By day, Ashley O’Brien is a Senior Relationship Manager with the Whiting Bradford Wealth Management Group of Merrill Lynch in Mobile. By night — and by weekend, and occasionally by pre-sunrise — she is the “light girl” of the Gulf Coast: the owner of Lights by the Bay, a side business that spells out names and messages in three- and four-foot marquee letters for weddings, birthdays, Mardi Gras balls, corporate events and nonprofit galas on both sides of Mobile Bay.
The idea came from a friend. Sarah Catherine Avent, O’Brien’s best friend and the founder of the Brew Bus, the rolling libation van that shows up at parties across the coastal area, spotted marquee lights somewhere and mentioned it. O’Brien’s father was a woodworker, and she realized the vision could be built by hand. That was the start of Lights by the Bay — and of a fleet of more than 170 marquee pieces, letters and numbers in two sizes, all constructed by her father.
How the side gig works
Booking is deliberately simple: contact Lights by the Bay through its Instagram or Facebook page and fill out the contact form. Pricing runs $40 to $60 per letter or number depending on size, plus a delivery fee of $50 to $85 depending on distance. Setup takes two to three hours on the day of the event, and the whole operation is built to be repeatable — O’Brien once handled 12 events in a single weekend.
“It’s fun, easy, and not expensive,” she said. “It’s a happy and BRIGHT experience, and people love to see the light girl.”
The marquee letters have spelled out everything from a couple’s new last name at a wedding reception to “FLOURISH” in four-foot letters for a Baldwin County nonprofit event. Recently the business expanded into photo entertainment with two digital photo booths — self-serve units with customizable photo overlays and quality props, no attendant required. Guests tap the top of the screen, take their shots, and receive the images by text, email or AirDrop; nothing is printed on site. The booths are sleek and small, and O’Brien says people act more like themselves when there’s no attendant watching: “No one has this kind of photo booth.”
Giving back is the point
What distinguishes Lights by the Bay from other party-rental operations is where the money goes. O’Brien directs about 30 percent of the business’s profits back to nonprofits and community events — a running ledger of support that has included the Ronald McDonald House, Impact 100 Mobile, United Cerebral Palsy, the Fuse Factory and many others. She has also joined the board of United Cerebral Palsy.
One of her favorite projects didn’t involve a party at all. O’Brien, an avid runner, organized a local edition of Finish Eliza’s Run — the nationwide six-mile memorial run for Eliza Fletcher, the Memphis teacher and runner who was kidnapped and murdered during an early-morning run in 2022. O’Brien’s group started before sunrise and lit Fletcher’s name in marquee letters in front of Carpe Diem on Old Shell Road, calling the display Liza’s Lights. “The whole community participated,” she said. “It was emotional and moving.”
That instinct toward community runs through her own story as well. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, she moved to north Mobile as a child and later graduated from Mercer University with a psychology degree, intending to become a counselor. Family priorities led her to Merrill Lynch eight years ago — where her mother, Ann Richardson, had been a wealth management advisor for decades — and she now serves clients there while raising her son, Cooper.
Her advice for anyone eyeing a side hustle of their own is disarmingly practical: “The key to a successful side gig is to find one product or service, master it, and create a process that you can repeat.” Hers is one part woodwork, one part logistics and one part community goodwill — and, she says, it is not just about the business, but about “creating a legacy of kindness and support within the community.”
For hosts on either side of the Bay who want to dress up a celebration without breaking the bank, the formula has proven itself across hundreds of events: pick the message, let the letters do the talking, and expect the room to light up — literally.