Our Team

Ashley Geist

Ashley is an ambitious and family-oriented third grade teacher at Heritage Leadership Academy (HLA). She spends much of her time with family, which includes her husband Shawn and two wonderful children, Averi and Dash, who also attend HLA. Ashley is a North Carolina native who graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2007 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a Minor in Microbiology. She then furthered her education, acquiring an associate’s degree in Surgical Technology from Miller-Motte Technical College and worked in the operating room for 4 years assisting with patient surgeries and wellness. She also worked as an organ preservationist for a year, where she traveled out of state and worked with many surgeons and families going through the organ donation and organ recipient process. 

Before joining HLA, Ashley worked as a stay-at-home mom, and managed an In-Home Childcare. During this time, she fell in love with teaching young children. She homeschooled her daughter Averi in Kindergarten, while teaching other children in her home.  After that homeschool experience, God opened the door for her oldest Averi to attend HLA.  During this year, Ashley was a co-teacher and served as the room mom for Averi's class.  This also helped prepare her youngest Dash for school.  The following year, both of her children attended HLA, and Ashley fell in love with what God was doing at this school, and the door was opened for her to substitute. She substituted across grade levels and content areas, and was an extended substitute teacher for 9 weeks, where she found her true calling as a teacher.  Ashley considers the children, parents, and staff at HLA to be family, and is grateful for the opportunity to partner with them all to teach students about God’s unconditional love and how they are each fearfully and wonderfully made in his image. 

Ashley and her family enjoy learning God's word through devotional times, VBS, church, and even during family dinner table discussions.  Family time is her favorite time, whether it’s at a park, splash pad, pool, doing arts and crafts, going on vacation, or just curled up on the couch snuggling. One of her God-given talents is painting!! She loves painting canvases using oil paints, restoring old furniture, or really doing anything artsy. She also enjoys hanging out with friends, going on morning walks, and really being outside enjoying God's beautiful creation.