Meet Erika Kramer

We were lucky to catch up with Erika Kramer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Erika , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

I think it comes from both my parents and my experiences.
My parents have been endlessly supportive of me and always enthusiastically giving. Whether it was in how they raised me and treated me growing up or through schooling and starting my business. They’re just really generous and supportive people who have installed those same values in me.
I also think my life is just better when I’m doing things that help others. Any major success I’ve experienced was linked in some way to an act of giving. I know this will continue on through the rest of my life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I started my video production company, Sleeves Up Productions (SUP) back in 2012. SUP is a full-service creative production company specializing in high-quality, story-driven video content. We’ve delivered hundreds of videos for more than 5o clients across many categories, including: tech, travel, finance, non-profit, and more. While running SUP, I’ve also written, directed and produced a few award-winning short films. What excites me most is just great storytelling. I consider myself very lucky to be able to wake up and craft content for a living.

While SUP is my main work focus, I’ve also started a Substack that is now in its fifth year of publication. It’s called “The 33 Project” and it’s a recommendations blog where three times a week I post three pieces of content that I think are worth checking out. It could be an article or a video or a podcast. Within this project, I also started a series called “Opposite of Expert” where I ask three questions to an expert on a subject to help me understand it enough to hold a conversation. I’ve spoken to a cyber security expert, a greeting card writer, and a doctor administering botox, to name a few. You can subscribe at kramer.substack.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, I think the most important qualities for me have been self-motivation, curiosity, and dedication.

Running my own company means I have to be motivated each and every day to focus and get things done. I also have to be curious enough about what I do and who I work with to keep going and to build. Lastly, I’ve really had to commit. To tasks, to learning, to everything I can to make SUP be what it is.

I think before you take the leap to starting your own thing, testing your motivation and dedication is critical. These things can’t be flimsy. Also, you have to always be curious and open-minded. The minute that window closes, your world gets smaller and things become far less important. It becomes a lot harder to keep going.

The best advice I can give is to nurture these qualities. To set yourself up for wins by making sure the blocks to these things can be moved out of the way and you can have the room to push forward.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I’m always looking for folks to work with! If you need a video or some content, SUP can be that creative force you’ve been looking for.

I’m also always looking to chat with experts for my Substack. If you think there’s a topic I should cover or a person I should connect with, please reach out!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sup.nyc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sleevesup/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikalkramer/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sleevesup
• Other: Substack: https://kramer.substack.com/