Meet Ashley Lance, a 2008 Alumni from Taneytown, Maryland. Ashley currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and currently owns Fernweh Food Company, a plant-based and gluten free dehydrated meal company that is packaged in compostable packaging.
Can you give us a brief description of what you do?
What at NMU helped you most in your current role?
Almost every class I took while earning my Hospitality Degree has helped me to build the groundwork for my business. Learning how to work in a commercial kitchen, how to scale and write recipes, how to do food costing and how to work with others have all helped me to feel confident in starting a business.
What advice would you give current students?
Even if you aren't sure what you are going to get out of your degree right now, try to absorb as much information as you can from all your classes. When I decided to pursue a Hospitality Management degree, I thought I wanted to work in events and did not think that all the cooking classes I had to take would be helpful for that objective. I am so glad they were part of the curriculum, as I learned more from those classes than i had expected and in time they ended up being what i loved most about the program.