ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — Rocky River resident Ashley Rector was a go-getter from a young age. 

“I’m proud of her. She’s always been independent and I’ve known since she was young that she had the aptitude and the intelligence to do it,” said Dennis Drellishak, Ashley’s dad. 

Rector grew up in a male dominated, entrepreneurial family. She has seven uncles and two aunts, most of which are entrepreneurs themselves. 

“There’s nine kids in my family and most of them have had their own businesses at one time or still have it,” said Drellishak.

Drellishak is the founder and CEO of Corporate Screening, which he started when Rector was a young girl. Drellishak knew his daughter would make a name for herself one day. He has pictures of Rector at a young age standing on his desk at Corporate Screening, and then another one of her years later sitting at her own desk at her own company. 

“I can’t believe she started her own business but we always talked business when everybody was young in our family," said Drellishak. "We always had business discussions around the dinner table and all that so I think they were kind of raised to be independent. Independent and strong."

“So [there’s] a lot of men and then me starting a female empowerment magazine,” added Rector. 

Rector is the founder of Harness Magazine, an indie magazine that gives women all over the world a platform to share their stories and be their most authentic self.

“When we first started, we were asking for stories like five years ago that people wouldn't publish. And so now just seeing how open our community is it just like, it makes me so happy. It reminds me like this is why I have this magazine,” said Rector. “Some of the stories in here about infertility and kids with autism and raising daughters and heartbreak and starting your own business. I mean, these are things that like women go through on a daily basis. We just, we don't talk about it often.”

More than 5,000 women from all over the world write for her magazine. The magazine started out as a print magazine in 2016 and now is completely digital.   

“We need a space where women can share their authentic stories and, you know, you could be a first-time writer. You could be, you know, really savvy at writing. But as long as it's real, it's raw and it's coming from a space that's like, true, we'll publish it,” said Rector. 

The magazine is a platform for women to lift each other up, instead of tear each other down. 

“I think it's that like connection on a real level because women sometimes, you know, we're very competitive with one another, I think on like social media and in the digital space and this like eliminates all of that. So it's like a way to just connect and be very authentic with one another,” said Rector. “You can read this magazine or you can read the digital issue and know that like, oh my God, like someone else is going through similar stuff as me, or felt this way or what a great success that woman had that maybe she didn't talk about because people would think that she was braggy or, you know, snooty or whatever. And so I think it's a way to just feel like we're more alike than we are different.”

Rector didn’t stop there. Harness Magazine empowered her to continue pursuing her goals. She started Laura Alexandria Marketing in 2019. It’s a female-centric social media agency where she helps brands find their authentic voice, too. 

“After reading so many stories of women and knowing they stepped outside their comfort zone by sharing it with me and knowing that marketing is what I wanted to do, like I had to. It wasn’t true to me or Harness if I didn't step outside my comfort zone and start this company,” said Rector. 

Harness Magazine may be found here as well as on social media at @HarnessCommunity.