Erica is an award-winning journalist and travel industry veteran with more than 25 years of media experience across broadcast, print and digital media. Her work has appeared on ABC, NBC, FOX, A&E, TIME, Travelzoo, Yahoo Travel, Frommer’s Travel, Fodor’s, Orbitz, Travelocity, SheBuysTravel, The New Zealand Herald and several AAA magazines. She currently serves as a contributing editor for AAA’s The Extra Mile digital publications.

Erica’s wanderlust has taken her around the globe—and often off the beaten path. Highlights include:

• Trekking Nepal’s Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Circuits

• Hunting UFOs in Sedona with a woman who claims alien abductions—twice

• Evading a charging elephant while on safari in Tanzania

• Attending cooking school in Positano, Italy

• Camping with The Bedoins in the deserts of Jordan

• Spending time in silence at ashrams across Asia, Europe and North America

• Snorkeling with penguins and sea lions in The Galápagos Islands

• Participating in a ceremonial dunking in the Ganges River while traveling India

Her storytelling has earned recognition from her peers: in 2025, she received the Silver Medal in the Travel Category from the International Food, Wine & Travel Writer’s Association for her piece “The Power of the Powwow” (AAA The Extra Mile Magazine).

A graduate of Northwestern University’s world-renowned Medill School of Journalism, Erica’s curiosity fuels every story she tells. She combines a passion for prose with a sharp understanding of business objectives—a mix that helped her become a pioneer in the field of content marketing.

She began her career as an on-air reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the aftermath of 9/11. She worked in local television news before transitioning into a documentary production for Emmy-nominated programs such as “Cold Case Files” under the mentorship of legendary journalist Bill Kurtis. Erica produced and wrote more than 40 storylines for the true-crime documentary series, traveling across the country to interview detectives, forensic scientists, victims and convicted killers.

As digital media grew, Erica helped shape it. As Director of Destinations Content for Travelzoo, Erica led a global content marketing arm for a travel publisher with 28 million subscribers worldwide and built a multimillion-dollar piece of the business that worked in partnership with tourism boards to tell stories of destinations around the world.

After an around-the world sabbatical studying yoga and meditation, Erica returned home to contribute regularly to Orbitz and Yahoo Travel—helping Yahoo Travel become the No. 1 digital travel publication in the world. She’s also consulted for major brands and advertising agencies on content marketing strategies and has taught journalism at Northwestern University and DePaul University.

Today, Erica continues to freelance while raising her family near Chicago—always ready for the next adventure, wherever it may take her.