Ashlee Clarke is a powerhouse entrepreneur and brand architect who has cultivated an

extraordinary range of skills across a twenty-year+ career, from journalist and television personality,

to media investment founder, keynote speaker, and Tony Award-winning Broadway producer.

A fast-paced New Yorker with Southern roots from Georgia, Ashlee is anything but a typical Madison

Avenue figure. LA and NY are just the endpoints for her. She knows the majority of consumers live

right in the middle, and she has built her entire career around that conviction. With heart, passion,

and guts, she has become one of the most untraditional and effective voices in brand building and

media today.

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As Co-Founder of CAC Capital, Ashlee invests at the intersection of media and technology. As CEO

of Empower Ocean Media Group, she leads a coast-to-coast media platform spanning the East

Coast, West Coast, and the heartland in between, built on the belief that the most powerful

consumer connections happen everywhere, not just at the endpoints. Her independent media

investment agency, Empower Ocean Media Group, reflects that same philosophy in practice.

Ashlee is the new wave of brand leadership, developing breakthrough work without the confines

of orthodoxy. That outside approach allows her to ask "why not?" when told something has never been

done before. She has the tenacity, business experience, and guts to break new ground where others

feared to go, as comfortable on a commercial production set as she is analyzing the best ROI for a

media investment.

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Ashlee attended Georgia State University's Journalism and Mass Communication school, where

she developed mass media skills and on-camera training that launched a television career

spanning The Style Network, E!, CNN Headline News, Headline News After Dark, and NBC's Atlanta

and Company.

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Always one to speak up and speak out, Ashlee spoke live on CNN for Eve Ensler's "One Billion

Rising" alongside Dr. Bernice King. She has stood before Congress on Women's Domestic Violence

Day, compelling legislators to implement laws that protect women, and served as Keynote Speaker

for the "Own The Mic" Girls Govern Townhall in Washington, D.C. and Girls Inc. at George

Washington University. A featured panelist at Politicon alongside Barbara Boxer, Wendy Davis, S.E.

Cupp, and Robin Thede, Ashlee also pioneered the women's menstruation movement, creating the

first "tax-free tampon" and giving millions of women a voice on a long-taboo topic.

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As a producer, Ashlee has built one of the most impressive resumes in contemporary theater and

film. Her Broadway credits include the Tony-winning musical comedy Tootsie, American Buffalo

starring Laurence Fishburne and Sam Rockwell, and the critically acclaimed 2024 revival of An

Enemy of the People starring Jeremy Strong, collectively earning 20 Tony Award nominations and 5

wins, along with recognition from the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Awards.

On screen, she co-produced the star-studded comedy The Fabulous Four (2024), featuring Bette

Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

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Ashlee Clarke continues to shape popular culture while forging a bold path for female

entrepreneurs, business leaders, and students across the nation and around the world.