Ashley (Ash) Esposito has many talents. She is a visual artist, community organizer, non-profit leader, elected school board member, and a mother. Her life is busy, yet what is remarkable is how successfully she weaves together these varied roles with her mission, purpose, and creative intention.
Since becoming executive director of Baltimore Unity Hall in 2024, Esposito has overseen a series of art exhibitions and community events, as well as managing a suite of artist studios now at full occupancy. In the main gallery on the first floor, she and her team host exhibitions that give voice and space to artists in the community. Esposito attributes the success of these programs to collective effort, crediting her staff, partners and network. Her strength, she explains, is “bringing people together.”
Located at 1505 Eutaw Place, Baltimore Unity Hall serves and unites the Central West neighborhoods of Madison Park, Marble Hill, Bolton Hill, and Upton. Recent exhibitions, including Sacred Ground and To Baltimore with Love, combine visual and literary art with community gatherings, artist talks, and open mics. In leading programs such as these, Esposito is guided by her stated passions: “the arts, accessibility, storytelling, and community placemaking.”
As an artist herself, with a studio in the Old Goucher neighborhood, she says, “any type of artwork makes my heart happy.” On her website, Little Box of Random, one can see her expansive range, from photography and painting to graphic design. “It took me a long time to call myself an artist,” she reflects. “People said pick a lane, but I like the flexibility.” What connects her work across mediums are her inspirations and intentions. “Art became my way of expressing myself,” she explains.
In a recent solo show of paintings, Mind’s Eye, held at Red Emma’s, Esposito used bold color and vivid imagery—eyes and tears—as a visual catharsis for childhood traumas. In similar work, paintings titled Vertigo and Migraine, she utilizes abstraction and strong colors to convey physical pain. And in Return to the Land, a group show at Motor House Gallery, she exhibited work exploring her Afro-Indigenous identity. Much of her recent painting focuses on this heritage, “reclaiming ancestral foods, language, rituals, and stories.” Revisiting her family’s roots in South Carolina, where she is a tribal member of the Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation, inspired a multimedia collage about kinship, solidarity and the historic alliance between Black and Indigenous people.
Originally from Arizona, Esposito spent her high school years in Wilmington, DE. After graduating, she pursued opportunities aligned with her artistic interests, though undiagnosed learning disabilities initially stood in her way. Once treated, she was able to move forward with renewed strength and determination.
Twenty years ago Esposito settled in Baltimore, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in software development from the University of Maryland Global Campus and is currently pursuing an MBA. Her dedication to her adopted city extends beyond leading a community nonprofit; she also serves as an elected commissioner on the Baltimore City School Board. A passionate advocate for wraparound services for Baltimore’s students and families, Esposito draws on her personal experiences with learning challenges. She is guided by purpose-driven values of “community, accessibility, and educational equity.” She is up for re-election in 2026.
Esposito lives with her husband, Calogero, and their son, Vincenzo (Vinny), in Southwest Baltimore. Vinny is a kindergarten student in Baltimore City Public Schools. The family includes a dog, Chachi, and two cats, Sunshine and Lemon.
You can view photos of Esposito’s work on the BHCA Facebook page. Visit her portfolio at littleboxofrandom.com to see the full range of her artwork, and learn about upcoming events and artist calls at Baltimore Unity Hall at baltimoreunityhall.org.
–Francine Marchese
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