Erica Arakawa

Erica Arakawa is a first-generation immigrant of Japanese parents. She is a native of Colorado and the first in her family to earn a college degree.

She graduated with a bachelor’s in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado, Boulder. At CU, she continued to take classical ballet classes three to four times a week with her childhood instructor, who trained at the American Ballet Theatre in New York.

She also took Kendo classes at the Rec Center. She traveled through Japan that summer with the American Federation of Kendo, visiting Dojos throughout Japan and stopping to see her grandparents in Tokyo. 

She lived in Rome studying Renaissance Art and Architecture, In London studying British art and architecture, and interning at an architectural firm. She traveled thru the UK to Greece to research public squares.

Her passion is traveling. Her goal within the next couple of years is to become a Digital Nomad, allowing her to work from anywhere in the world given an internet connection – something that she feels fortunate enough to do with having found support from her boss at everDriven, where she works as Product Manager.  everDrive provides transportation services for special needs students and homeless children.

In addition to her career endeavors, Erica has many other hobbies that keep her active. She holds scuba certification and loves SUPing (Stand Up Paddleboarding) as well as kayaking – both newly learned activities for her! To keep up with her physical wellness further, Erica trains at Axistence gym multiple times during the week, along with taking Hula and Tahitian dance classes with her ‘dance sister’ community which has become quite important in recent times. 

As an interesting footnote – Erica recently took a 23andMe test which came back confirming that she is 100% Japanese!