It’s important to Ashley Pauling that her work changes lives.
In her job as learning community coordinator for the University Advising Center, she helps students—many of them first-generation college students—navigate college life and explore career choices.
In her personal life, she’s busy as a “servant leader” with the Junior League of Charlotte, Urban League of Central Carolinas and, more recently, the Charlotte office of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which named her a STANDOUT in recognition of being an active and engaged young philanthropist.
The STANDOUT program is a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and, by accepting the recognition, Pauling has agreed to raise $3,000 for the organization.
“I think that the STANDOUT nomination is bigger than me because it speaks volumes to the fact that there are opportunities here in Charlotte for us to serve,” Pauling said. “I feel like it’s a nomination that’s not just for me, but it reflects the organizations that I’m a part of in the community that I get to serve.”
Cystic fibrosis is a rare genetic disease that affects about 30,000 people in the United States and 70,000 people worldwide, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The disease causes debilitating lung infections that lead to an early death. The average life expectancy is 37 years.
Pauling, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, has been personally touched by cystic fibrosis; when she was in high school a childhood friend died from the disease.
“I’ve seen the effects of a family losing their child at the age of 15,” Pauling said, adding that her fundraising work is important because the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation does not receive any federal funding. Individual chapters raise money to support treatments and a cure.
“Every research, drug, treatment, transplant— it all comes from the foundation,” Pauling said. “That’s why it’s so important for local chapters to raise the money they do, because it goes toward figuring out how we can keep people with this disease alive longer.”
Pauling was nominated for the STANDOUT recognition by a fellow member of the Junior League of Charlotte. She joined the league in 2015 and is a member of its nominating committee.
Additionally, Pauling is a program director with the Omar Carter Foundation, which educates people about sudden cardiac arrest and provides CPR training. And she is treasurer for the Young Professionals Auxiliary with the Urban League of Central Carolinas, an organization focused on housing sustainability and economic and educational equality.
Pauling joined UNC Charlotte in March 2017 after earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in counseling with a concentration in college student development, from Hampton University in Virginia. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. After joining the sorority as an undergraduate, she became involved with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. It was one of her sorority chapter’s biggest community service projects.
The event became even more important after her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and her mother with breast cancer. Both parents are survivors, and Pauling returns to her hometown every year to participate in its Relay for Life.
Through her work with nonprofits, Pauling has gained a better understanding of fundraising and its importance.
“You can always donate and give back,” Pauling said, “but when you really understand nonprofits and how they work and what they actually need, you also can realize how you can plug yourself in and encourage others to volunteer.”