A community can change a life

Miss San Antonio encourages kids to find their passion and get involved

While holding the title of Miss San Antonio in 2018, Ashley Sneed attended a lot of events, and she learned to love when she got to chat one-on-one with the community and ask them about themselves.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is being relatable,” Ashley said. “There’s always a way to relate to a person, no matter what walk of life we come from.”

The community members she enjoyed talking to the most were the kids. Her favorite events were the ones that involve children, because she got to encourage them to get involved in their community, a value Ashley learned at a young age.

Ashley was just two when her father died in a car accident, and it was her baton twirling community that helped her through the tragedy.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t started twirling,” she said. “It gave me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Ashley started baton twirling a year later when she was just three years old and now she twirls for University of the Incarnate Word, where she’s a Junior studying Fashion Merchandising.

Before starting classes at UIW, Ashley attended East Central High School in Southeast San Antonio.

“Pretty much my whole family has gone to East Central,” Ashley said. “It’s not too small, not too large. I had a really great time there.”

Her family still lives in the Monte Viejo area, so she’s had the opportunity to watch the growth of Brooks and beyond. New restaurants like Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery, businesses like OKIN BPS, and schools like the UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine are a big deal, according to Ashley, who remembers when there wasn’t much to do around where she grew up.

“I could see Brooks developing tremendously,” she said. “There’s so much space to build upon.”

All the exciting things happening at Brooks and the rest of the South Side mean the community is growing even stronger. This unique culture is alive in the events she attends at Brooks, like Feliz Tamalidad that happens every Christmas and The Greenline Experience coming on March 23.

Whether you were born-and-raised on the South Side like Ashley, you just moved to the area to join the team at one of the new employers, or you live on another side of town and want to be part of the change happening down south, you’re welcome at Brooks.