An entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, investor, executive, and mom to two sons, Erika is the founder of The Racial Equity Asset Lab and has been consulting with EAC since 2019. Her 20-year career in nonprofits includes leadership roles in development and fundraising, program design, collaboration and partnership management, and racial equity advocacy. She previously served as the chief of staff of the Baltimore Community Foundation and vice president of external affairs at ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, where she led the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Erika is the designer of SMART Investing, an initiative to bring a racial equity lens to foundation endowment management by increasing access to minority- and women-owned investment management firms. She has also written white papers promoting policies and practice in support of this approach, including “Foundation Investment Management Practices: Thoughts on Alpha and Access for the Field and Diverse Managers: Philanthropy’s Next Hurdle.” Erika previously managed Leverage the Trust, a national initiative to identify and support black leaders in advancing racial equity within their institutions, and Catalyzing Community Giving Institute, a project aimed at increasing strategic giving among black Greek-letter organizations, professional and civic organizations.

She was a member of the inaugural class of the ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship program, a recipient of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color in the Social Sector, and a member of the class of 2017 for Executive Leadership Institute of CFLeads. Erika volunteers as a member of the Impact Hub Baltimore Advisory Board and with grassroots organizations in Baltimore, providing development and fundraising assistance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Certificate of African Studies from Georgetown University.