Heyo, friends! I’m back from parental leave (well, have been for about a month). Work is back in full swing and I’m feeling veryyy busy with day-to-day tasks, including helping Courtney (my wife) take care of our little one: AJ.
AJ is amazing. As cliché as it sounds, she’s taught me the importance of slowing down and appreciating small moments. She’s inspired me to smile and laugh as much as possible. And, of course, she’s reminded me how much I value sleep.
Working and watching a baby at the same time is, well, impossible. Thankfully, we’re on the nanny hunt so we’ll have someone supporting us while WFH and Courtney’s headed back to the urban farm and non-profit she works at soon full-time IRL again. I’ll miss having her at home. AJ will too.
My work with Thruhikers is winding down this month after 7 months of project management work. Turns out, being a creator is *time-consuming* and they needed to pull tasks back in-house because it’s hard to assign work when you’re also working a full-time job and running 5 influencer social media pages.
So, my workload opened up and I was able to take on a new client: Outside Magazine!
While I won’t (necessarily) be writing for them (although I did get to throw some products into this roundup from OMA), I am working on the backend of the website on the Editorial Production team. That means I’m building out stories behind the scenes, managing affiliate link gathering for the stories, editing photos, and ensuring the articles that get published look as visually appealing (and best performing) as possible.
It’s a nice job to balance with baby-watching as it requires less mental stress and devotion as writing full articles and testing gear. But I hope this also turns into more opportunities to test/write for them too — in the future! Stay tuned.
Outside: The Coolest Gear We Saw at OMA’s Summer 2025 Media Show
Osprey Blog: Nature Sanctuary Escape in the City
Backpacker: Take Your Baby on Their First Hike on These National Park Trails
Backpacker: Explore Narnia or Walk With a Saint on These 5 Northern Ireland Treks
Block Club Chicago: 20 Things To Do Outside In Chicago This July
PR folks: I would still love to receive your pitches, product and destination updates, and story ideas. I’m still getting back in the swing of product and travel pitching since returning from leave — but I’m eyeing travel and gear testing in Spring 2026.
Travel stories: I want to lean more into Adventure Family Travel stories for travel opps. and pitching in late 2025 and 2026. Think: bike, hike, camp, paddle, explore with a baby in tow. HMU if you rep brands and/or destinations where this is a fit!
I have a couple exciting trips coming up → Let me know if you’ll be around too!
Roam Fest — Sept 18-21 in Fruita, CO — I’ll be driving my van (most likely) over to Colorado to attend this women-specific mountain biking fest. I was a recipient of a 2025 LGBTQ+ scholarship with the event this year, which I’m stoked on!
Outdoor Media Summit — Oct 26-29 in Durango, CO — I’m on the planning team for OMS and am super busy planning the conference. While I’m attending mostly to work the show, I can’t wait to see brands/peers there. If you (or your brand) need a ticket still, LMK and I’ll see what I can do to hook you up!
🎙 Shameless plug to listen to my recent interview on Chicago NPR station WBEZ on Summer Adventures in and Around Chicago AND watch my live interview about Trail to Taproom on WGN TV
It was my 33rd birthday on July 21. My bday party theme was—Now That’s What I Call 33—and my friend made this amazing playlist. Sharing the vibes:
Thanks for reading ✌️
Your pal, Erica ✨
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