I think in two languages at once.
Science and anthropology. Spreadsheets and people. Emerging tech and the humans trying to figure out if they need it.
The origin story
My parents were a physicist and an anthropologist. No, that's not the setup to a joke — that was just my house growing up. What it means is that I grew up thinking two things were equally fascinating: how things work, and how people work. It never occurred to me that those were separate fields of inquiry.
When I ended up in tech marketing, I finally understood why that mattered. The companies that struggle to grow aren't usually struggling because their product is bad. They're struggling because they can't explain why it matters to the person who needs it, or they're talking to the wrong person entirely, or the journey from "this sounds interesting" to "I am buying this" is a labyrinth.
That kind of messy situation is exactly what gets me up in the morning.
"I love figuring out emerging technologies and getting elbow deep in a spreadsheet, but I also love figuring out people and what makes them tick."
The career
I started at Canon and then Harte-Hanks, building lead management programs and early email marketing (yes, actual early email marketing, before it was annoying). Then I went to Dell, where I spent 17 years in almost every kind of marketing imaginable: small business, channel, product, solutions, vertical, and demand gen. I helped build Dell's desktop virtualization business from customer #1 to over $1 billion, and got the company's first K-12 laptop onto the roadmap by convincing sales to take quota on a product that didn't exist yet.
After Dell, I joined VMware as a Senior GTM Strategy Manager, where I launched the Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, and SaaS business lines — growing all of them from incubation to $100M+. Then I spent four years as CMO of NextEdge, a $50M–$300M infrastructure services company, rebranding eight regional businesses into a single national brand and building their first formal demand generation engine from scratch.
More recently, I've been running Moon Marketing Strategy, where I work with companies that have outgrown the founder's network and need structured go-to-market thinking, sharper positioning, and marketing that actually converts. In this role, I've been working with smaller, growth startups, between $15–$50 million.
The short version: 20+ years turning complex technology into revenue, across companies big and small.
What I actually do well
Product Marketing & Positioning
Finding the real reason someone buys your product (often different from what you think) and building messaging that lands.
GTM Strategy
Identifying the right market segments, building the playbook, and getting sales and marketing aligned enough to execute it.
Launching New Products & LOBs
From cloud platforms to Kubernetes to pool maintenance, I've taken a lot of things from "nobody knows this exists" to $100M+.
Demand Generation
Building the pipeline engine, not just the brand. ABM, intent-based targeting, SaaS trials, event strategy, you name it.
Making Technical Things Human
I've translated Kubernetes, desktop virtualization, and aquatic system maintenance into language real buyers care about.
Building & Leading Teams
"Erica was probably the best leader I have worked for in my 25-year career." — David Ray, NVIDIA. I take this one seriously.
The other things
Stanford BA in International Relations. Fluent in German, working in Japanese and Spanish. Former Boy Scout Scoutmaster. Taekwondo second-degree black belt (and instructor for seven years). Published in an academic compilation on Japanese healthcare, which is possibly the least useful credential on this list and also somehow one of my favorites.
I live in Austin, TX, and I mentor international exchange students through Youth For Understanding.