Welcome to Ashley + Lavender Library Press

Lavender Library Press (LLP) is a multicultural, Canadian-run indie educational and entertainment press, content, and creative house rooted in truthfulness, transparency, intercultural representation, building confidence, sharing compassion, justifying joy, promoting education, fighting for justice, and acknowledging human rights for all Peoples of Mother Earth. LLP aims to educate, to inform, to entertain, to support, and to amplify representation for those in need.

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LLP operates on Treaty 6 territory, in Alberta, Canada, Turtle Island. We honour the many Tribes and Indigenous Peoples of this Turtle Island and commit to truth and reconciliation through learning, respecting, committing, collaborating, and sharing the knowledge and education given to us by the Indigenous/First Peoples' and their traditional perspectives whenever and however we can.

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                           Hi, I'm Ashley — the founder behind Lavender Library Press.

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​I'm a privileged French Canadian woman, born in 1985 and raised in a rebellious-yet-privileged family of miners and mineral extractors in Timmins, Ontario. Despite not being wealthy, I attended a progressive French Catholic school and worked hard for everything I've ever earned.... fully aware of, and never hiding behind, my white French Canadian Catholic privilege.

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I grew up on the Mattagami River, Horwood Lake, and what we affectionately called Gilles "Lake" — an old mining pit the city filled with water and handed to us as a beach. (Yes, really. LOL.) But the northern Boreal forest, those spring-fed lakes, and long camping days at the cottage? That was the genuine beauty of my hometown. Before colonization, this land was the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations, including the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Haudenosaunee, and Lenape Peoples, covered by Treaties 3, 5, and 9, the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties, the Upper Canada Treaties, and the Haldimand Proclamation. (This is just the tip of the iceberg to the history of where I was born and raised, I'm sure.) 

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I had enormous Canadian pride growing up and then travelling the world for my career - something real to brag about, something beautiful to belong to. Luckily, and thanks to my dad, the Indigenous and Métis Peoples, the growth-mindset teachers, and others who generously shared their knowledge, I learned to collaborate; I learned how to protect Mother Earth; I learned how to critically examine the colonial systems built to empower my French Catholic ancestors while displacing and harming both Indigenous Peoples and the land itself. Because of where I come from, I am committed to the ongoing work of unlearning, relearning, accepting accountability, and supporting Canadian Truth and Reconciliation — in words and in action. 

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I am a forever student. I am also a trained K–12 teacher, certified in Catholic and public systems across BC, Alberta, Australia, and beyond. I'm a curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment nerd, a writer, a researcher, and a lifelong, devoted reader and truth seeker. I am also a forever survivor. I was diagnosed with leukemia while living abroad in China. The plot twist I never saw coming. It has become chronic and is managed by daily targeted chemotherapy. Don't worry, it's in capsules, so I just swallow them like an OTC Tylenol. 

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I spent over a decade travelling and living across Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia... including years living and teaching in China, an experience that fundamentally reshaped how I understand education, community, culture, and belonging.

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When I returned to Canada in 2023, I expected to feel at home. Instead, I felt culture shock. I was genuinely surprised by how much resistance, fear, and closed-mindedness still existed around inclusion, diversity, and multicultural lives. Moreover, I couldn't believe how ignorant people were about what was happening across the world, across the country, across the provinces, and how responsible the colonizer culture is for it all. I thought we were making progress over here! I thought we were doing Truth and Reconciliation over here! I thought we were taking accountability for the failed patriarchal and colonial systems over here! That's what I had heard as a BC Teacher in China, albeit my sources of information were only educational and academic. 

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However, that disconnect stayed with me...And then, it lit a spark.

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Lavender Library Press began with Rainbow Soup for the Queer Soul, inspired by the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books that meant everything to me growing up in the '90s. Those books made me feel seen, understood, and less alone at a time when I desperately needed that. I wanted to create that same feeling, particularly for 2SLGBTQ+ people who are still too often left out of the story, but now I have pivoted to try to support everyone who needs a safe space, regardless of culture, community or category.

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What started as a single book series quickly became something much bigger. That first anthology revealed the power of community storytelling, community sharing, community education and showed me how deeply ALL people crave spaces where their identities aren't questioned, minimized, or debated... just welcomed.

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From there, Lavender Library Press grew into a creative press and educational resources platform dedicated to leading by example by amplifying marginalized voices and reconnecting them with their confidence, compassion, and creative expression by being, sharing and encouraging multicultural representation and acceptance.

 

From then and now it continues to flow and grow... from and into an educational movement, a 21st-century content sharing movement, a learning and growing movement, an equality building movement, a sustainable living movement, a Canadian Truth and Reconciliation movement, and so so so much more...Overall, a very multicultural, 21st century Canadian movement to do good for all, ensuring we always leave others and our spaces better than when we found them, just as I was taught in my homelands of Timmins, Ontario, Canada, Turtle Island.

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Today and forever moving forward, Lavender Library Press is a vibrant hub where educational and informational content, stories, journals, fundraising and all sorts of goodies and everyday joy, growth, and resilience meet to better the lives and ALL who are willing to participate.

 

LLP's website and social media content offer the following:

 

✨ Free Resources — downloadable guides, safe space tools, identity spectrums, and educational materials created to support Canadians, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, educators, families, and allies and more at absolutely no cost.
 

✨Educational Resources - downloadable educational resources (LLP's own version of Teachers Pay Teachers, but it's just Ashley's teaching resources)
 

✨ Books — the flagship Rainbow Soup series, and other Rainbow Soups in progress that centre marginalized voices and real Canadian and Turtle Island lived experiences.
 

✨ Journals & Journaling Bundles — guided and blank self-discovery journals, the flagship 52 Weeks of Queer Power journals (with online series), confidence-building prompts, junk journaling kits, and themed bundles designed to support reflection, healing, and growth.
 

✨ Rainbow Goodies & Merch — mugs, tumblers, stickers, apparel, and colourful accessories that bring pride, softness, and visibility into everyday life.
 

✨Social Supports and Community Building Resources - fundraising events, resource sharing, amplifying voices, and giving back all profits to the communities that need it most. See the homepage for current endeavours. Support by buying me a coffee. 

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​​The heart of Lavender Library Press is simple, but powerful:​​

✨ Be representation — by being your truest, most authentic self!  #noharmnofoul
 

✨ Share representation — by creating and sharing information, education, and projects that help you and your communities openly and proudly.  #noharmnofoul

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✨ Encourage representation —  by uplifting community voices, stories, recommendations, and more, so that all people feel seen, celebrated, and empowered to take up space, regardless of any culture, community or category we belong to, because together we can make the world a better, safer, and happier place FOR ALL HUMANS. #noharmnofoul

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Lavender Library Press was never created simply to make a profit.

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It was created to help empower good people who may need a little encouragement in a challenging world...people with open minds and open hearts who sometimes find themselves overwhelmed by the noise, division, and uncertainty of the 21st century.

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It was created for those who are learning, unlearning, growing, persevering, and choosing to get up every single day, even when it would be easier not to.

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It is for anyone who has ever felt they needed to shrink themselves to stay safe, despite causing no harm. For anyone who has ever felt alone, unseen, or unheard. For anyone who has struggled to find hope, purpose, or light in the darkness.

If that sounds like you, Lavender Library Press is for you. 

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Every journal filled, every book read, every sticker placed somewhere meaningful, every video posted and shared, every successful fundraiser, every new lesson learned, every epiphany, every connection reminds us why this public and community-driven work matters. Lavender Library Press exists so people can live more authentically, more confidently, and more colourfully — regardless of their path, without apology, and without fear of repercussions. 

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Your story matters. Your individuality matters. Your creativity matters. Your pride matters. Your identity matters. Your community matters. Take care of what matters.

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Remember, no harm, no foul, and you are always welcome here at my table.

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#noharmnofoul

Ciao for now!

-Ashley