Ashley Allison on Owning The Root, Knowing Your Worth & Moving Without Apology

Loren LoRosa (0:00)

Let's get, let's get, let's get to it, time to do it. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. You hear that exclusive?

Ashley Allison (0:06)

You don't feel like you're gonna lie about that, right? You already came in hot.

Loren LoRosa (0:09)

Hey y'all, what's up? It's Loren LoRosa, and this is another episode of The Latest with Loren LoRosa. This year, you did a daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby.

If you did not hear her cute little chuckle already, we do have a guest in the room that we're gonna do all that with. We're gonna check in behind the scenes to the ground. We're gonna do everything, but first, I'm gonna allow her to introduce herself to the Lowriders. That is our podcast community, Ashley. Hey, Lowriders.

Ashley Allison (0:37)

Ashley Allison here with my girl, Loren.

Loren LoRosa (0:40)

So tell them a bit about yourself, who you are, where they can find your work, and they don't even know, but they probably read one of your babies every single day and watch as well, too.

Ashley Allison (0:50)

Yeah, so I am Ashley Allison. I'm the owner of The Root.

So you can find The Root on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, all of the platforms, and I'm also a CNN contributor.

Loren LoRosa (1:02)

I love that. I love that.

We check in behind the scenes of The Grind. So this is the part of the show I built in because I don't really stop to check in on myself as much as I should. So I'm like, if I make myself have to do it at work, I'll do it every day. I'll have to sit down and really think, what am I feeling today? How am I feeling? So how are you? How are you checking in behind the scenes of your grind?

Ashley Allison (1:25)

I am tired. I'm not a morning person.

Loren LoRosa (1:28)

Girl.

Ashley Allison (1:29)

I had to get up early and do glam and all that. So I was like-

Loren LoRosa (1:32)

Welcome to the party.

Ashley Allison (1:32)

Struggle bus. So I'm okay. I'm okay.

I'm going to take a nap today. That's how I'm going to already have my nap time allotted. You know what?

Loren LoRosa (1:43)

I'm not mad at you. People probably are listening like, she's going to take a nap today. That sounds like such an accomplishment. It's just a nap. No, it is an accomplishment to be like, I am going to sleep.

Ashley Allison (1:51)

I know exactly what time it is.

Loren LoRosa (1:53)

I am going to feel not bad about it.

Ashley Allison (1:55)

Because somebody just texted me that they were putting a meeting on my books, and when I finish this, I'm going to text them, no, you're not.

Loren LoRosa (2:01)

Because I'm going to take a nap. But that's very intentional though. It is. That is really intentional. I'm learning to be okay with that intention, and also to know that if I do take that nap for what? That 20, 30 minutes, I don't miss something that's going to alter my life in a way where I can't come back from it.

Ashley Allison (2:16)

If something is happening, you'll probably come back a little refreshed because you took care of yourself and allowed yourself to reset.

Loren LoRosa (2:22)

But talk a bit about, like, okay, so behind the scenes at the ground, you're tired, you know, you're going to prioritize filling, you know, taking care of yourself and getting some rest. So going into the latest and into the conversation, talk to me a bit about understanding the newsroom hustle, being at CNN and prioritizing our newsroom with the Root, but also understand and taking time for yourself. Because I don't think that there's a real balance to be able to do that in the world that we work in over like breaking news and media.

Ashley Allison (2:49)

Yeah, I have a team. I think that I know I can't do it all. And if I try and do it all myself, I will burn out and it's not a good use of my energy or actually the platform's energy. So I have a team around me. We take shifts. Like when I sleep, they work. When they sleep, I work.

And I also prioritize what I'm eating. So like three weeks ago, I just was feeling really sluggish, just like tired all the time. And I was like, is it perimenopause? Like, what is it? Like, I'm serious. I'm like, what is happening to me?