We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erica Zendell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Erica, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
When I’m in situations where “I’m the only one that looks like me,” I try not to think about the fact that “I’m the only one in the room that looks like me.” Dwelling too much on that for too long is a quick way to start alienating myself from the room instead of appreciating the room. I try to put myself in situations where I’m in rooms where people don’t “look like me.” I think those rooms are crucibles that force me to identify what meaningfully sets me apart and where I can most learn from others.
The belief that everyone has something to teach me–whether I like it or not!–is a core belief for how I operate in my day to day life, Whether I’m in a room of people similar to me or different from me, I’m a believer that everyone in the room has something that can make me more effective or successful. It’s my job to figure out how to work the room and mine it for that kind of gold.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
In the 9 to 5, I work at the crossroads of the creative industries and technology sector at AKQA, a global design and innovation company. In my role in product management, I help bridge the gaps between designers and engineers to enable and scale digital experiences for our clients. My particular expertise lies in launching websites and mobile apps in the retail, lifestyle, and fitness industries.
In the 5 to 9, I’m a writer. I primarily write on Substack and on the sports media outlet, FloGrappling, the latter writing opportunity tied to my passion for training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. No matter the context–whether in a formal article or an Instagram caption–my work tends to touch on themes of grit, continuous improvement, introspection, and personal growth.
I am currently working on my first book: an inspirational narrative work about a sabbatical I took between 2021 and 2022 that took me across the United States, into the world of competitive jiu-jitsu, and taught me about what in life is most worth fighting for.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three things that have been most impactful and served me in my own journey would be
1. Self-reflection: We rarely pause to understand ourselves better and make sense of who we are, where we are, and where we want to go. I like to think I’ve always been really good at incorporating self-reflection at a regular cadence in my life (typically every six months). As I get older, I’ve improved at ascertaining whether I’m living in alignment with the things I value or, if in that process of self-reflection, I need to make a change. The world won’t pause for you, so being able to take that pause for yourself is critical in having a sense of consciousness and awareness in your own life.
2. Resilience: Everybody falls down, gets beaten up, loses, or otherwise falls into a hole at some point in their lives. “Fall down seven times, get up eight” is a bit of a tired phrase, but I wholeheartedly believe it. I strive to always get back up, get back in the game, and climb out of the hole. Even if I am climbing out of that hole bloody, beaten, and scarred, I will get out of that hole. I think resilience also demands courage and humility. Doing something that forces you to practice resilience usually requires having the courage to do something hard and the willingness to be humbled by it.
3. Language study: This is a pretty specific one, but it is so embedded in my worldview that I can’t help but list it here. Language learning builds empathy, a respect for all the things that get “lost in translation,” forces you to see the world in a different way. I’m not a linguist by trade, but foreign language study up through my college career ended up helping me in the corporate world: years spent studying Spanish and Chinese made it easy to learn to “speak different languages” across various business functions like customer success and sales.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
Self-promotion is the biggest challenge I am currently facing! I want to get my writing, my story, and my points of view out in front of a wider audience, but I’m fairly shy and find it hard to “be loud” and stand out in a noisy social media world where competition for people’s attention and headspace is very fierce.
I’m working on it. Like any other muscle, so long as you’re fueling appropriately, the more you exercise it and the more stress you put on it, the more you can help it grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.erica-zendell.com
- Instagram: zendelle
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ericamzendell
- Other: https://submissionartist.substack.com
Image Credits
@histandardsphoto
