Ashley Qualls' (ASHBO) Got Girl Power!

I have been hearing my daughter and her friends talk about Ashley Qualls (ASHBO) on MySpace. They rave about having her as a friend and then they go on into the early morning hours changing their MYSPACE pages with her HTML codes and layouts like they change clothes (daily).

Like any other parent, I was just excited that my kid and her friends were learning about and moving into the technology. I was excited that they were talking codes and layouts because hey, I've even called on them from time to time to help me out with some of my "technically challenged"questions.

Then I read the article about Ashley Qualls in the recent issue of FAST COMPANY. Man, does this girl rock! She is the owner and founder of whateverlife.com. She started her budding career as company CEO 2 years ago simply building web layouts with a "Girly" appeal. So when you visit her site, you'll find only layouts that scream, "sugar, spice and everything nice" because after all this is all about GIRL POWER.

Ashley started building codes for friends because she got so good at it and slowly found that to keep up with the demand, she needed to create a web hub where friends could come and dowload the codes quickly to enhance their pages. Well, the $8 investment to set-up the site has blossomed into a $1 Million business in just about 2 years time. Let's just say that according to the article, ASHBO has Seventeen, Teen Vogue and Cosmogirl magazines all beat. Google analytics say that she gets 7 million individual hits and 60 million page views a month. What's more, she even beats Oprah.com, at 349 ranking out of 20 million sites...Oprah's at 469!

I am truly floored by the sheer business savvy of this young entrepreneur and to think she is only 17! This brings us to her current quandary. At her less than legal age, the courts have now ruled that they are better managers of her assets than she is....GO FIGURE. So, she is having to hire a $200 consultant and other "experts" to help take her business to the next level, and also emancipate her. I'd say that her ingenuity has been able to support her, her mom and sister (parents are divorced) thus far on $70,000 per month so what gives?

Ashbo in Fast Company!

Credit: fastcompany

Copyright: fastcompany