The 2023 Teen Vogue Summit is in full swing in L.A., and Ashley Tisdale is bringing a dose of nostalgia to the event, opening up about both her prime time in the spotlight in the 2000s and 2010s and the new ventures that keep her busy in the new decade.
To celebrate Teen Vogue’s 20th anniversary, Ashley Tisdale made her way to NYA Studios in the heart of Hollywood to join Teen Vogue’s executive editor, Danielle Kwateng, in an intimate chat where she discussed going from becoming a household name with her roles of Sharpay Evans in the wildly popular DCOM franchise High School Musical to entering the wellness and beauty space with her community site and brand Frenshe.
“I would say that Frenshe came came at a time where I was going through a lot of difficult times. I realized I suffered from anxiety and depression,” Tisdale told the audience about the genesis of Frenshe as a platform to connect with her community.
“I wanted to start openly talking about [these things], because a lot of people weren’t talking about it at the time. This was like probably six years ago. I just wanted to make anybody feel not alone in their journey, and so that was really where Frenshe came from. I wanted somewhere where could share [the experiences that] I’ve been through, both amazing and and not so amazing. Everything from my mental health to plastic surgery to just everything l’ve learned so far and I had no idea that was going to be something that would catapult me into doing products and creating a really successful line.”
The community she’s built with Frenshe has replaced the void that acting filled before, and though Tisdale don’t feel an anger to get back to the acting world she doesn’t fully rule it out. For now, the focus is on Frenshe, and she hopes “people don’t think this is another celebrity brand.”
Tisdale also opened up about a mental health tipping point when she closed off her previous beauty line, Illuminate, and how. “It really took a minute to realize it was something I wasn’t supposed to be doing,” she said. “Even though I know everybody fails at something at some point in their life. [When I shut down Illuminate, I realized I failed at something personally, and I
really shut down but it taught me so much.”
