouri City, Sienna, Pleak and Thompson. Her long-term plan, however, is to run five locations with two or three of them fully staffed by women transitioning from women’s shelters.

These locations, she explained, will have several positions “with a lot of overhead opportunity” for the women.

If she can develop her program as needed, Massie said through Floor Coverings International she will help the women reclaim their lives and break destructive and disruptive patterns. If a woman who survived abuse can reroute her life in a thriving direction without fear and with her children secure and unharmed during the journey, that alone can stop a generation of pain being repeated, Massie emphasized.

“What if they could go after the life they thought was out of reach,” she asked letting the thought hand in the brief silence. “And what if I could do that dozens of times?”

An Eager Entrepreneur 

Along with owning Floor Coverings International-Rosenberg, Massie has a decade of expertise in IT, engineering, energy recruitment and management, as well as experience in the automotive industry. Much of it benefited her when she decided to become a franchise owner, a decision that hasn’t been without its challenges. The financial stress, having to endure the challenges of vendors and the program complexities of starting didn’t dissuade her entrepreneurial spirit, though.

Her family’s legacy is just too strong.

“I was raised surrounded by entrepreneurs; my grandfather being a co-founder of Excel Telecommunications, traveled as a motivational speaker and my mother going on to create multiple businesses is what drilled this passion to build into me,” Massie said, adding that her commitment to excellence and her “let’s do it better” philosophy led her to partner with Floor Coverings International, which she said aligns with her values of putting the team and customer first. Plus, there’s longevity within the franchise’s industry, she noted.

The U.S. Bank reported that the housing market continues to be strongly affected by elevated interest rates, and those higher rates combined with rising home values, means housing is now a much costlier expense for potential buyers than was the case only a few years ago.

Massie said she agrees with the findings the U.S. Bank reported – that people might be choosing to stay in their current homes and remodel, rather than move due to the current housing market.

“The growing trend of investing in home improvements just continues,” said Massie, sharing that she noticed it around the onslaught of the pandemic when home confinement was the course of living for so many. “In our area people are investing heavily into their existing homes more than they are selling them. A floor adds a lot of value to a remodel.”

“According to a recent study conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 90% of homeowners who upgrade to hardwood floors have a greater desire to be home and 77% have an increased sense of enjoyment when they are home,” she said, citing studies that show significant cost recovery from hardwood floor upgrades. “That same study showed that refinishing hardwood floors yielded 147% cost recovery, and installing new wood floors yielded 118% cost recovery in terms of the increased resale value as compared to the cost of the project.”

Getting Out of the Box

Massie doesn’t seek praise for her intentions behind her 10-year plan, but she does hope she can inspire other entrepreneurs to think outside of the box for ways they could directly benefit their communities.

“What I’m doing, it’s an individual thing,” Massie said, explaining that this drive to help began as an idea she couldn’t let go of.

That is not the case for every entrepreneur or business owner, she noted objectively.

“Not all businesses know how to [donate time, money or opportunities directly] to causes they want to support,” she said. “They want to give but they don’t know how to.”

Massie then shares the domino effect she dreams of seeing – her plan reaching fruition, helping precisely those women she wants to support, but, also inspiring other business owners to develop more direct and permanent ways to help those who need resources, access and opportunities.

Ways that help people out of the box currently binding them, she said.

Perhaps, even some of those businesses will want to invest in or join her program, calling more women to be helped.

She stops her dream at that point and exhales a satisfied sigh: “I like talking about this,” she said.

When the days as a business owner get tough — and lately there have been some rough ones, she noted — talking about her 10-year plan charges her. It’s not about another notch on the belt or boasting an achievement, she explained. It’s about the chance to help people better their lives in a long-lasting way. So Massie said she will endure the tough days for the chance to ease someone else’s down the line.

But first, she must catapult her Floor Coverings International location into a financial position to support her other locations.

To do this, Massie said she has another plan: “To do right by people.”

In an era when deceptive practices can easily be costumed as good-will, Massie said she wants to be known for honest and fair dealings.

Not because she says so, but because her clients do.

“I want you to trust in the brand and me specifically,” she said.