“Every day we encounter various experiences as a matter of course. Be it with another person, an event or a building. Erica’s ability to understand those experiences and find ways to improve them has enabled her to critically look at my work and improve the overall experience I provide my clients. Her input has been crucial to the success of the company and I always welcome her input.”

— Jonny Knopp, Director at Peanut Productions Photography

What people are saying

Working with Erica is like having another right hand. Her intuition about the attendee experience means you can always deliver the best events with ease, as chances are, she’s already thought of it, and taken care of it! Erica’s efficiency helps keep you motivated on your project too- she’s a dream to partner with on creative projects.

— netta egoz | PechaKucha

I have had the privilege of knowing Erica for three years. From the outset, Erica has been an incredible supporter of our organisation, offering Limitless connections for impact as well as and tangible and effective advice. It's people like Erica who have enabled the development of Limitless to where we are today! In a content curation role, Erica asks great questions at the outset of the collaboration in order to gain a holistic understanding of the scope, expectations and aspirations for the project. She is a big picture thinker, exceptional at understanding what individuals and organizations need and brilliant at providing insight and execution. In a role Erica held with Limitless recently which included co-creating workshop content and leading a team of facilitators to run these workshops, the facilitators felt well-led, valued and understood by Erica, and we saw some fantastic results from the workshops. Erica has a high clarity of communication equally as a content curator, event organizer and as a facilitator. She is very organized, a big picture thinker and always delivers beautiful, engaging and effective content.

— April McLennan, Founder | Limitless

I first met Erica at Ministry of Awesome to do a run through of my Coffee & Jam talk. I had wanted to create a mobile app of all the street art in Christchurch. She connected me up to so many different speaking, pitching and networking opportunities. She was kind, but also asked me tough questions that made me think about what I was doing and what kind of direction I wanted to take. This continued throughout the Watch This Space journey when she came on board (2 years later) as a Trustee. When I doubted myself and was unsure about what move to take, she was solid and reaffirmed what I thought I needed to do was right. I have learned a lot from Erica, and she has introduced me to new and different people and experiences that has led to me to grow as a trustee, leader and person.

- lindsay chan, founder | Watch this space

I have been directly involved with many exciting and challenging projects with Erica, her approach to people and projects is energetic and effervescent. Erica is absolutely people focused and always gives due diligence to understanding the overarching intricacies of a project and how all the parts will come together. At the heart of it, Erica is a connector of people and ideas, I would recommend Erica unreservedly.

— Co-Founder, Executive speaker Coach & Trainer | Smart & Wise

I worked with Erica Austin on a number of projects, but most recently she was the manager for the 2019 equity crowdfunding campaign for Collett’s Corner, the first equity crowdfunded commercial development in New Zealand. I think of Erica as a secret weapon, she sprinkles positive energy and can do attitude wherever she goes. Erica has an experience-centric approach, she thinks about how events touch people and how their experience aligns with the purpose of the project. Her proactive nature means not only could I rely on her for work we discussed, but she was always looking ahead and preempting work that would need to be done before we had talked about it.

- camia young, Founding partner | ohu

When learning about Diversity and Inclusion, what was most important to our team is that we would feel confident in developing strategies that included our own flavour. From the moment we walked into the room the conversation felt open. Erica was very welcoming to learning about who we are as people and about our ideas. The whole experience was shaped around our team and it meant we only learnt relevant information for us and mean that time could be spent deeply analysing how to effectively use strategies. We are beyond excited to implement these and super thankful to have had Erica’s help along the way.

— sam brosnahan, President | UCSA 2019

I have been fortunate enough to attend two of Erica’s workshop over recent months, of which have been thought provoking and extremely valuable. Erica stimulated conversation throughout the sessions relating to topics which are often avoided or ‘satisfied’ through tick box exercises. During the leadership session, it was evident from the beginning that Erica was able to gauge an understanding of our values as a leader and the ideas we had already generated. The session facilitated conversation around strategies when understanding and acknowledging the various personalities and strengths that our team brings. The session I had during the Impact Summit armed me with the tools to promote inclusion and diverse understanding in a daily context. Immediately the session dove into an exercise relating to privilege and everyday situations that amount to discrimination or unconscious bias. I cannot recommend the sessions with Erica enough, her presence and knowledge is of significant value for anyone wanting to lead a team, live a more inclusive life or arm themselves with strategies to work effectively in their daily life.

— Amelia Morgan,Volunteer | Impact Summit 2018

We have been so lucky to be able to have Erica's wisdom, energy and warmth contribute to our Stories for Impact workshops in Aotearoa. Erica's perspective on experience design and curation has been such an impactful layer to add to our digital storytelling workshops, taking them from a 'skills-building' process to being an immersive and intentional journey, where connection comes before content. Erica's guidance on this now resonates in any workshop that we design!

-Natasha Akib, director | Stories for impact, digital storyteller

Erica was an invaluable member of our co-design team, not only contributing to the process as a creative provocateur but also unobtrusively taking beautiful photographs to tell the story of the work being done. Erica is a thoughtful, creative and positive addition to any group and I look forward to working with her again.

— Emily Preston, Senior Project Lead | Innovation Unit.

Erica has been a consultant in the Leadership Lab collective for over 5 years and currently co-facilitates the LinC Cultivator and Activator and is our Leadership Lab Event and Promotions Manager. We met Erica in 2014 when she participated in our Leadership in Community programme and immediately invited her to join our collective based on shared values and vision. Erica brings a passion for community activation, a heart for inclusion and respect for diversity, ninja-like organisational thinking, far-reaching network and movement building skills and most importantly an infectious warmth and love for relationships. Erica is what she claims to be- a multipotentialite.

- Dr Chris jansen,Director and Senior Consultant | leadership lab

Erica helped us to deliver the 2018 Canterbury Tech Summit - the South Island’s largest technology conference with over 700 attendees. Erica directed and coordinated our annual sponsorship video, provided valuable input on experience curation, and looked after our speakers and VIP’s on the day. I cannot praise Erica highly enough. She is always professional, always reliable and always does everything with a huge smile on her face. I hope to work with Erica again in the future.

— Nina Lamb, Conference Manager | Canterbury Tech

Erica Austin was a whirlwind of positivity in helping to organise the first Aotearoa Impact Unconference for more than 350. It was all held online in six zoom rooms so we were pushing the boundaries of the possible. Her proactive approach and excellent people skills meant that she provided the glue we needed to ensure the coordination was smooth. The event would not have been the success it was without her significant input.

- Steven Moe, Facilitator | Impact Unconference

Erica joined our contract team (Shabooya Squad) in 2019 and quickly established herself as one of our lead facilitators. Erica is a joy to work with, has wonderful energy and is passionate about helping people succeed. We work with school students, and Erica is able to read large groups particularly well and keep them engaged. The feedback from schools has been excellent.

- Paul Newsom, School engagement manager | young enterprise trust