Hi, I'm Ashley Holland. I live in the Sutherland Shire in NSW with my husband and our two children (or three if you include our true first born - Alex, the cat).

Since leaving high school, I have been drawn to the property industry. I spent years building a career as an Executive Assistant, supporting CEO’s and alike at some of the world's largest real estate firms. While I enjoyed the industry itself, I never felt I had truly found my calling, and over time I became increasingly unfulfilled. The one thing I knew for certain was that I loved property.

Eventually, I made the difficult decision to leave my job without another role lined up. At the time, I was still living with my mum, and after several months of feeling directionless, she encouraged me to join her at work one day. She was a Horticulturalist, and the experience couldn't have been more different from anything I had done before.

To my surprise, I loved it. Being outdoors, working with my hands, and seeing tangible results gave me an immediate sense of purpose and satisfaction. After continuing to work alongside my mum, I decided to pursue a formal qualification in Horticulture. In 2015, my now-husband and I started our own landscape maintenance business. He continues to successfully run that business today.

In 2020, we felt ready for our next challenge. We both shared a passion for property and wanted to begin building a property portfolio together. We were introduced through social media algorithms to a property educator and investor named Ali. What began as a course quickly evolved into an “investment opportunity”, and shortly after the birth of our daughter, we gave Ali our life savings of $100,000 for a development.

What was supposed to be a 12-month investment turned into a five-year ordeal. For years, we were reassured that our funds would be returned "any month now". Eventually, Ali admitted that we would not be receiving our money back. Despite pursuing legal action and obtaining a judgment in our favour, Ali relocated his family to Dubai and we never recovered a cent.

The experience was financially devastating and emotionally exhausting to say the least. Fortunately, my husband's parents were willing to support us by acting as guarantors, which enabled us to purchase our first investment property. Determined not to repeat our previous mistakes, we engaged a well-known Buyer's Agent to guide us through the process.

Although the property itself has performed relatively well, my inner Virgo pulled the experience to pieces and meticulously analysed the service and processes from start to finish. As I worked to find my post-children self both personally and professionally, my husband floated his perspective on my suitability to the Buyer’s Agent space. On how my background as an Executive Assistant, combined with years of running a successful business, motherhood and my own firsthand investing experiences positioned me to offer clients something different. He was right.

I understood exactly how vulnerable and overwhelmed buyers can feel throughout the purchasing process. I knew the back end of the property space. I also knew how important clear communication, attention to detail, and genuine client advocacy are when making one of life's biggest financial decisions.

But there was something else. When I looked at my own friendship circle and beyond, I noticed that women typically wait until they are in a relationship and purchase property with that person. Or when they leave a relationship they don’t know how to move forward with what they have. Yet many men I knew were independently buying property regardless of their relationship circumstances.

As the pay gap closes and the median age for marriage continues to rise, women can and should do more with their money. And so HER. was born.

A place where women build wealth through property with confidence, clarity, and the support they deserve.