2025 Women in Signs: Ashley Baumeister

THE SIGN INDUSTRY CAME to Ashley Baumeister at a serendipitous moment. While working at a coffee shop, she was offered a job by a regular patron — a print shop owner — and jumped at the call. She started with Fastsigns of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) in 2013, then transitioned to Fastsigns of Clearwater and Fastsigns of Largo when she moved to Florida in 2019. Most of her sign career has been with Fastsigns, though she did spend time with other companies for two years.

In her present role, Baumeister bounces between different types of production — banners, coroplast, foam and metal — with fabrication and installation sprinkled in. She paints, operates printers and CNC machines, and provides graphic work for interior installation. She also helps with building pylons, monument signs, installing security and perforated films. This variation makes signage endlessly exciting for her.

Network Power: Ashley Baumeister uses social media to connect with other sign women.

“We get to do something different every day,” she says. “Everything is custom. There’s never a dull moment in the sign industry.”

Due to the diversity of jobs, her team often has to build a project from the ground up by themselves. To figure out a solution, Baumeister looks to visual aid, online research and contacts with other sign professionals to learn how they have tackled similar projects. It also challenges her to acquire completely new skills, such as welding and stonework for a stone monument that Fastsigns of Clearwater recently completed.

“It was one of those projects we had to custom build every part for,” Baumeister recalls. “It was a proud moment for our shop and for me. I’d been wanting to learn welding for a few years.”

Have the confidence and courage to take on new challenges: That is the advice she wishes to impart to other women in the sign industry. Working in the back in fabrication and installation can be intimidating, but applying oneself to learn new skills can be just as rewarding. “Just like that stone monument, if I had shied away from that, I would never have learned that skill and I’m proud to have that now,” Baumeister says.

She first met another woman in a back-end sign job nine years into her career, when she saw a female channel letter builder while touring Creative Sign Designs (Tampa, FL). Since then she has seen women gaining more ground in the industry, taking on fabrication, welding, installation and more varied roles. For a long time Baumeister did not have another woman working in the back with her, which is why she is using her social media platforms to recruit and expand her network of women in signs: W.I.S.E. Women in Signs Etc. “I want to show women that you are capable of working in this world as it is still a male-dominated industry,” she explains.

Baumeister hopes to continue growing her social media, as making videos not only brings out her creative side but also aids in recruiting, building stronger relationships with vendors, and generally lets her contribute more to her company. She also looks forward to a beautiful new life in Florida, with happiness and honesty in her current role. “Just brings me so much joy and rules so much of my world,” she says.