Meet Erica Parrótt

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erica Parrótt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erica , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

At a young age I was exposed to my share of “empower through” moments. Many handed to me courtesy of the woman who birthed me. I spent my early years being blamed for everything and my teen years were spent trying not to die or catch a charge. I lived in reaction mode for so many years thanks to my birth mother. It was my grandmother, Emma who provided me the space to understand how to survive or thrive. She never forced anything on me. She saw what was my “thing” and created the avenues for it to blossom. Having her in my life raising me from birth until I was 12…is why I survived my teen years through my 20s.

It was thanks to her nurturing care in the most tender of years that I locked into and understood what resilience is. If not for her I probably wouldn’t be sitting here chatting with you all right now. She truly allowed me to learn what my emotions were and to feel them without judgment. While also teaching me how to continue to move. The most important lesson she taught me was how to let others be who they are without taking it personally.

The age of 12, I was handed a major empower through event. I had to truly learn how to keep my inner state of peace while living in chaos. I was forced to move cities and live with my birth mother. Those years I call, ‘did what I had to do to survive.’ Not happy or sad about any of those moments. They each ended up showing me something while strengthening my understanding of myself. I speant years of navigating the world of entertainment, fashion, and the beauty industry in my mid-20s through my early 30s. Ironically, a lot of my lessons learned courtesy my birth mom, served me well. My resilience and understanding of many angles is how I found my may through. I met shyster’s. I met well-dressed appearances full of nothing but fluff, once you got to the root of it all. Some I discerned and moved away from. Others, well they were a level up lesson that required the ultimate resilience to come through those events.

8 years ago handed me a situation that I could no longer play the line. I was going to have to dig deep. Find another level of resilience. This one would bring me in full alignment for the chapter of life I’m walking in now.

I was mauled by a dog. I had over 200 stitches throughout my body. No use of my hands. One of my legs was completely shot out from an intense bite. The healing was insane! Not just the physical but the mental and emotional too. Best part…it took place right after I had just gotten my full service hair and nail salon off the ground. I was doing my thing. Living my dreams out. From my modeling to the music. Working behind the chair as a Nail Specialist while mentoring and growing others in the industry. Then, BAM! I’m laid up and don’t know what’s going to come next.

It was during that healing that it became oh so clear that I had to go back to my full roots. The herbal remedies for life and healing. Letting hustle culture die and thriving culture come in. Where rest was a priority and not a luxury. My communication had to become unwavering. My faith in myself and my higher had to come into full alignment without waiver. Resilience is the only reason I’m walking around now or able to run miles again. Able to fully use my hands that were severely damaged. One even needing surgery. Y’all, that was a fight with a doctor for 2 years to get them to listen to me. He kept wanting to say, “Oh it’s just carpal tunnel.”

For 2 years they kept me running back and forth to PT and to this test or that test. Finally 2 years of not being able to even turn a door knob he says, “Okay I’ll do a routine carpal tunnel clean out surgery.” Well, that routine surgery turned into 6 hours later. I woke up and my left hand was completely covered and immovable. I was told I would be this way for 6 to 12 weeks because I had several tendons that had to be put back together. Multiple impacted nerves. Some had to be killed. Some were awakened. I also had an entire ligament house that had to be retightened that couldn’t be moved because it had been sitting untightened with dead tissue keeping it stretched out. So now it just had to be still in hopes that it would regain something but most likely never what it once was. When I got that news, it was nothing but my resilience that kept me from walking off of the ledge. I knew I wasn’t crazy. I knew there was something more wrong with my hand. I know so many who would have given up or stopped because they kept getting blocked. I’m so thankful that I was taught from a young age, just because they don’t hear you doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Keep speaking ! I truly believe tapping back into my herbal remedies and putting rest over hustling is why I was able to maintain those two years that I was put on ice, and that things were able to be reattached after being unattached for so long.

Resilience has taught me to find the beauty in the struggle as well as the lessons. Because sometimes we may not get what we want, but if we can sit back and look at the bigger picture, we see how it gave us everything we needed.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

The shifts we face if we will face them, are setting us up for our next chapters. So much shifted in my life from 2016- 2020. Starting in 2019 through all the 2020 meltdown, my personal life felt like tower after tower was happening. 2019 I dismembered from the band I had been songwriter and lead vocalist for. Closed my salon and rented a booth and downsized my cliente. September 2020, I left from behind the nail desk so I could finish letting my body fully heal from the dog attack. I was being pulled in a different direction career-wise althogether. My heart enjoyed expanding people, but I was being called to give more than something that last only for a fleeting moment. During 2020 I also launched my brand, These Are The Times/Eluminate. This gave me a space to begin to mold this chapter of my life, Empowering Guidance. I found myself writing more and being pulled to show up online in a guiding capacity. I launched my blog space in 2021 on Buy Me A Coffee alongside my YouTube channel. These communities continue growing daily and bring me so much joy to show up in.

2021 wasn’t finished handing me new shifts. I knew a move was in the works, but I was planning to go South. March 2021, I moved to Philadelphia instead. What better place to dive deeper into the understanding of the world’s mess than to live in the place where some major things began?! This time has really allowed so much space to open up for others to find their understandings and shake off what is no longer serving them, especially myself. In my relentless pursuits to uncover all the BS, it led me to the next branch that was sprouting from these foundations I’m building. The holistic beauty and wellness space, Elumi Beauty & Wellness was born.
With so many things on the market that don’t have transparency and aren’t truly serving our needs, I stopped to find companies that are assisting and healing lives. I’ve always been a networker, so it was no surprise when I finally announced in 2022 I would be stepping into partnerships with NuSkin & DoTERRA to back my online holistic store. I’ve always had a love and passion for wellness and beauty so to be able to build this along with life guidance coaching has been a true treat. I’ve had the opportunity to be apart of wellness workshops and speak on panels. In addition to offering 1-on-1 space with those seeking holistic solutions for many areas of life. Ranging from anxiety & sleep, to gut health and every thing in between. Being able to assist loved ones and clients with solutions and knowledge that I know will honestly unlock their life, makes my day! Many of my empowerment clients have benefited from these Solutions offered because of my wellness and Beauty space too. It is humbling when you truly step back and watch how you are such a vital part of it all. Allowing yourself to see the ripples you create. It’s a beautiful thing to witness. The move to Philly has given such amazing and new perspectives. It’s aligned me with mentors that have assisted my growth as I get more and more comfortable each day with my gifts and this chapter of life and business.

Earlier this year I launced my 1st major package. A 6 week 1-on-1 Life Transforming Package. I walk you through proven actionable methods for shifting limiting beliefs around self, family, wealth, and health. Many have already put these into motion for their life and are walking into their transformations. I offer you the space and show you how to ask those expanding questions that allow you to see the bigger picture. Learn how to really make plans and routines that work for you. We’ll dive into understanding Emotions and managing your energy in a way that will expand your life and everyone’s life that you come in contact with.

I love watching the light come on in someone’s eyes after they felt one way for so long and then realize “ah-ha! It doesn’t have to be this way!” And they walk away knowing how they can do something about it. That is the true beauty of life; Seeing others being able to live theirs happy and whole alongside you living yours! While I enjoyed being able to touch people with nails and music I know those phases of my life served their season. Now the music not so much. I’m simply revamping and learning who I am as an artist. When I stepped into this part of my life in 2020, I knew so much was going to change, but I never expected to feel this level of joy! I truly love spending my days being able to hold space for others as they turn the keys and step into their truest self!

Life on first glance could be taken as a tradegy. Learning to find the laughter has gotten me through so much. A few months ago I dusted off the mic and returned to podcasting. This has been such an amazing outlet for me. Joining forces with Keith Bridges and having that space again to dive into life, politics, and comedy has been the missing ingredient. I’m so glad to be apart of the Quarantine Podcast team over on Rumble. It’s allowed me to see where I really want to take my podcast when it relaunches. I saw this coming, but I didn’t see all these parts unfolding and flowing with one another like they are.

So many have said, “Erica, you need to write a book!” I am. The goal is for it to be available worldwide early 2025. Is it a memoir? Maybe. Is it a thank you to a very special woman? Most certainly. At the end of the day, it’s a story that many will be able to see as their own. This process has truly been the most humbling of them all.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Oh, there are so many skills needed to nagivate this human experience. These are what jumped out for me when you asked.

1- Being able to disagree with others- This skill is huge. Somewhere in society we became lost in everyone has to look the same and sound the same. Yet at the same time, still be an individual. Letting ourselves become comfortable in disagreement with someone else is how we truly live free. When we disagree with others our biggest fear is how we will be perceived. When our biggest concern should be how do we feel during and after the interaction?

2- Becoming emotionally mature-We humans are pretty much houseplants with emotions. Which means we need a lot of water and we’re complicated. Becoming emotionally mature allows us again to live a free life. When we haven’t allowed ourselves to grow our ego, IE emotions, or to gain a deeper language to express what we are experiencing, it can seem quite taxing when we walk through the day. It might feel like everyone is judging you. Or you might feel like no one understands you. And the great thing is no one’s really truly meant to understand you, but you are supposed to understand yourself. This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. It’s something that you learn daily. When we don’t allow ourselves to become emotionally mature we miss out on learning the best things about ourselves and end up living in anxiety, fear, and a host of other issues. Some even manifesting in our health. We may not have received the lessons to be emotionally mature as children, but now that we are adults, it’s our job to shift that.

3- Knowing when to quit- There’s a saying that quitters never win, but let’s be honest, every successful person had to quit something at some point. Whether it was quitting self-doubt. Or quitting negative talk. Or cutting out certain foods. Or finding solutions that actually heal versus Band-Aid. To get anywhere in life we drop the things and quit the things that aren’t serving us any longer. So becoming okay with knowing when it’s time to close the chapter out without judgement is a crucial skill for life. Everything was not meant to go with us through every portion of our life. If it were, we’d still have our binkies from when we were three. To everything there is a reason and a season. For some things there is a lifetime. But we also must remember a lifetime ends when a chapter ends. That might be a week and it might be centuries or anything in between.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

Emma Jane Parrótt. She would have been 109 this coming January. She passed when I was 20 about to turn 21.
The time in her presence was truly a blessing. Her love and drive knew no depths and she was fierce. Her thirst for knowledge was never ending. She knew how to be the perfect mix of what a situation called for. Whether it was tough love or silent compassion, it was always unconditional and flowing. If you asked me to describe expansion, discipline, love, limitlessness, balance, companionship, leadership, hope, Grace, warrior, protector, peace, wisdom, strength, healing, goddess… it would be Emma.

She showed me what it was to walk in balanced energy. The true essence of being this beautiful human creature known as a woman. It is because of her and her love and the way that she lived that I was able to grow into who I am today and continue to grow into.

As I’ve moved through this life I’ve only had the privilege of meeting two other humans that could qualify as an Emma. On their own journey and still able to hold space for others to be on theirs. Doing nails brought me into contact with so many amazing people. My soul sister Alecia Rice being one of those. She has been a major part of my life and getting to grow as a human alongside her has shown me so many beautiful things about myself and life.

Every one in my life has impacted me. I’m thankful for them all…now.

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