Changing Trajectories, with Ashli Sims

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Ashli Sims. Ashli is a reporter turned nonprofit fundraiser, who takes us into the complex world of asking for support. Ashli’s current journey began with a Kickstarter campaign to fund a storytelling project in Tanzania, where the ask was clear and the purpose was powerful. But when her career evolved into professional fundraising, the stakes got higher, and so did the challenges. Ashli shares how she learned to focus on impact rather than the dollars, reframing what it means to ask for help in a way that connects people to purpose.
Ashli Sims is a storyteller who breaks down barriers and opens doors so Black entrepreneurs can build wealth for themselves, their families, and future generations. She has twenty years of experience, working as a news reporter, an advocate for vulnerable children, a fundraiser and a nonprofit leader. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University and has a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Oklahoma Center of Nonprofits. Ashli has raised more than $16 Million for four different organizations. She joined the Build in Tulsa team in April of 2021, charged with helping raise money for the effort, before she was promoted to lead the initiative in February of 2022. Since Build in Tulsa launched operations two and a half years ago, the network has grown to include 400 entrepreneurs, facilitating more than 10,000 hours of training and coaching and investing $10.5 Million with underrepresented founders. Ashli is an Aspen Institute 2023 Health Communities Fellow and serves on the board of 36 Degrees North in Tulsa and a community pantry and soup kitchen, Iron Gate. She’s been featured in Forbes, Essence, and Fortune. As Managing Director of Build in Tulsa, Ashli is helping reclaim the narrative: Black Wall Street is not a history lesson, but a blueprint. She believes the next Black-led billion-dollar company will be based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.