BETSI ASHBY

Marketing & Merchandising Director

Betsi Ashby, Director of Marketing & Merchandising, has a self-described “propensity for old things.” Yet despite these antiquarian inclinations, she is perpetually seeking out new ideas and experiences: her bucket list at the moment includes spear-fishing, bow-hunting, backpacking the John Muir trail, traveling to Japan to eat ramen from a vending machine, road-tripping through New Zealand, picking tea with monks in China, and owning a couple of pygmy goats. “Learning never leads to boredom,” she says, “it’s always there.” Betsi arrived at SLOCA in April of 2018 after earning her degree in philosophy, with an English minor, from Cal Poly, and gaining several years’ of formative marketing experience at Blue Mango Restaurant Management (Luna Red, Novo, Mint + Craft, Robin's). During this interval she also started up her own small-batch granola company, Grrrnola. While Betsi loves food and eats it every day, ultimately, she was drawn back to the books—drawn to SLOCA as “an environment that valued thoughtfulness, excellence, and community… a community that is doing something deep and meaningful. Plus,” she says, “I like the people who work at SLOCA.” [Awww, thanks, Betsi—we like you too!] A believer in education that sparks and preserves our innate curiosity about the world, Betsi can be found surfing, rock climbing, hiking, laughing, cooking something she’s never tried before, camping, reading at least three books at any given time, making origami cranes with whatever paper is around, daydreaming about where she wants to travel to next (and then researching), spending an evening in good conversation with good friends, and in general romping around. She is from, and retains a fierce loyalty to, San Diego, CA.