Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley E and Amy Nicole Gibson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ashley and Amy Nicole. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
There is a quote that says “through darkness comes light.” This quote is so relatable to our journey. The Double Scoop started off as a joint blog that we created back in 2014. That was a rough year for us personally. During that time ironically both of us lost our jobs. Amy decided to quit her job because she was unhappy, and I got fired from mine lol. We decided to take a risk and move to Columbia, South Carolina to live with our older brother. We told him we were just coming to visit for a few days, but a few days turned into a year. Despite both of us having 2 degrees, it was still so difficult finding a job. After a few months without working our bills were starting to pile up. Depression started to sink in bad. In addition to not having a job, I was also dealing with a traumatic breakup, an unexpected health problem, and adjusting to moving to a new state without any kind of plan. That entire year was hell. When it seems like everyone else is thriving and you feel like you’re getting left behind in life, it will really mess with your mental state. You start to question your worth and if you even have a purpose.
One weekend we went to visit a friend in Atlanta. While we were catching up, he suggested that me and Amy start a joint blog. At first, we were against the idea because being twins you hate always being grouped together. There is a constant fight to have your own identity. We both had our own separate blogs but after thinking it over, we decided to start the joint blog. Our friend reminded us that there is power in numbers. That is how The Double Scoop was born. We made the focus of the blog our interests, which included film, music, and writing in general. That period of being unemployed gave us so much more free time to devote towards developing our blog. We even started a film internship which gave us some experience in production. Losing our jobs was in a way a blessing in disguise because it guided us back to our passions.
In the beginning, we started reaching out to people like musicians, filmmakers, and business owners to see if we could interview them for our blog. It really helped us get our name out there and people eventually started to contact us on their own to invite us to cover events or for interviews. At that point, we were like “Wow, we could really turn this into something.” After a year in South Carolina, we moved back to our hometown of Mississippi. While there we continued to grow our brand by connecting with artists and musicians in the Jackson, MS area. I was blown away with how much underground, undiscovered talent was back at home, especially in the rap and hip hop industry. We started featuring hometown artists on our blog and doing music reviews as a way to give artists a platform to showcase their talents. It was also around that time that we made the decision to turn our blog into a business.
After a while, you realize that you can only grow so far at home, so our next move was Charlotte, North Carolina. While living in the “queen city,” we started a YouTube show where we interviewed creatives and business owners to share their stories about pursuing their dreams and passions.
Now here we are in ATL! So far we’re loving Atlanta. The vibe, the culture, the history. I think it’s a great place to be to expand “The Double Scoop.” I feel like with each move we made our business has become more established and polished.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Of course not! When you’re pursuing your dreams, starting a business or doing anything outside of the norm, challenges and struggles are inevitable. We’ve dealt with financial struggles, being overlooked, taken advantage of, and collaborating with the wrong types of individuals that didn’t share our vision or have the same work ethic.
The Double Scoop – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Double Scoop started off as a blog that we expanded into a business. We specialize in content creating/writing, event coverage, and media promotion. We are dabbling into film now also. We are working on a few film projects and can’t wait to release them under The Double Scoop brand. What I’m most proud of is turning our idea into a reality, and the fact that we’re providing a positive platform for individuals to promote their gifts and talents. Positivity sets us apart and of course just being twins. I don’t know of too many female twins off the top that are doing what we’re doing.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
In my honest opinion, success is less about money and status. Success is having inner peace, being content at wherever you are in life. Not feeling validated by other’s opinions, but being satisfied at what you have produced or accomplished. Did I leave an impact? Did I leave a legacy? Those are questions that I ask myself when I think about my success.
We live in the social media era, so a lot of people measure success by likes, retweets, reposts, the number of followers they have, etc… Sometimes it’s hard not to get sucked into that.
We have to remember though that society is constantly changing so one day a lot of these social media platforms will be nonexistent. If that’s how you measure your success what are you going to do when these platforms are no longer available?
Contact Info:
- Website: thedoublescoop2.com
- Email: thedoublescoop2@gmail.com
- Instagram: @thedoublescoop
- Facebook: @doublescoop2
- Twitter: @thedoublescoop
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