10 Most-Beautiful Finalist: Ashley Gaudet

Age: 23

Occupation: Realtor with Carol Jones Realtors

Background: Ashley has lived in 417-land for 12 years. She’s a Springfieldian who’s originally from Neosho. Her family consists of her mom and dad, Alice and Charles; brothers Charles and Chris; and sisters Jennifer, Brittney and Shelby.

Tell us why you love 417-land.

I love 417 land because we have everything here: great rock climbing, hiking, biking trails. The people are friendly, and it’s big enough to have options on what to do and small enough to feel at home. We have great restaurants, shopping and parks.

Tell us about your community involvement and volunteering. (Please tell us what organizations you’re involved in, what you do to participate and how long you’ve been doing it.)

Currently I have been involved in green building. Being a realtor, it is my job to help people find the perfect home—not only the perfect home but one that is good for their health.

We hear a lot about lead-based paint and mold. As I learn more about green building, I can teach the people around me.

I volunteer with some community events: American Heart Association, Relay for Life. Most of my involvement is with Charity Water. It’s a water-providing organization that started in New York. One hundred percent of donations go towards digging wells in South Africa.

What makes your community involvement worthwhile?

We are blessed with so much—clean water to drink, toilets that work and food on-hand, open opportunity with some kind of job and homes that provide some sort of shelter and safety.

The people who do not have these things are helpless and need our help; we are fortunate enough to help, so we should.

Hobbies (Go ahead; list them all! And tell us why you love them.)

Spending time with family, running, camping, climbing, going to the lake, planting, playing tennis, working and helping other people. I love anything outdoors. I enjoy all of these because these things make me happy.

What’s something that might surprise us about you? (Or a story you love to tell.)

I am getting married in June, so I am very excited about that, and planning is my thing. So right now I am having the time of my life spending time with my family and enjoying the time with planning surprises for the wedding.