Ashley Schmitt is redefining leadership through creativity, strategy and heart. In an industry fueled by fast paced innovation and complex metrics, she is proving that heart-centered leadership and strategic brilliance aren’t mutually exclusive. They are her superpowers.
As director of marketing at Affle, Ms. Schmitt isn’t just leading global marketing initiatives – she’s shaping conversations, building bridges, and putting human connection back at the center of technology. Her role is as multifaceted as the woman herself. Supporting Affle’s owned business units in the U.S., YouAppi and Jampp, from global event production and content strategy to high stakes partner collaborations and digital communications, she orchestrates visibility, engagement, and impact across North America.
Ms. Schmitt’s work is as visionary as it is tactical. Affle, YouAppi, and Jampp’s rise in the U.S. market isn’t just about tech. It’s about storytelling that moves people. Ms. Schmitt crafts narratives that drive action, designs experiences that bring brands to life, and ensures every email, event, or campaign aligns with a broader mission: connection at scale. “Marketing is more than impressions or ROAS,” she says. “It’s about creating stories that resonate and experiences that stay with people, in addition to offering high impact solutions. That’s how you build lasting value.”
Having a dual impact and a global footprint, Ms. Schmitt’s influence doesn’t stop at Affle. As director of marketing at YouAppi, she played a key role in the company’s growth and transition. During its product pivot and rebrand in 2019 and its acquisition in 2023, she strengthened its brand positioning and expanded its market footprint in the competitive world of mobile retargeting and now CTV advertising.
Ms. Schmitt’s impact was nationally recognized through the award submission she authored, which earned YouAppi an Honorable Mention in the 2025 AdExchanger Awards. The campaign’s success — driven by YouAppi’s product and customer success teams in partnership with Murka — delivered a standout 350 percent ROI, showcasing the strength of programmatic retargeting, advanced segmentation, and Appi Templates. Ms. Schmitt’s ability to transform complex results into a compelling narrative was key to the recognition, reinforcing YouAppi’s app retargeting DSP as a proven leader in post IDFA performance marketing.
Raised to break barriers, the self-made and forward-looking, Ms. Schmitt became the first in her family to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from San Francisco State University after completing an associate degree at Skyline College. True to her values of continuous growth, she added a certification in AI for Marketing (ELVTR) to her credentials and was recognized with Affle’s 3R Leadership Program, a high potential executive track reserved for standout performers. “I didn’t have a roadmap and that’s okay,” she reflects. “I had grit, vision, and a desire to lead with integrity with a deep hunger to learn and excel in my craft. Everything I’ve done since has been about paying that forward.”
Ms. Schmitt’s professional arc and work ethic took her from roots in hospitality to adtech leadership. Her early career in hospitality, climbing the ranks for six years at Sam’s Chowder House, taught her the essence of customer experience, service under pressure, and communication with impact. These values shaped her empathetic leadership style, eye for quality, and passion for connecting with people. At AppLift, she quickly ascended from a U.S. office management role to event marketing roles, then to senior marketing manager for the Americas Region, spearheading cross continental strategies and launching market presence for the São Paulo office. She proved her ability to lead across cultures and continents.
Leading with purpose, Ms. Schmitt is also a fierce advocate for giving back. She supports causes like GLIDE Memorial, Compass Family Services, ASPCA, Rocket Dog Rescue, Moose Lodge Pacifica #1944, and Women of the Moose #1595, turning personal compassion into collective action. Whether she’s coordinating an ad tech conference, fostering a rescue dog, or donating to local charities, her impact is always people first.
In her life beyond the boardroom, when she’s not making waves in marketing, Ms. Schmitt is exploring food cultures, camping under California stars, and creating lifelong memories with her blended family. She’s especially excited to spend time with her fiancé, daughter, stepdaughter, and their pack of beloved animals. This balance of drive and groundedness is what gives her leadership its soul.
Possessing a visionary path forward, Ms. Schmitt is focused on expanding Affle’s strategic partnerships and scaling YouAppi and Jampp’s business capabilities in North America. Yet, her true north remains unchanged. Making marketing more human, leadership more inclusive, and the tech industry a place where women lead boldly and unapologetically. Proudly creating space for women to rise, her mission to uplift others doesn’t stop with her team. It extends across the industry.
In 2022, alongside her mentor and dear friend Nancy Roberts, Ms. Schmitt co-led a powerful initiative that continues to reverberate through the mobile marketing world. With growing adoption and following, the movement has inspired similar women focused events across the industry since its inception. Born from their shared vision and cultivated by a bold all women marketing team, Women in Leader(sip) was launched to address a pressing issue. The lack of female representation in mobile adtech and conference events in general. Together, they created a space not just for networking, but for real community, healing, and empowerment. “We needed a space that saw women not just as attendees, but as leaders,” Ms. Schmitt recalls. “Women in Leader(sip) was about rewriting the narrative and lifting each other up while we do it.”
Women in Leader(sip) is a movement disguised as a meetup. A vibrant platform where women (she her they them) gather to share stories, address the glass ceilings they’re breaking, tackle the challenge of balancing life with work, and build a culture of inclusion in a male dominated space. Attendees are invited to pause from their high performance lives and reconnect with themselves, their peers, and their purpose.
Ms. Schmitt’s long-term goal is to step into the role of chief marketing officer, where she can focus more deeply on vision casting, strategic direction, and building high impact partnerships that drive meaningful growth. Her aim is not only to shape the future of marketing organizations from the top down, but also to mentor rising leaders, expand brand ecosystems, and create more space for innovation across all facets of go to market execution – because when Ashley Schmitt leads, the industry doesn’t just follow. It transforms.