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'Southern Charm' Isn't Ashley Jacobs' Only Job

by Megan Walsh

Ashley Jacobs was a new addition to Season 5 of Southern Charm. After meeting Thomas Ravenel and embarking on a relationship with him, she uprooted her life and moved to South Carolina so they could be together. She left behind a job as a nurse in Santa Barbara, California, but does Ashley Jacobs have a job in Charleston? Figuring out your career is one of the most complicated parts of a big move, after all.

Technically, one could count Southern Charm as Ashley's job in Charleston; she does get paid to appear on the show, and it is location-specific. But the Bravo show isn't the only thing keeping Ashley busy in South Carolina. According to The Daily Dish, she has gotten another job as a registered nurse, which really helped her start to see Charleston as her home. In fact, even if things didn't work out between her and Thomas, Ashley could see herself sticking around because she'd settled in so well.

Ashley still works as a nurse, but not in a hospital. She didn't share her exact title, but she seems to be a home healthcare aide or a hospice nurse. "I work through an agency. So I go to people's homes, and I care for their loved ones, the patients, their families are there as well," she told The Daily Dish. "So I help relieve them of their duties."

Working as an in-home nurse also aided in making Ashley feel like Charleston was her home. "A lot of them are terminal or have [disabilities], so it's been great too being in that field because I'm going to homes, I'm helping families," Ashley continued. "Even though I work for them, it's been really great because I don't have my family here, and a lot of these patients have become family."

Ashley recently posted a picture of herself on Instagram in her nursing gear, captioning it, "The dream is free, the hustle is sold separately....if it was a walk in the park....everyone would do it....but each day is a sacrifice of self for someone else. [sic]" She accompanied it with some descriptive emojis (a blonde woman in a lab coat and a yellow heart), plus the hashtag "#ILoveMyJob." Ashley definitely seems dedicated to her chosen profession.

Editor's note: The Instagram post has since been deleted.

Becoming a nurse was Ashley's dream for a long time, according to Town & Country. Her father passed away when she was only 13 years old, which led to her decision to pursue nursing. Her press representative Patricia Maristch told the publication, "She wanted to be what one of those nurses were to her the day her father died."

Ashley worked at the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in California after graduating from nursing school, but made the transition to in-home healthcare in 2014. It seems like that has been her focus ever since. It was former Southern Charm co-star Landon Clements who explained that Ashley had been trying to get her job situation straightened out not long after she first made the move to Charleston. "His girlfriend Ashley is a sweetheart, and we've become really good friends, and she's moved to Charleston and is getting her nursing license to switch over," Landon told People in October 2017. "Everyone is happy trying to figure it all out."

Though Ashley is often stirring the pot on Southern Charm, her off-camera job appears to be a lot lower on drama. She has a totally normal job when she's not getting into arguments on Bravo, and it's one that she finds a lot of satisfaction in. Nursing was Ashley's dream, and it's something she can do no matter where she lives.