I do a lot of things. They're all the same thing.
Strategy, AI, web, advice, introductions — different labels for one job: making complicated things workable for people who don't have time to figure them out alone.
That's the whole job. 20+ years of it has me collecting skills the way some people collect tools — the next problem always needed one I didn't have yet. Here's what's in the kit. Most of it happens through one of two companies, and I'll point you there at the end — but it all starts the same way: a conversation about what you're actually trying to solve.
Strategy & consulting
The part I love most.
The whiteboard, the diagnosis, the what are we actually solving conversation before anyone talks deliverables. I help business owners and leaders cut through the noise, name the real problem, and figure out the move that's actually worth making. A couple decades and hundreds of engagements have made me fast at finding the thing under the thing.
AI, in plain English
What's real, what's hype, what's worth your attention.
I work inside an AI company every day — so I can tell you what's worth your time and what isn't. Not “let's add AI to everything.” More like: here's the one place it'll actually save you ten hours a week, and here's the three places everyone's wasting money. Practical, grounded, translated out of the jargon.
Web presence
A site that works, not just one that looks good.
I've built several hundred websites and sat on the W3C working group that shapes how the web gets made accessible. I know what a site needs to do, what it costs to do it right, and how to tell the difference. The building itself happens through my studio — but the strategy starts with a conversation.
Fractional CMO & advisory
A senior person in the room, on call.
Sometimes a business doesn't need a project — it needs someone who's seen this before. I take on a small number of advisory relationships: a seat at the table, a strategist on speed-dial, someone who'll tell you the truth and knows who to call when it's outside my lane.
Connecting people
Not a service. Can't be bought.
But it's genuinely one of the most useful things I do. 20 years of good work has left me with a network most people would envy — and an instinct for who needs to know whom. When I can put two people together and something good comes of it, that's the best part of my week. (More on why → The Point.)
Speaking
Plain talk for rooms that want substance.
I talk to rooms full of practitioners and operators about AI, digital strategy, and the realities of running a business — the chamber breakfast, the association, the podcast that wants substance over hype.
Do I work with you, or with one of your companies?
Both, depending on what you need. If it's a website or ongoing digital work, that runs through nimblefish — my agency, where I lead the engagement personally. If it's digital risk or accessibility, that's esther.ai. And if it's strategy, AI guidance, a fractional seat at your table, or a talk — that's just me. The first conversation sorts out which door you're actually walking through.
Do you do the work, or hand it off?
Depends on the work, and I'll always tell you which. Strategy and advisory, that's me, start to finish. A website, I lead it and the right specialists execute — you deal with me, not a seam. What I don't do is disappear after the kickoff call and reappear at invoicing. If I'm in, I'm in.
Are you actually available, given the esther.ai role?
Yes. The esther.ai work is real and it's a big part of what I do — but it's exactly what keeps me sharp on AI and digital risk, which is part of what you'd be hiring me for. I take on engagements deliberately rather than constantly, which means the ones I say yes to get the attention they deserve.
Wow! Such an awesome experience working with Ash at nimblefish. I've been indecisive for years about building my website and now I know why — I hadn't met Ash yet. Ash was so agreeable and invaluable in helping me clarify my message and offerings. He worked with me as the architect and designer of my site but just as importantly as a business consultant. I really cannot say enough good things about my experience.
Here's the honest part: almost none of this is something you hire me for directly. I do most of this work through the two companies I'm part of — one for AI and digital risk, one for web and strategy. Same person behind both.