Employee Spotlight: Ashley Dorsett

Let’s get to know Ashley! Ashley was born to a military family in Bad Windsheim, Germany, before moving and settling in Madison, Alabama. Ashley received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and received her M.S. in Counseling and Student Development from Kansas State University. Keep reading to learn more about Ashley!

Tell us about your professional/educational background.  

I started my professional career as a Residence Life Coordinator at Towson University. In this role, I oversaw a 335-person residential community. This included supervising multiple paraprofessional staff teams, ensuring the safety and wellness of residents, and guiding the community’s educational and social development program. I was also able to lead key departmental initiatives, like professional staff selection and development, which led to my interest in people operations, specifically.

After leaving Towson, I accepted a role as a Technical Recruiter on the Microsoft One Engineer Events team. While there, I drove the recruiting cycle for early career cloud and AI engineering talent. I really enjoyed partnering with my clients to add phenomenal talent to their teams. A large part of this was coaching hiring managers on inclusive and objective hiring practices.

I then moved on to Raytheon Missiles and Defense as a Technical Recruiter, where I was able to leverage my experience with event hiring as a member of the Dedicated Offer Team. I was able to work on a few different profiles from early career talent to more seasoned talent and everything in between at RMD. While I had a lot of fun with recruiting, I was ready to give something new a try. When a friend and former colleague, Colleen, shared her experience as a sub-contractor at FMP, I was eager to learn more, and here I am a little over a year later.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy reading, listening to podcasts on long walks, and painting. I read over 140 books in 2023. I typically read two books at a time: something serious and something for fun. At the time of this interview, I was reading my 141^st and 142^nd books of 2023. Real Talk: Lessons from Therapy on Healing and Self Love by Tasha Bailey was my current serious book and By a Thread by Lucy Score was my fun book. I typically read romance books, but slow-burn horror I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea and autobiography “The Woman in Me” by Britney Spears are next on my list.

I try to kick off each day with a walk, and podcasts keep it interesting. I typically start my walk with an educational podcast from NPR like News Now, Life Kit, or Up First. I end with a true crime podcast from Sistas Who Kill or Crime Junkies.

My last hobby is painting – specifically watercolors. Even though I’m not too good at it, I take time each evening to paint. As a recovering perfectionist, it’s important to me to do something that I love without putting pressure on myself to be the best at it. So, each night, I make myself lemon ginger tea and paint something that represents my day.

When you’re not working, where can we find you?

When I’m not working, I’m typically travelling or planning a trip for a friend. I try to take at least two domestic trips and one international trip a year. I visited Palm Springs, Bimini, and various states in Mexico for the first time in 2023. In 2024, I’m heading to Raleigh for Dreamville Fest and back to Palm Springs for a spa week. I love getting to explore new places as a solo traveler, so I’m looking to add a solo trip somewhere in 2024, too.

What projects have you been working on since you joined?

I’ve worked 100% on the OPM DEIA project since joining FMP in February 2023. Over the past 10-ish months, I have primarily worked on updates to workforce DEIA demographic data collection efforts. I have also planned and produced the government-wide 2023 ERG Summit, supported the production of dozens of DEIA Learning Community Webinars and Office Hours, written multiple standard operating procedures, and facilitated the 2023 ODEIA team offsite.

Of all of those, I am most proud of the work done to update workforce data collection because the project has required a lot of resilience. There have been multiple unexpected twists and turns, but we’ve navigated them well. We’ve been able to provide solutions and support that ensure the client can still accomplish their goal in a timely manner.

My favorite thing I’ve worked on is the 2023 ODEIA team offsite in October. It was my first opportunity to meet the entire ODEIA team, including team members who joined over the summer. Event planning and team development were heavily involved in my previous roles, and I always had a lot of fun with those aspects of my job. I loved getting to curate an experience where they were able to connect with their colleagues, reaffirm their purpose and goals, and develop their skills.

What has been your most rewarding experience at FMP so far?

My most rewarding experience at FMP has been supporting the recent OPM Level Up to Public Service event at Hampton University. Level Up highlighted the value of public service and increased awareness of and offered access to internships, particularly paid internships. The collaborative event included presentations from Federal employees and breakout sessions where students could receive targeted support in writing a federal resume and creating a USAJobs profile. This was OPM ODEIA’s second Level Up event, and it was amazing to see the tweaks that were made to make this event even better than the last. As someone who spent most of my career working with college students, I particularly enjoyed getting to work with small groups of students to help them level up their standard resume into a federal one. Another highlight was getting to see my client and members of the FMP team in person. Most of the team supporting Level Up was able to go to dinner the night before the event to socialize, and it was great to have us all in one room!

Describe FMP in 3 words

Intentional, genuine, and driven.

Jacob Deaton was with FMP for over two years as the Business Development Analyst on the GO Team. He is located in Arlington, Virginia. In his free time, he enjoys producing music, playing golf, and participating in DC sports leagues!