In college, Erika was the president of the speech team and a nationally ranked speech competitor. She graduated cum laude from a small midwestern liberal arts college, triple majoring, with a bachelors in Communication Arts (Electronic Media and Public Relations) and Communication Studies (Speech Communication). After graduation she promptly moved to Charleston, South Carolina – her husband’s first duty station – where she had no personal connections and was told during one job interview that “Charleston ran on a good ole’ boy system” and that she would be hard pressed to find a career path job without a local network.
Subsequently, she worked in retail management for 5 years and in 3 cities until suffering complete and utter job burnout. After roughly 6 months of voluntary unemployment she stumbled into technical writing job for a DoD contractor. Erika worked as a technical writer for about a year and a half then resigned in preparation for the birth of her son and another upcoming relocation.
Erika has been the primary, full time, caregiver to her children since 2012. While she never had any aspirations or desires to be a stay at home mom, staying at home was the most reasonable and economic decision. During her tenure at home she returned to photography, an old hobby, with fervor. She opened her own part time business, Little Fish Photo, in 2013. She co-founded and co-operates the internationally recognized project Sham of the Perfect in 2015. She became the co-editor of Red Thread Sessions in 2016. Her complete C.V. can be found on erikaroa.com.
Erika’s resume is entirely her own. However, it bears striking similarities to many individuals that have chosen to attach themselves to a member of the armed forces.
