About

Erica Poindexter was born (Erica Howton) in Klamath Falls, Oregon and raised in Northern California by her poverty stricken parents who also had many challenges with alcohol, drugs, and incarceration. When she was fifteen she asked to move in with her aunt in Los Gatos, CA, just after her father went to prison serving a four year sentence and her mother welcomed an abusive relationship. She couldn't leave her little brother behind so the family decided to separate them and they went with two of their father's sisters. This was not easy, but Erica made the best of it and graduated high school in 2000 with excellent grades and received a small scholarship for an essay she wrote.

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College proved to be difficult as she moved out on her own at 19 and struggled to decide on a major. She spent her first two years trying out psychology and then marketing courses with poor grades and focus. Erica decided to take a couple of years off from school, left a failing relationship, started an original hard rock band, and then her aunt that she had lived with  succumbed to her cancer after being in remission for many years. This was very hard for her and it made her realize just how short and fragile life really is. She decided to go back to a different community college and got her associates degree. She then transferred to San Jose State University and finished with a degree in Marketing in 2008.

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After yet another failed relationship, a layoff due to the crashing economy, and the suicide of her mother who was only 44, Erica took a leap of faith and moved back to her roots in Oregon with a couple of band mates. She was only 26 and spent the better part of a year laid off, mourning her mother, and looking for a new job and life. That year she also wrote the majority of her solo album that was finally released in 2021. She started playing music in bands again and worked full time at a local retail store for less than $10 per hour. The economy made it extremely difficult to survive and pay bills and there just weren't many good paying jobs available.

 

In December of 2011 she was playing shows with other bands and met her husband, Brett, at a joint gig. The Central Oregon area had a lot of great talent and Brett was one of the best guitarists in the area. They started a band, got married, bought a house, got a dog, and then Erica got pregnant with their first child, Arianna. A year later, her father didn't survive his second drug overdose. He never got to meet his granddaughter since they had stopped talking after he started doing meth again.

 

Meanwhile, Erica had got a job working for the manufacturing company where Brett worked and they were doing quite well. Over the next few years they both skipped around a bit with jobs until she was laid off once again in 2018 due to a manufacturing plant closure. Fortunately, she discovered that this layoff created the possibility of getting her master's degree in supply chain management, while the family worked toward having a sister for Arianna. They had Scarlett in 2020 during covid, which made things very difficult, but they were so happy to have their beautiful healthy girls.

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After receiving her degree in 2020, Erica decided that she was sick of driving a 50 minute commute on a good day and when the snow hit highway 97, with so many fatalities and new people to the area, she became scared for her life. Early one morning on her way to work, a semi hit and totaled her Honda Civic. Fortunately, she was perfectly okay, but this was her wake up call. It was time to relocate. She sold their house and bought a house in South Carolina. The housing market in Central Oregon had tripled the value of their home and they were able to live mortgage free in SC.

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While working toward her master's degree, Erica had time to reflect on the things she really wanted and loved to do. She graduated with a 4.0 and realized that writing was her passion, just as she loved writing song lyrics. This is when she started writing her first children's book series. Erica also has always loved art and started painting and drawing her characters for The Chronicles of the Creepy Crawly Creature Club. She wrote and recorded the song to go along with the series and she hopes other kids will love her books as much as her children do. Erica is currently working toward becoming a published author and welcoming communication with publishers and literary agents.