All the Things about ‘All The Things Lafayette’

When Ashley Richard went from the hustle and bustle of being a traveling baseball wife to returning to Lafayette with her husband and three children, she craved the experiences she had on the road.

 

I had seen a lot of great cities and had a lot of big city experiences,” Richard said. “When I would come back to Lafayette, I was having a hard time figuring out how to do life here.”

 

Richard and her children started posting on her small personal social media page about different things they found in the area. Eventually, her local friends told her they wanted to see more. She was posting things that Lafayette natives knew nothing about. This led her to launch the online blog All The Things Lafayette and social media to match it.

 

I started the Page in February 2020, and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Richard said. “I lived a very lowkey life on social media before. But we started to share what we did as a family—things we did, places we went, nonprofits we supported.”

 

She focused on posting these things on the Instagram and Facebook page. About a month later, covid lockdown started.

 

“People started asking me to share what they were doing during this time—saying ‘hey share this candle kit you can make at home, or this art kit you can do at home,’ so I just started sharing these things on social media,” Richard said. “It really started expanding and helping these small businesses.”

 

Besides keeping her busy and active in the community, Richard loves that she gets to support local small businesses and hopes to continue to do so. These businesses as well as her friends will tag her on social media in different events or products that they want her to promote. This is how she finds content to share with the community.

 

“That’s the beauty of social media—I get tagged on a lot of things; I get sent a lot of things to share,” Richard said. “It’s so rewarding for me to keep busy, support the community and to help so many people—it’s just incredible.”

 

Family is greatly valued by Richard. She found a way to spend time with her family while helping the community.

 

“I’m able to include my children which is so important to me, that we’re able to continue to do things together,” Richard said. “Life is hard, but if we can get small moments together it just makes it worth it”

 

Some people might not expect to find a social media influencer in Lafayette, but Richard does not think of herself as much different from others in the area—she just shares her life as authentically as possible.

 

You can call me an influencer—but I’m a people connecter—I want people to win in our community,” Richard said.

 

By Sarah Peterson 

 

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