When it comes to her work, Ashley Cleveland has found a happy medium.
Cleveland, now 41, spent much of her twenties hustling. Between jobs at radio stations, record labels and tech firms, among others — mostly in promotion and marketing — she says she typically worked long hours while raising two young children.
By 2020, it had taken a toll on her mental health. After receiving a diagnosis of depression and general anxiety disorder from her therapist, Cleveland made a claim on her long-term disability policy, which, along with some investment income, allowed her to embark on a sabbatical to Tanzania.
Despite living with fewer luxuries than she had in the States, Cleveland said her quality of life vastly improved.
“Because I wasn’t working, I got to spend tons of time with my children and tons of time with myself, really restoring my physical, my mental and my spiritual body,” she tells CNBC Make It.
