ABOUT ME
My name is Ashley Richmond. I am a writer, athlete, and avid self-improver. I am always looking for better and more effective ways to approach health and happiness, with the ultimate goal of making health simple and accessible to everyone.
I have an MSc(Psychology) with supporting papers in nutrition, sports nutrition, and sports psychology.
I am from Canada but reside in New Zealand.
I play ice hockey and have been a member of the New Zealand ice hockey team since 2017.
My writing has been featured in top online publications such as Better Humans, The Ascent, and Mind Cafe. I have been named a Top Writer in Health, Self-Improvement, Psychology, and Advice on Medium.com.
My mission is to utilise the power of words to empower people to live healthy and meaningful lives.
Why am I qualified to write this newsletter?
At my core, I’m someone just like you: I’m looking to improve my health and happiness.
I spend pretty much every waking hour either learning about, thinking about, or experimenting with the best ways to lead a healthier and happier life.
Since I was young, I’ve always created systems to be the best at something. I made spreadsheets when I was 9 years old. When I was 10, I wrote reports on whatever topic was interesting to me at the time. I made PowerPoint presentations just for fun when I was 12. I always wanted to compile the knowledge I had into a system or some other easy-to-understand form. And I always did this just for myself.
In this quest to be the best I could possibly be, I started playing ice hockey. I was 14 years old at the time, a relatively latecomer to the sport. But I threw myself into it, spending hours every single day after school working on my skills and my fitness. If I wasn’t physically practicing, I was learning - watching documentaries, reading books, and doing research on the best way to become the best.
Now, I’m far from the best. However, I’m lucky to be able to represent New Zealand each year at the World Championships. But my pursuit in making this team was a journey of hard work. And it was during this endeavor that I fell in love with optimizing my health. I’d spend hours and hours researching, planning, and implementing. And I fell in love with the process - the exercise, the nutrition, the mindset.
Throughout this journey, I completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Psychology with supporting papers in nutrition and sports psychology. I then went on to complete my Master of Science in Psychology.
I read 2 books per week, listen to about 5 podcasts each week, and read anywhere from 3-10 articles per day. I am constantly learning, experimenting, and iterating on how to be the healthiest and happiest I can be. I’ve been doing this relentlessly for 13 years.
And now, I’m sharing what I know with you. In my life, I frequently get approached by people asking for help or advice with diet, exercise, and health in general. I’ve become the go-to person for anything related to optimizing health. I want to be able to share my knowledge on a larger scale and help a greater number of people.
I’ve come to realize that people struggle to make meaningful changes in their lives because health is confusing and it appears challenging. I want to take the hard work out of health and make it simple.
Through this process, I’ve grown my email newsletter to 10,000 subscribers in just 12 months. My writing has been read by over a million readers worldwide. My approach to health resonates with a lot of people, and I want to bring all of this to you in a format that will support you to make sustainable lifestyle changes.