During her studies, Erickson changed her mind many times about a potential career track, something she thinks was healthy in her own creative development.
“I thought about being an architect, I thought about going into more technology focused stuff, I thought about just being an artist, but I decided to kind of mix that all together and study graphic design,” said Erickson.
Her experience in college led her to the advertising industry, which was beginning to move toward more digital advertisement at the time. The advertising industry is populated with individual from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. However, most involved in the profession studied business, marketing, advertising, communications, or, like Erickson, some form of art.
This interest in advertising mixed with her artistic background led Erickson to make the big move from her home in Kansas to Portland, Oregon. This change of scenery was a defining decision for the course of her life both personally and professionally.
“When I moved to Portland I really had no idea what to expect, but I took the opportunity in front of me and decided to just go for it,” explained Erickson.
At the time, Portland was only starting to change from a smaller community into the ever-growing urban city it is today. Portland is now home to over 20 prevalent advertising and creative agencies, and is somewhat of a hotspot for the arts scene in the US.
Erickson was one of those young people coming to Portland, and ended up as a Design Studio Manager at renowned agency Wieden+Kennedy.
“Wieden is where everything started for me, my whole career has been influenced by my time there and it was a lot of time, I met my husband there, I raised my kids during my time there, 16 years I worked at Wieden,” said Erickson.
Started in 1982, Wieden + Kennedy is an independent American advertising agency, best known for its work for Nike. Started and headquartered in Portland, it is one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies in the world, with offices now in Portland, Amsterdam, London, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi, and Sao Paulo.
Starting out in the advertising field, Erickson always had her eye on becoming a creative director. However, in a field that has traditionally been described as male dominated, she found herself outnumbered.
“As a woman in the industry I had to prove myself more than my male counterparts, it took me longer than them to gain the respect of my peers,” said Erickson.
Erickson ended up working for 10 years as a Design Studio Manager at Wieden, in a role where she recruited, trained, led and developed a team of studio designers and specialists in support of multiple brand accounts.
She details that in this position she “challenged team members to approach projects and problems from a design-led mindset, and tried to really get them to solve client’s problems in modern and unique ways.”
It was during this time in her career where Erickson believes she gained the most valuable experience.
“I have found that in leading a team, and really challenging your team members’ own professional development, your own personal development benefits as well,” said Erickson.
The path that eventually led Erickson away from the “big agency”, was fueled by her desire to try something new and share her experience with a smaller up and coming agency.
In helping to establish a smaller agency in its first start-up year, Erickson encountered what she describes as an incredibly rewarding experience. Smaller studios serve smaller targeted audiences and brands and contribute greatly to the advertising community through their concentrated messages.
“Our goal as an agency was to test up a framework that had the ability to compete with large creative agencies, from a smaller home base,” detailed Erickson.
Now, Erickson works as a freelancer in the Portland area. In this role she has done design and production management, and worked in creative studio operations for companies such as Nike, Urban Renewal, and a number of other smaller companies and brands. Erickson feels like all of her experience has led her to this point in her career where she makes the rules and collaborates with many different groups.
“I have always loved my work, but freelancing has been my favorite by far, I love creating and I’m lucky enough to have worked my way into a career where thats what I get to do,” Erickson said, “I guess thats also my advice to people trying to get into a certain industry or trying to figure out what they want to do professionally. Try to enjoy it.”
The MFJS Reporter -- Winter 2020 M-W 