I didn't come from money or real estate connections. I came from working twice as hard, asking the questions everyone else was too proud to ask, and refusing to leave the table until the deal made sense for my client. Twelve years later, here's how that turned into The CREEA Group, three industry awards, and a Forbes feature I'm still trying to live up to.
I got my South Carolina broker license at the end of 2011 after graduating from Fortis College on the Dean's List, and went active in 2013. The first year was humbling. I was the youngest broker in most of the rooms I walked into, the only one speaking Spanish on most of the calls, and the only one taking notes the way the senior brokers did. I decided early that being underestimated was a feature, not a bug.
For the first decade I worked the long way around — multifamily, retail, office, hospitality, flex, special-purpose, sports & entertainment, ground-up development. I didn't pick a niche because I wanted to understand the whole stack: how a developer thinks, how a landlord underwrites, how a tenant negotiates, what makes a CRE portfolio earn (or stop earning).
At SVN Blackstream I built up the deal flow that would later become CREEA's foundation. In 2022 I was given the Rising Achiever Award for the year's biggest production jump on the team. In 2023 the Chairperson Award followed, recognising the top of the regional roster. None of that was the goal — the goal was always to get to a place where I could build my own firm on my own terms.
I didn't found CREEA to escape a brokerage. I founded it because I wanted to build the firm I would have wanted to walk into in 2013.
CREEA — Commercial Real Estate & Equity Advisors — was launched to do three things that most CRE firms still don't do well: treat the long game as the whole game (no churn-the-deal incentives), welcome bilingual investors and operators (Spanish-speaking clients still get visibly relieved when I switch), and build a real mentorship program instead of using interns as coffee runners. The first cohort spans CRE, marketing, and finance — three lanes, one common standard.
In 2025, Forbes named me one of fifteen Entrepreneurs of Impact nationwide. It's the recognition I'm most proud of, and it's also the one that scares me most — because a list like that is a promise. The next chapter is more deals, more mentees, more rooms where someone like me wasn't expected to be at the head of the table. If you'd like to be part of any of that, the inbox is open.
— Ashley
I'd rather walk away from a bad deal than win you a good one once. Repeat clients are the only metric I care about.
Every CREEA engagement runs in English or Español. Spanish-speaking investors stop being an afterthought here.
You get me, not a client manager funnel. Clients have my cell. So do mentees.
The mentorship program isn't marketing — it's how I plan to leave the industry better than I found it.
Graduated with coursework in real estate investment, finance, financial analysis, and portfolio management.
Went active with a focus on commercial real estate from day one. First closed deal within twelve months.
Stepped onto the regional institutional stage. Began building deal flow across the Carolinas, Georgia & Florida.
Recognised for the year's biggest production jump on the SVN Blackstream Southeast team.
Named to the chairperson list — the top of the regional producer roster.
Launched my own brokerage. Built the bilingual mentorship program from day one alongside the deal team.
Named one of fifteen entrepreneurs nationwide for measurable impact across business, mentorship, and community.