The daughter of James and Gloria Mills, she moved with her family to Raleigh, North Carolina in high school.

Ashley represented the state of North Carolina at the Miss USA 2013 pageant held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Following her time as Miss North Carolina USA, Ashley worked in fashion as a catalog and runway model, and acted in small parts on television and in commercials.

In 2015, she caught the attention of independent filmmaker Rick Prince (of the SyFy TV competition series FaceOff) who cast her as the lead in his first feature film.

Soon thereafter, she landed a major recurring role on Tyler Perry's scripted drama for TLC, Too Close to Home.