CLAY COUNTY – Ashleigh Woronka began her passionate pursuit of the graphic design industry more than 17 years ago, but when she got started she didn’t realize the true impact that her designs would end up having on the community.

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Woronka’s former home is a five-hour, 314-mile excursion from her newly-established residence at Doctors Inlet.

Woronka was first introduced to the graphic design industry at her father’s printing shop – one that he still runs. It’s the shop where she grew up and it molded her passion for graphic design.

Five years ago, the entrepreneur and soon-to-be mother made the call to kickstart her own uniquely-branded graphic design service called Firefightger Wife Creations.

Since her husband was a firefighter, it didn’t take her long to come up with a name for her business.

“I was just trying to find something that was unique and different, and me being a firefighters’ wife, that’s what I decided to do,” she said.

Woronka met her husband, Ricky, in South Carolina when he was stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Jackson. The couple moved to Clay County in 2014.

Her company now sells an array of favorite specialty household items, souvenirs, clothing, air fresheners, can holders, 20-ounce and 30-ounce cups, T-shirts, earrings, sandstone car coasters, glitter pens and pencils, mugs, keychains and puzzles. Many items are monogrammed, and Woronka is certainly willing to customize most orders.

Favorite team-themed tumblers are available for those that cheer for Florida, Florida State and the Jacksonville Jaguars, but more importantly, sports and band-themed shirts and other custom items can be purchased.

Word-of-mouth is her No. 1 method of producing sales results, with pickup or delivery the most popular option.

“It’s mostly word of mouth, which is great, because that’s the best way to share about a small business, and somebody checking it out and saying ‘That’s pretty cool, where did you get that from? Hey, go check them out.’ But I do have some out-of-state (sales) from people that are no longer living here anymore or they have been completely new customers. So I do have a wide variety, but I do better with the pickups,” she said.

While a little extra money is a good thing, it was never about the money. It was a labor of love.

“It’s my passion, and I was always more or less doing it for friends and family as gifts, and I just decided to share that (passion) with everyone else,” she said.

You can find out more about Firefighter Wife Creations at www.ffwcreations.com, her social media page at Facebook.com/FFWCreations, by contacting her via email at ffwcreations@gmail.com or calling her cellphone at (803) 529-3864.