Daily Inspiration: Meet Erica Bock

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Bock.

Hi Erica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have one of those careers that makes perfect sense when you look backward and sounds completely unhinged when you explain it chronologically.

I started as a writer. I studied English and creative writing at the University of Cincinnati, then somehow also ended up studying digital media because apparently one degree at a time was not enough for me. I fell in love with film and storytelling, which eventually took me to Pittsburgh for an MFA in screenwriting and playwriting at Point Park University, along with additional training in directing for film and television.

For a long time, I thought I had to figure out what I was going to “be.” A writer? A filmmaker? A producer? A professor? A nonprofit person? A strategist? At some point, thankfully, I stopped trying to force myself into one box.

My career has ended up living at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, education, media and the arts. I’ve produced film and media projects, taught college students, worked in nonprofit fundraising and marketing, helped organizations think about strategy and growth, and spent an alarming amount of my adult life convincing people to care about things through words, pictures, events, spreadsheets and occasionally sheer force of personality.

Teaching became a particularly important part of my life. I’ve taught at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, Xavier University and Thomas More University in areas ranging from digital storytelling and media to scre

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. I would be suspicious of anyone in the arts, nonprofits or higher education who answered yes to this question.

There have been plenty of stretches where I had absolutely no idea what I was doing next. I’ve dealt with rejection, jobs that were not the right fit, projects that fell apart, opportunities I desperately wanted and did not get, financial uncertainty, burnout, difficult personalities, and the uniquely character-building experience of sending an email you have rewritten 14 times and then staring at your inbox like it contains the results of a medical test.

One of the harder things for me has actually been learning that being capable does not mean you have to be endlessly available.

I am a person who likes to do things. I like solving problems. I like being useful. Give me a project that is slightly chaotic and I will probably have a spreadsheet, a communications plan and three ideas for improving it before lunch. That can be a strength, but it can also become a spectacular way to exhaust yourself. There have been p

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The easiest answer is that I work in storytelling, strategy, education, philanthropy and the arts.

The more accurate answer is that I am usually the person someone calls when they have a big idea, twelve moving pieces, six different audiences, not quite enough money and no idea how they are going to pull it off.

That is my happy place.

Professionally, I wear several hats. I work in philanthropy and strategic marketing, serve as Director of Administration for the Cincinnati String Project, teach college courses in storytelling, media, screenwriting and related subjects, produce film and media projects, consult with arts organizations on strategy, and serve as Co-President of Women in Film Cincinnati.

On paper, those things can look unrelated. In practice, I use almost exactly the same skill set in all of them.

I specialize in figuring out what the story actually is, who needs to care about it, and how we turn that into something people will act on.

Sometimes that means raising money. Sometimes it means developing a marketing strategy, producing an event, building a partnership, teaching a room full of students, sha

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I have an absolutely unreasonable number of side quests.

People who know me professionally tend to know one version of me. Maybe they know me through film, teaching, nonprofit work, fundraising or the arts. What they usually do not realize is that I am almost pathologically curious and apparently incapable of enjoying a hobby casually.

I got scuba certified because I wanted to see what was down there. Naturally, that turned into planning dive trips, learning about marine conservation and deciding I need more certifications. I study wine seriously and am working through the WSET program, which means I can turn what should be a perfectly normal glass of wine into a discussion about climate, soil and whether something smells vaguely like wet gravel. I ski. I travel constantly. I needlepoint. I love history. I will happily spend an entire vacation touring ruins, churches, museums or some obscure historical site while everyone else is asking when we are going to the beach.

I also really love school. An embarrassing amount.

I have accumulated degrees and certificates across creative writing, digital media, film, business and now law, and I still routinely find some completely unrelated subject and think, “I should learn everything about that.”

This has occasionally gotten out of hand.

But I think that curiosity is secretly a huge part of my professional life too. I am genuinely interested in the world. I want to understand why people behave the way they do, how organizations work, how stories shape us, why cultures develop differently, how businesses grow, what is under the ocean, why this particular wine tastes like that, and approximately 4,000 other things.

I hope I never become someone who thinks she already knows enough.

Also, for someone whose professional life involves a truly obscene number of emails, meetings, spreadsheets and calendars, I am happiest somewhere with no cell service, preferably underwater, on a mountain or wandering around a country where I have absolutely no idea what is going on.

That might actually explain everything.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @beetlebaileybock