I'm a seeker, just like you. When I was a child, my favorite novels were filled with miracles and magic. As I’ve been on a journey back to myself, and then on to a better version, I’ve been seeking more actively than ever before. I have a deep yearning for miracles. I want to be amazed, to know for certain that there is so much more to life than we can see.  I'm searching for evidence of magic in the real world, and looking for serendipity each day in my own life.

I'm also hunting down ordinary ways to find happiness and peace. I believe that it’s absolutely vital for our health—and for the health of the world—that we each be as happy as we possibly can.

I seek joy all over, from the everyday to the extraordinary, and I help others do the same. What if joy is looking for us, too? What if joy wants to be found? Perhaps it’s not so much a game of hide and seek as it is knowing where to look.

Let’s look together! Check out my Offerings to see how!

How I Became a Joy Detective + Happiness Consultant

I’m on a never-ending quest to enjoy my one precious life as much as I possibly can.

I’ve been on a multi-year mission to feel better, ever since 2004. After surviving a Category 4 hurricane that toppled a huge oak onto and into our house—with us in it—then a month later going through 13 hours of natural labor before having an emergency c-section, I was raw, depleted, fearful, and enormously sleep-deprived. I was a list-making perfectionist dropped into a world where nothing was ever crossed off the list and nothing was even close to perfect. And the only way out was through. I functioned, but for the first two years I just trudged ahead, trying to be a perfect mother and having to settle for good enough. I was so scared of screwing up that I was only occasionally able to enjoy being a mom.

Then slowly, like sun peeking through clouds after a heavy rain, I began to see glimpses of myself. As my child gained independence and I gained bits of free time—such joy to be able to read again!—I came blinking into the sunshine. I am a positive person and was tired of being unhappy. I wanted to not only regain who I was pre-parenthood, but also to go beyond that to a place where I actually enjoy my life most of the time. (Imagine!) I adore vacations, but every day can’t be spent at the beach (unfortunately).

So I began a quest for joy. I’ve read hundreds of books and taken quite a few courses, and I’ve been on a slow but steady ascent.  Martha Beck’s books really spoke to me; her complete honesty, clarity, and empathy felt like a bear hug. And the magic! Real magic!

After I saw her in person at a book-signing, I sat in my car, buzzing with her energy. A phrase popped into my head: “joy detective.” I had no idea what it was for, but I liked the idea of being one. I filed it away. Every so often I would take it out and examine it like a mysterious artifact, but I never knew what to do with it.

Then in 2017 someone suggested I start a blog. I resisted the idea—I’ve always been afraid of the commitment a blog entails, as well as the public exposure of my private thoughts. Vulnerability alert! But as I thought about it, I realized I might finally have found the purpose for that phrase. So I began this website as a blog, and really enjoyed reclaiming my voice after years of writing for clients. During the pandemic I tapered off; frankly, it was all I could do to manage life and keep myself afloat. I just didn’t have the energy for writing.

Now I’ve shifted and expanded the focus of this site. I’ve added some one-on-one offerings to guide others on the path that I’ve journeyed. I want to share what I’ve learned along the way and help others be happier, so I’m hanging out my shingle as a happiness consultant. I look forward to this new way of being a Joy Detective.

Ashley Brown, Joy Detective & Happiness Consultant

I grew up in New Orleans and spent my childhood with my nose buried in a book. (I still love to spend an entire day reading.) After I graduated from college with a degree in Foreign Affairs (which I've never used, although I had a lot of fun getting it), I worked as a waitress, receptionist, advertising copywriter and account executive, book editor, and employee communications manager for a death care firm before becoming a freelance marketing/PR writer. I'm also the author of A Beautiful Morning: How a Morning Ritual Can Feed Your Soul and Transform Your Life (for more info, visit abeautifulmorningbook.com or find it on Amazon).

I’m a diehard New Orleans Saints fan. Talk about joy--when the Saints won the 2010 Super Bowl, it was one of the purest experiences of joy I've ever had. No worries about the future, like on your wedding day or at your child's birth; just unadulterated bliss that my much-maligned, beloved team had FINALLY a) gotten to the promised land and b) won the damn thing!! I will never forget doing the second line around Antoine's Hermes Bar in the French Quarter, where I had watched the game with my father (who made me a Saints fan by taking me to all the games when I was younger). It is truly one of my absolute favorite memories.

I also love the beach (in case you couldn't tell by all the pictures on this website), good food and wine, spending time with my friends, music, old movies, painting, being outside, sunshine, massages, yoga and Pilates, horses, and dogs. And I love to travel. Traveling for me is another direct path to joy. I thrive on the adventure of exploring a new place and having experiences that are diametrically different from my usual world. I write articles for a couples’ travel blog, HoneymoonAlways.com, and really enjoy it.

I live on the Gulf Coast with my family.