Meet your neighbor - Ashley Niles

Ashley Niles is a dentist and business owner, an athlete, a wife and a mother of three young children. She admirably manages her very busy life with an aura of kindness and calmness that would be difficult for most of us with her schedule to match. She credits her background in team sports for much of her determination and many of her values.

Niles grew up in Geneva, Illinois, a rural Swedish American community west of Chicago. She is from a medical family. Her father was an OB-GYN and her mother a radiology therapist who cared for cancer patients. Niles was an only child, however, after her parents divorced, they each remarried and over time, added six brothers to her family.

Niles settled on her professional path as a sixth-grader. A particularly kind dental hygienist who was oriented to children's needs and interests inspired Niles to follow in her footsteps. Niles' mother encouraged her to take a broader look at the field and Niles decided to become a dentist. She familiarized herself with dentistry during her high school years by working in a dentist's office after school.

Team sports were a major part of her formative years. She played soccer most seriously, but the small schools she attended also afforded her the opportunity to pick up swimming, volleyball and basketball. Niles regrets that today there is pressure on students to specialize in a sport early and parents are often required to make a significant financial investment for their children to enjoy and benefit from team sports.

Near the end of Niles' time in dental school she participated in a required eight-week rotation. Her assignment was in Boulder, where she provided dental services to migrant workers through nearby Salud Family Health. She fell in love with this area, but it did not occur to her that she could one day move away from the town that three generations of her family had called home. No one she knew had ever left.

However, things later changed when she was working in a dental practice located about 15 miles from her hometown. A fortuitous appointment with a patient wearing a University of Colorado (CU) sweatshirt changed her life.

Not too many people these days can say that their mother-in-law was their matchmaker, but that is exactly how Niles describes the way she and her husband met. She asked her patient about the sweatshirt and learned that the woman's son had attended CU and stayed in Colorado after graduation. The two ended their friendly conversation with the expectation that Ashley and Dan would meet the next time he came into town.

When Dan Niles returned to Illinois over Easter 2010, he stopped by the dental office to introduce himself. He and Ashley Niles quickly found they had a lot in common. Both were triathletes, both loved Colorado, both were committed to service and, of course, both were raised in similar and nearby rural communities. Dan had served in AmeriCorps where he was assigned to an East Coast team fixing up homes. He had majored in environmental studies at CU, and as a young adult had worked as a lift operator in Steamboat Springs.

Ashley remembers that after that first meeting, Dan's mother said, "Dan, you've just met your future wife!"

Dan's mother's career helped to move Ashley and Dan's long-distance relationship along quickly. They were able to meet up frequently because Dan's mother was a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines and had access to complimentary airline tickets.

Ashley moved to Boulder after several months of long distance dating, and the couple married soon after. She continued working in her dental profession in Boulder, where their two older children (sons Troy, now age nine, and Trevor, seven) were born.

In 2014, Ashley leased space on Second Avenue in Niwot and said, "[I] started my own dental practice from scratch." She and Dan now live in Niwot in a home adjacent to open space in the Meadowdale subdivision. Dan owns a woodworking and residential remodeling business which is located on their property. Their third child, daughter Tilly, age five, was born after their move.

They love Niwot. Ashley said, "This community feels like my hometown, and it is a place where I can serve my community rather than be a 'doc in a box.'" She loves the comforting feeling that her family is safe.

Not only did participation in team sports as a young person give Ashley the opportunity to develop athletic skills, it also influenced her values and the workplace style. She is convinced that "it takes a team to do things." She said, "Nobody can do it alone. It really does take a village." She applies this philosophy to the open and respectful relationships she has with her dental staff and patients.

Within her busy schedule, Ashley fulfills her commitment to taking care of herself by running. It provides a way for her to stay in shape, to be a role model for her children and to nurture hard-to-make-time-for relationships with her female running companions. When she arrived for her interview for this article at 8:30 a.m., she had already completed an eight-mile run with members of the Boulder Striders running group.