An Interview with WJVL’s Ashley Kix

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I had the pleasure of speaking with radio host, podcaster, influencer, and Janesville Native, Ashley Kix. We chatted about Rotary gardens, and the Holiday light show and what it meant to her and her family. I asked her a series of questions relating to Rotary Botanical Gardens, and the Holiday light show! 

Hearing what others think of us here at RBG really puts into perspective the things we do for our community, and the people around us, and it is just a joy to hear so much positivity surrounding the Holiday Lights.  

When I asked Ashley what Rotary Botanical Gardens and the Holiday Light Show meant to her, she has this to say, “Growing up here, the light show wasn’t anything on this level.” She followed it up with, “I don’t think I went to Rotary Botanical Gardens often, except for maybe Field trips, or when friends got married. But after I got married and had children of my own, we started hearing about Rotary Garden’s light show, and my family and I had been to different light shows in Madison, Chicago, etc. So having a place that was local to us was great to hear!”  

She finished up this thought with, “Honestly, the one here in Janesville is by far the best one that my family and I had ever been to. To have such a cool experience for my kids and to have it be close by and local to me is amazing. So yeah, I’m a big fan of it now.”  

She told me that Rotary Botanical Gardens did not have a light show this size when she was growing up. Ashley said that her parents did not bring her to the light show as much as she brings her children. She has created a family tradition out of the happiness we strive to put together every year. The people to thank for this opportunity to become a family tradition are certainly our volunteers, and Larry Holtermann, our Light Show specialist.  

I went on to ask Ashley about her job now, filming the inside of the light show to help us advertise it. Marketing experiences to people who we may have never reached without someone like her, I called it, “Filming the Happiness,” so to speak. She had this to say, “I’m excited to be able to show my kids new things, and to take them places like this. Like yes, their mom is working, but they also get to experience such cool and fun places because of what I do.”  

“This is my first time filming the light show, so it’s interesting to see it on the other side because with there being so many lights, I just want to make sure I capture the magic, because it is so magical! I just want to make sure I capture it right.” We know that she did.  

I then asked Ashley what inspired her to want to film our light show. Her face lit up when she started talking. The first name out of her mouth was, “Randy Hughes.” Randy Hughes is our Board President and one of our cherished volunteers. She said, “Randy Hughes was like a second dad to me, and I know that you at the Gardens work closely with him, he’s such a great guy. So anyway, we started talking about my filming, and I showed him some of my work and he said that I should feature Rotary Botanical Gardens! So that’s how we ended up here.”  

I finished up this interview with a few questions about Ashley and her content creation history. I was curious to know how she got started, and everything leading up to this point here. I asked her what got her started in content creation and she said this, “I had been filming my life, my house, my family for years just to keep those memories. Then, last year I saw an AirBNB that was cool, and I thought, ‘maybe they’d hire me to film it.’ So, I messaged the host, and they agreed. The content took off from there. So, I’ve only been doing this professionally for about a year. I think my favorite part of this whole career is being able to showcase places, and spaces, and really tell a story behind them. Just like this place; a Botanical Garden.” 

“I love being able to showcase how amazing a spot is, like a little niche that you wouldn’t normally be able to find if someone didn’t tell you about it.” Ashley spoke a lot about having new experiences and showing these experiences for essentially the world to see.  

The final question I asked was what the most rewarding part of this job was, Ashley had an immediate answer. “It’s because myself and my family get to experience things we never would have gotten to before. There are things I film that we would never have gone to without this.” She followed it up with, “It can be stressful though, going to all these places and trying to get my kids to smile, and be ‘on’ all the time, but in the end, they are always excited to see the videos, so it pays off in the end.” 

It truly was a joy to be able to speak with Ashley Kix. Having the perspective of a creator like this was truly unique and provided us with such a cool take on the Holiday Light Show 2024.  

As our Light show for 2024 comes to a close, being able to reflect on this experience and how it brings our community joy is a wonder. We hope to see you next year for the Holiday light show 2025, come see what might be different! Experience this happiness with your family, or, like Ashley Kix, maybe create a new family tradition! 

You can find Ashley on her social media: 

Instagram  

Facebook 

TikTok 

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Or listen to her on weekdays from 5:30AM to 10AM on 99.9 WJVL