About
Ashley Purdum is a communications and marketing consultant with a knack for building brands that create community. With a non-linear background across spirits, advertising and entertainment, she specializes in brand storytelling and talent-led campaigns - blending creativity with business strategy for results that actually move the needle.
Clients often call her a "Swiss Army Knife" for her ability to move seamlessly between strategy, creative, production and amplification. In 2022, she founded Exit 80, a consultancy built on a network of independent experts who thrive in fast-moving, multidisciplinary roles. By assembling the right talent for each project, Exit 80 delivers full-service results without the overhead or red tape of a traditional agency.
Ashley currently serves as Head of Brand Marketing & Communications for Four Walls, the Irish American Whiskey brand co-founded by Rob Mac, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Since the brand’s inception, she’s helped turn Four Walls from an idea on the back of a bar napkin into a brand beloved by trade and consumers alike.
She also leads brand marketing for APW, the pocket-sized bourbon brand from guitar legend Derek Trucks.
Before launching Exit 80, Ashley led marketing at Night After Night, a creative agency known for shaping nightlife culture. There, she oversaw communications and new business for the agency itself while also supporting cultural initiatives for brands like Jägermeister, Pernod Ricard (Jameson, The Glenlivet, Avión, Altos), The Bronx Brewery and Trojan.
She also served as Brand Director for Barking Irons Spirits, overseeing the field sales team and leading operations and both consumer and trade programming for the made-in-New-York line of craft apple brandies and gins.
Before that, Ashley oversaw the digital and field marketing team at Cornerstone (The FADER magazine’s in-house agency), working on iconic brands like Converse, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Diageo while simultaneously overseeing promotions for hundreds of album releases and a handful of avant-garde performances at The Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway.
Professional highlights during her time as part of the ‘Fader Fam’ included helping Converse launch community recording studio Rubber Tracks, launching Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound record label, reinvigorating the 200-year-old Bushmills Irish Whiskey brand with ambassadors including Bon Iver, Elijah Wood and Aaron Paul, and being a part of some unforgettable music moments during SXSW at The FADER Fort.
Before The FADER, Ashley got her start at +1, a Brooklyn-based record label and artist management company. From running the VIP door at the now-iconic McCarren Pool Parties to collaborating with Playboy on the multi-year Rock the Rabbit charity t-shirt program, shot by Mick Rock, she gained invaluable experience in grassroots brand building while helping countless talent to launch their careers.