Ashley Rhodes-Courter was born in North Carolina in 1985 and entered foster care in 1989.
Over the next nine years, she lived in 14 placements before being adopted at age 12 by Phil and Gay Courter of
Crystal River, Florida.
Ashley graduated Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida in December 2007 with a
double major in communications and drama and a double minor in political science and psychology. She is the
recipient of Eckerd’s Trustee’s Scholarship, their most prestigious full-tuition award and also
has won several other national and local scholarships.
At college, Ashley was a residential advisor, student public relation spokesperson, and speech coach.
She worked on a children’s literacy project in South Africa and for the Heart Gallery, an adoption
advocacy organization. She also has a job in marketing for a local television station, and also does on-camera work.
In 2007 she was one of 20 college students selected for the USA Today All-USA Academic Team. She also was one
of 10 winners a the BRICK Award for outstanding advocacy for community change by Do Something, including being
one of the four Golden Brick winners who received $25,000 for their organizations. As part of their campaign,
she was featured on Cool Ranch Doritos! She appeared in the June 2007 issue of Glamour as one of their Top Ten College Women.
Ashley was the 2004 Youth Advocate of the Year for the North American Council on Adoption and won the Child Welfare
League of America Kids to Kids National Service Grand Prize. In 2004, she and her family jointly won the Angels in
Adoption from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and nominated by Congresswoman, Ginny Brown-Waite.
Ashley has been on the professional staff at the Kinship Center’s adoption camp in Pacific Grove, CA for three summer sessions.
On June 1, 2003, the New York Times Magazine published her grand prize winning essay (out of 3000 high school entries)
about her adoption day. She expanded her essay into a memoir, Three Little Words, which was published by Simon & Schuster
in January 2008.
Ashley has been featured on Good Morning America, Montel Williams, Nancy Grace and other national and local television shows.
She has done over 35 speeches, with more than half being 15 keynotes. She has passion to tell her story and share hope with
other foster children and encourage adoption and permanency.
