Life Conversations with a Twist
Join me once a week for a new interview with a local, badass woman who has an amazing story to tell. Join me in conversation so you too can gain inspiration and empowerment from these stories! If you love hearing about leadership, relationships, families, motherhood and navigating hard times, then tune into my podcast and share with others. If you love what you hear, share and tag me on Instagram at @heathernelson.life. You can also visit my website at heathernelson.life.
Life Conversations with a Twist
Messy Life Meets Audacity: How to Rise Anyway with Erika Rothenberger
"If we don't change, we die. If we don't grow, we become stagnant." —Erika Rothenberger
What if the messiest parts of your life are actually the moments that shape you most? If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by juggling work, family, and your own dreams—or doubted if you’re doing enough—this conversation is for you. It’s time to rethink what it means to be bold when life gets real.
Erika Rothenberger’s journey started in hard hats and steel-toe boots, but it didn’t stop there. After surviving a traumatic attack and facing life’s chaos head-on, she turned her pain into purpose—becoming a powerhouse speaker, author, and advocate for women who want to live audaciously, no matter how messy things get.
Hit play to get fired up with real talk on resilience, messy wins, and the audacity to expand your life. You’ll hear about Erika’s career pivots, her podcast, her books, the Audacious Woman Summit, wellness tips, and how community and self-care can help you thrive—even on your toughest days.
Connect with Heather:
Episode Highlights:
01:11 Meet Erika: Constructing Change
04:40 The Myth of Balance and Time-Saving Hacks
10:34 Hot Mess Mom Moments
15:15 Audacious Expansion
17:40 A Life-Changing Assault
22:17 Turning Trauma to Purpose
25:54 Self-Care and Clarity
29:11 The Audacious Woman Summit
32:33 High energy and Holistic Wellness
36:00 Connection is Everything
Resources:
Events
Join the Audacious Woman Summit: https://www.erikarothenberger.com/events/
October 17, 2025; 08:30 am-4:00 pm
Hotel West & Main Conshohocken Philadelphia, Tapestry by Hilton 46 Fayette St, Conshohocken, PA 19428
Books
Audacious Expansion by Erika Rothenberger: COMING SOON!
Connect with Erika:
Erika Rothenberger is a dynamic leader, civil engineer, keynote and TEDx speaker, and the host of the "Grit, Grace & Glitz" podcast. With a degree in civil engineering from Villanova, Erika has built a successful career in the construction industry, leading performance systems and field leadership development. She is the author of "You've Got This Boss Mama" and the forthcoming "Audacious Expansion," and is the founder of the Audacious Woman Summit. Erika is also a wellness entrepreneur, dedicated to supporting women’s health and personal growth. Her work is driven by a passion for resilience, meaningful connection, and empowering others to live boldly and authentically.
Heather Nelson: Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week's Life Conversations With A Twist. I have Erica on, and this is going to be such a great way to end the weekend. I don't know when anyone else is listening to this, but we are recording this on a Friday. Your afternoon, my midday. This is going to be fired. I have so many questions for you, and I can already tell by your energy that this is going to be great.
Erika Rothenberger: I cannot wait to be here, and I know we are going to have some audacious conversations.
Heather Nelson: Yes, okay. So tell the listeners who you are? What do you do? And then we're going to start. I want to start with little Erica growing up, how you got to do the work that you're doing now.
Erika Rothenberger: Well, I'm just going to take you back. Then, I'm going to give you the two minute elevator pitch. Born and raised in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the good old pilgrims landed in 1620. I went to school at Villanova. I got my degree in civil engineering. My grandfather and uncle were both mechanical engineers. I decided at that moment that I wanted to change the world in Environmental Engineering. Long story short, after graduating four years of engineering school, I got into the construction industry, hard hat, steel toe boots. No idea what exactly I was doing. But let me tell you, it has been a fun industry to be involved with. Challenging, yet fun. The hard hat, the steel toe boots, the board tables, the mission critical things that we work on each and every day to bring people, things like electricity, and things like gas and all of the things in between. Meanwhile, I have two amazing kids. I have a daughter who just turned 9 a few moments ago. Meaning, a few days ago. But I want to just hold it sacred. I still call her 8. And a son who just turned 12. We love to travel. We live in Pennsylvania, but I always say on the other side of the baseball cap, and the dance hat, and the hard hat. I also wear quite a few other hats, and I call it my big sombrero, both. I have a podcast.
So I have a podcast called Grit, Grace & Glitz, which has been going on for four years now. Being gritty gives ourselves the grace that we need, and certainly deserve. And obviously celebrating all the glitz, the things that we do each and every day. I am a TEDx and a Keynote Speaker. My mission is to go out there and talk about the word audacity. The audacity to make meaningful connections, the audacity to be resilient, or the audacity just to show up as you. Hence, I'm writing my second book. It's called Audacious Expansion that comes out in January. In October, I'm hosting the Audacious Woman Summit, which is going to be the catalyst for it. So it is the coming out party for the book. 170 women in the greater Philadelphia area. All audacious, bold and brave, who are coming together, and that will lead into an amazing mastermind. And in my spare time, I love to work out with my good old weighted vest and take my supplements, because I have a wellness business. And my husband and I have a real estate business on the side. So we got a couple of things going on.
Heather Nelson: Wait, are you still in the construction?
Erika Rothenberger: I am, and I still work full time training in construction. Now, I actually do a lot. I lead a group called Performance Systems, where we do all of continuous improvement. We work on a lot of analytics and Power BI, as well as all of the field leadership development training and overarching safety initiatives. Because safety is a mission critical, especially in the construction industry.
Heather Nelson: Where did you get your drive to do all this?
Erika Rothenberger: Some days, I ask myself the same thing. I'll be honest with you, and I'm going to be pretty blunt here, it's hard for me to shut it off. Just some people struggle with turning it on, it's equally as hard for me to shut it off. I don't know which one's worse or better some days, because I really think it comes from a passion. I think it comes from wanting to really leave a legacy, really make a difference. And there's just this inner fire in my belly that when you feel aligned to what you're doing, how you're doing it, and the people you're doing it with, it's like a trifecta. I get up, and I get excited to work on my missions.
Heather Nelson: I don't know, I do a lot myself. My listeners probably know this about me. I get asked on the daily how I manage running two businesses, being a podcaster, having three kids, and running a woman's retreat. I totally get all of it. But I'm like, I don't know. You just figure it out. I still can paint by number at night, sit down with my family and have dinner, and not feel crazy because I love doing all the things that I'm doing.
Erika Rothenberger: I totally agree. And I always say, listen, it's messy though. You know what I mean? One of my big things, and it's in my book, I call it, Balance Is Bullshit. I don't believe that there's a balance. I don't believe like, hey, listen, my job's perfect. And my marriage is perfect. Everything with my kids is perfect. Something's usually falling a little out of balance, but it's an integration. And sometimes, where we actually need to grow and where we're going, it's the messy parts that actually sharpen our pencil that make us better. And when people ask me, like yourself, how do you do it all? And I said, listen, I do what makes me happy, and the audacity to do it all is doing all of what you want to do. And for some people, that one thing, for some people, that maybe eight things. Respecting that everyone has a different drive and different motivation to do what they want to do. But really, the integration, and I think a big part of that, I talk about it too much, is how I time block. I really think it's really a critical skill. And maybe my engineering skills, that's what I got out of my four year degree. But really, being really efficient with my time and what's really important, what can be a no, what can come off my calendar, and what can I outsource.
Heather Nelson: Absolutely. And at the end of the day, that's truly what it is. When people are like that, I gotta go to Costco. I Instacart that. No one's got time to go to Costco right now. But it's true. You find ways to time block or to time save so you can open up your time to focus on other things. You just figure it out. And you're saying, once you have a passion for it, there's a drive that you can't even explain.
Erika Rothenberger: And maybe it's the construction industry, but I'll give you an easy analysis or an analogy. I look at women who always have their nails done perfectly, and my nails are very rarely done. And when they are, it's many times because I've either painted them, or my daughter painted them. And every once in a while, I'll get them done. But I just don't have the time during the week to make that a priority. And it's not that I think that any woman or man that's doing it shouldn't do it. I'm cheering them on, but it's just not one of my priorities. I always say, listen, we make time for what we want to make time for. We all have 24 hours in the day. I always say to people, we can't compare everyone's 24 hours the same way. If they don't have kids or they don't have this, well, listen, we all have 24 hours. We decide what we want to do with them. I decided to have kids. Does that add another layer of complexity? Regularly. But does it add another layer of joy beyond belief?
Heather Nelson: So true. Lots of questions for you. Back to your podcast real quick. I know you said you're on 170 episodes. Kudos to you. What do you talk about? Who do you interview? Give the listeners a little bit about what your podcast is.
Erika Rothenberger: I just want to let everyone know that Grit, Grace & Glitz came out of covid. So some people learn the violin, some people decide to teach, learn how to speak Chinese. I was like, I want to be able to connect with people. And covid felt like an isolating time, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to start a podcast to be able to have that belly to belly connection virtually, and to be able to really get to know people. And you and I started even before this podcast began. We talked about things like, hey, you asked the questions, and you talked about the things that you probably would never discover even in five lunches with someone. On a podcast, you learn some of the deeper, darker things that maybe wouldn't always be susceptible to either sharing or asking. And so really, the reason I came up with Grit, Grace & Glitz, and in that order specifically, is I really believe that in order to show up in life, we have to be Gritty. We have to have the grit. We have to sandpaper sometimes. And sometimes, that's not easy. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have to celebrate the Glitz, the good things that are going on every day. And I don't mean the fancy Louis Vuitton bags or the Rolls Royce car. Neither of which I have, but we have to celebrate the good things that are going on each day. But it's really in the middle that I put the word Grace.
I put it there very intentionally, because between being gritty and celebrating, there needs to be a grace with each other. We have to recognize that some days, the joy is not going to happen. Some days, we're not going to be as gritty. We're only going to give 20% that day, because that's all we can give. And to remind ourselves that that really has to be the bridge between everything we do in life. And so I interview a lot of men and women who have stories to share, short stories to share that could inspire someone. Stories to share that they haven't shared yet. Stories to share that, quite frankly, inspire me, make me learn and grow each and every day. But ultimately, to make an impact on someone else that's listening to that whether they're in the gym, they're taking that walk, they're on the treadmill, whatever it may be, they hear something, and it just may change the trajectory of their day, of their month. And perhaps, even their life. And really, I actually just started a new series within my podcast, and it's called the Audacious Expansion Series, which is actually walking people through parts of my book. Because as we get ready for it to come out in about five months, I'm going to be getting people excited about it, learning about it, talking about it. Why did I decide to write a book? How do I write the book? All the nitty gritty secrets. So if you're looking at my podcast and you're thinking, hey, maybe I'll listen. There's gonna be a special series called the Audacious Expansion.
Heather Nelson: I love it. Your mission for your podcast is the exact reason why I do mine too. I only do women, but that was my thing. I would go to lunch and these women would just pour out all these things that they're going through. And I'm like, God, you need to tell your story. Because I guarantee that someone else out there is going through the same thing, and they can be inspired, they can be empowered. They could totally change the trajectory of their life. And so I love it. I'm here for it. I'm going to follow you. I do want to hear about your book, because my goal is to write a book. Scares the crap out of me. I have no idea what the hell I'm going to talk about. But did you say this is your second book?
Erika Rothenberger: Yeah. I have a book called, You've Got This, Boss Mama. It's about nine years old. I was a co-author of that book, and was really talking about motherhood at the time when I had one and three years old. Reminding myself that you could be a mom and still have a life outside of it. And just because you were doing one or the other, or you weren't at the school play and at a board meeting, or you were at the school play and not at the board meeting, it's okay. In there, I talk a lot about not dimming your sparkle. Not saying, hey, I have to take a time out because you decide to integrate children into. Your life is so good. I feel like it was very different when our mothers were growing up. It seemed like it was more of a choice like, are you gonna be a stay at home mom? Are you gonna go back to work? I even remember 20 years ago, my kids at this point were 9 and 12. But even 12 years ago, it was still different. And now, it's just a common acceptance, but it was still a little edgy. I remember someone at work saying to me, oh, you're going to put your kids in daycare. And I'm like, yes, yes. And they're going to learn, and they're going to grow. They're going to learn skills that they may not learn. And one of my biggest skills that I always say to my kids learn was Survival of The Fittest by Darwin. When mom was late, I was the last one running in the door, and they were going to charge you like $25 a minute. And they didn't have an extra snack, they just learned to survive, right? And I was like, listen, we're still winning.
Heather Nelson: That's so true. I feel like a hot mess. We showed it to my son. It just went into TK yesterday, we were late for the orientation, and we couldn't figure out what classroom it was in. Then we were late on the first day because we couldn't find parking. I was a hot mess express right here, but I'm a freaking working mom. I mean, what do you want me to do?
Erika Rothenberger: And I promise you, if you're listening to this podcast right now, which I know a lot of women do, it's okay. The things they are learning from you doing that far exceed. Then remembering that you had the perfect outfit laid out for them, or that you cooked the brownies for the play, they're not going to remember all that. They're going to remember your work ethic, and they're going to remember those days when it was messy and you showed them how you could have the resilience to get through a tough day.
Heather Nelson: Thank you for that reminder
Erika Rothenberger: I'm coaching myself too right now.
Heather Nelson: I'm like, every day, can you just remind myself? No. I totally agree too. Some days, I feel a lot of pressure behind it. But I'm like, you know what? I'm raising great humans. They're great children. I get to be present. I get to work from home. I get to pick them up from school. They get to see me. Now, my daughter follows me on social media. She sees these women that I'm interviewing. I'm like, I'm only setting the groundwork for her to be, hopefully, in the right direction.
Erika Rothenberger: And they're getting, like a mini MBA by watching you. And it's interesting, because my son came to us about three years ago and said, hey, Mom and Dad, I want to start a business. And he's seen us as entrepreneurial. Well, long story short, fast forward, three years later, he still has a business. It's called Hole in One. We live on a golf course. He collects the golf balls, he washes them, he cleans them, and he sells them. The kid has made over $6,000 in the last three summers before the age of 11. And he also did an entrepreneur program after school, which was pretty intense. He was with 6th graders through 12th graders, and he was only in 6th grade this year. He learned so much. His public speaking skills, the way he interacted with adults, and again, I'm not giving my husband and I all the credit, but I will give us part of the credit, because I know he watched that and just woke up one day and said, I want to start a business. He saw me building businesses. He saw my husband working on our real estate projects. He saw that in us. It's pretty special.
Heather Nelson: That's so cool. So what is your second book about?
Erika Rothenberger: So my second book in January of 2026, it's called Audacious Expansion. And it's really about expanding into the best version of ourselves. Sometimes when you hear the two words, audacious and expansion, you're like, that means bold, and that means I have to grow. And yes. Because if we don't change, we die. If we don't grow, we become stagnant. But it doesn't mean that you have to do it like me or Heather. You don't have to be on stage, you don't have to be on social media, you don't have to be starting a podcast. It could be your own personal growth. It could be putting your sneakers back on, and getting back to the gym. It could be writing that letter that you've been meaning to write to that broken friendship for a while, whatever it is like. Where do you need to expand to let go, to move on, and to build your life the way you're intended to live it?
We have a one in 400 trillion chance of being on this earth. You were made to do something special. And special doesn't mean having glam, lights, camera, action. But you were meant to leave the world better than you found it. You were meant to have a legacy here. And I say, listen, don't wake up in that rocking chair when you're 85 and say, coulda, shoulda, would have. Most people, if you go back and you interview people who are at that stage of life, their biggest regret is that they didn't take more risks. They didn't do the things that they knew they really wanted to do. Starting to put that fear behind them. And really, where the audacity came from was, three years ago, I had a pretty horrific accident and incident that happened to me that really unlocked this energy. And I thought it was always living this big, bold, audacious life. I realized that I was actually playing smaller than I really wanted to be. And at that moment, because it was a life or death situation, I was like, was I ready to leave the earth with what I had done up to that point? And the answer was, no. And granted, I was young, or I consider myself still relatively young, but I wasn't ready to say, I've given all that I wanted to the universe.
Heather Nelson: I was going to ask you, was there a moment that was like that? Either a specific day in time where it was like, something's gotta change. And clearly, there was a moment.
Erika Rothenberger: Yeah. So that was back on June 16 of 2022. We never think it's going to happen to us. Again, middle of 2022, and I have a 6 and a 9 year old. Life is good. My husband is in Kansas City. I stopped for a coffee meeting, and headed into the office building that I had worked in for 10 years. I remember taking that last sip of Himalayan sea salt water, the warm one that's supposed to give you the glowy complexion, and started gathering my belongings. And then as I opened my door, there he was. A man I had never seen before, a man that I didn't know that had been in prison for 12 years. A man who had come to Philadelphia the night before and had assaulted five women, including with those five women, a woman that he had raped that morning. The man proceeded to, as I asked him, could I help you punch me straight in the face, pull me out of my car by my hair, throw me to that asphalt pavement, and beat the living crap out of me? He proceeded as I kicked and screamed with saliva, blood and everything else rolled down my face. He took the crease of his elbow, and I knew that was probably my last breath. And those three milliseconds felt like 30 minutes, thinking of all the things that I hadn't done. How I was going to survive? God forbid, leaving Drew and Adeline at the ages of 6 and 9. Then as he squeezed, I knew that may be my last moment. And thank God, it wasn't. I was able to somehow, someway, and I truly believe, thank God for bringing me back, and really giving me this moment. Giving me this as a gift to say, you need to go out and do something with it.
And as I got up and ran with all of my might to that office building that seemed so close most days, but that day seemed so far. He was in my car trying to take it. He fled by foot. He started burying himself in the marshes and the grasses. They just send the dogs and the drones in. I was raised to trauma, detectives, doctors, nurses, police reports galore. And I remember a few days later, finally getting home and sitting on my back porch thinking, I just want to be the victim. I just want to stay in the sweatshirt and don't want to ever deal with the world again. God, why did you do this to me? But it was in that moment when I heard the kids' laughter, when I heard the splashes, when I knew that this didn't happen to me, but it happened for me to go and make a difference. And I decided at that moment, and I'm not saying that everyone can decide this quickly. So please, if you've gone through a dramatic, traumatic event in your life, or your punch looks different, it doesn't happen this quickly for everyone. But it did happen that quickly for me. I truly believe that it was a sign to say, hey, listen, you need to go out and be that big, bold, audacious self. You need to go share this story. You need to go be the light. You have something in you, Erica, that I gave you, that maybe I didn't give someone else. You need to go out there and spread that like confetti. And that's exactly what I've done over the last three years.
Heather Nelson: Wow. Did you know this guy?
Erika Rothenberger: No, completely random. He had been in prison for 12 years. He had stolen, smuggled drugs back and forth from New York to Pennsylvania, got out prematurely, had actually beaten up five prison guards when he was in his first sentencing for 12 years. And as he made his way to Philadelphia on June 15, there's ring cameras of him just walking down the street, randomly assaulting women, slept in a homeless shelter, got off at a local station and pushed a woman in a vestibule, raped her, took her phone, got back on the bus. Proceeded to change his clothes, got back on the bus, and that's the station that I was at. I didn't even know there was a bus station. Quite frankly, I was in suburban Pennsylvania. Quiet, quaint town of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania where the median income is probably in the six figures, and never thinking this was going to happen to me. And three years later, I still have gone to court with him 10 different times. I'm working with legislation right now to get the law changed. Because if you get strangled in the state of Pennsylvania and don't know the person, it's a misdemeanor versus a felony, which is one to three years versus over 10 years. I am doing everything I can not to change it. Won't change my case now. But if it changes the life of someone else, man, woman, doesn't matter, then my legacy has been left here, and that law is going to be named, actually, the Erika's Law.
Heather Nelson: Good for you. I always feel like there's always a moment in someone's life that really the moment for them where they're like, I can either live the way I'm living and be okay with it, or I can do more. I had that moment too. And now looking back, I just got to keep pushing forward. I get stuck in the, what is next for me? I know I have more to give. I know I'm inspiring. I'm know I'm empowering. People tell me daily like, I know this. You struggle with, what it is?
Erika Rothenberger: And I think that's hard. It's hard to figure that out. And I'll be honest with you, I don't have it all figured out. It's ebbs and flows. Obviously, the podcast started before this. But then it was like, well, now I want to speak. And now, I want to have this out to have this Audacious Woman Summit. And now, I want to lead a mastermind. And now, I want to write a book. And it just keeps compiling. It's kind of like peeling back the onion. I don't know if there's ever a pinnacle. Well, this is exactly what I'm going to do. And to me, that's all part of that expansion. And as we expand, just like a fish that you put in a small little pond, it will only grow to the size of that pond. But put it into a bigger pond, it's ready to grow, change, and become something more. And I think we're like that. There's no prescriptive way. But it's, what's going to leave that passion and purpose? And quite frankly, we can't be afraid to also talk about, what is it going to do from a monetary standpoint? Because when you have money, I look at money as energy. But energy allows us to create more energy. We can't be afraid to talk about that, to say, hey, listen, I have to find something that's actually going to produce income too so I can make sure that I can leave my legacy and build that foundation, write that law, and make that change. And that's challenging for a lot of us that are entrepreneurs. We have the passion, we have the purpose, we have to make sure that there's the economic side of it too.
Heather Nelson: Yeah. I totally agree. I really needed that reminder today, so thank you for that because I'm always like, I need to know. No, you don't need to know, Heather. You'll figure it out. It'll come. And it does. I think once you put it out in the universe that this is the work you want to do, what you're meant to be, that it's crazy how things just fall into place.
Erika Rothenberger: Heather, the one other thing that I want to add in there, and I think you and I are very similar this way, I think where we want to know comes the masculine energy. And I often try to operate on that. Whether it's because I was in construction, whether it's because I'm a first born, an Aries, all of the things, and a perfectionist over recovering perfectionist, the older I get, the more I recognize that I need to be in that feminine state and in flow. And I'm not saying that I have to wear a flowy dress. I'm not saying that I have to walk around barefoot. I am saying, listen, when you let the universe guide you, when you take the time to listen and be silent, it's amazing what you can figure out. But sometimes, and I'm probably the most guilty of it, I stay so freaking busy that I don't give the universe time to tell me what I'm even supposed to do. And then I wake up and feel frustrated because I'm like, oh, I didn't go down the right path, or I didn't give this enough time because I'm so worried about the deadline. And so I just want to remind anyone that's listening that if you feel that way, or you felt cranky before in that crutch, I know where you're coming from.
Heather Nelson: So good. So true. That's why I've been putting on my weighted vest, going for a walk, and putting on a good podcast, because that is my time. Even 30 minutes, and I'm trying to do it in the morning, because it really jumps start the day. But that has helped me to get a lot of clarity, a lot of inspiration, and a lot of motivation to do more.
Erika Rothenberger: And the one thing that I will say that's helped me with that, because I'm the same way. The reason you're like, okay, well, getting the weighted vest on, I'm getting the steps in. I'm listening to personal development, and you're like, check, check, check. And I know the reason because I'm the same way. Do me a favor. Next time you go on a walk, take five minutes and shut the podcast off, put the phone away and just be in the walk, be in nature. And honestly, that's when the stuff comes to me. I'm saying it because I'm probably more guilty than you. But I will say, when you actually intentionally do that, I wish I could tell you that I could do that my whole walk, but I would feel like I was wasting time. So I get it, and let's face it, a good podcast always works. But it's really crazy what will come to me.
Heather Nelson: Interesting. I'm gonna have to try that.
Erika Rothenberger: I'm curious to know how it goes. Do it for a few days. Don't just do it and say, oh, the universe didn't tell me where I was supposed to go.
Heather Nelson: Who inspires you? Obviously, women. There's so many women in this realm that are doing this work. Has there been one person that's always inspired you, that you looked up to, that you admired that's doing this work? Or maybe not even doing this work that just encourages and inspires you.
Erika Rothenberger: That's such a good question. I really believe it's a combination of a lot of different women, because I take this from her, and that from her, and this from this person. But I joined two years ago as a mastermind, and I think that's really what opened up a lot of being surrounding myself with other women that I could talk to about this stuff. Like, hey, I just want to work into the wee hours of the night. I want to do this. Some of my other girlfriends who lived locally, or my football mama's here look at me and be like, you're crazy. You know what I mean? They're like, why do you want to do all that extra stuff? You don't even need to do it. And so I think when you get in the right mastermind and around the right group of people, and that was Amberly Lago Group that I was in, and it's the reason that I'm starting a mastermind. I'm doing a boot camp mastermind for the first three months of 2026, because I believe it's the time when you're like, I am ready to do this. But to me, it was because I was in the right room. It wasn't just Amber, it was the other women that were part of it, where we shared our trials, we shared our tribulations. And really, what we're going to be doing in this boot camp is everyone's getting a copy of the book, and we're going to use the book to help us expand ourselves. It's people that have come to the summit that are like, hey, I'm ready for this. I am ready to do this. But to your point, I just don't know exactly if I should turn right? Should I turn left? Should I go straight? Should I go faster? Slower? I just don't know what gears to crank, really help peeling back that onion and figuring that out.
Heather Nelson: So good. Tell us about the summit. I just saw you announced it, so tell us about it.
Erika Rothenberger: The summit is actually almost sold out. We only have 20 tickets left. 170 women in Greater Philadelphia. It has been on my mind, actually, about a year ago. First time debut. I have no idea what the heck I'm doing now. I really don't know, but that's the other part that I want to mention here. When you have that in your heart, I could have made 1,000,007 excuses not to do it because I hadn't done it. The money, the people, was everyone going to come? The fear, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the things. But I just made the commitment. And I always say, when you make the commitment and then tell someone else, you're 78% more likely to make it happen. So that's exactly what I did. I just was like, I'm gonna have a summit. And then I was like, oh, sugar. Now, I gotta figure out how, the what, the where and all the things in between. And it's been coming to fruition for over the last year, and we have sponsors there. We're going to have panels. We actually have a panel that's called the PG-13 panel, and we're going to talk about the things that we don't always talk about at these types of events, because we're so status quo. We're going to have hot seats, and we're going to have panels, and we're going to have speakers and walls of audacious actions that we're going to leave with. And I am just so excited, because I know this isn't the first. I know this is the first, but I know it's not the last. And I truly believe that when you bring the right energy and the right people together, magnificent things are about to unfold.
Heather Nelson: Oh, my god, I love this for you. I need to just know about the next one.
Erika Rothenberger: Yes. I know I could get you on a jet plane. We will get you here on October 17. But, I promise that we'll do another one in 2026, so we'll save the date.
Heather Nelson: I love it. I went to Rachel Hollis when she was doing hers. I think there were like 6000 women. I was insane, but it was so life changing for me. And it was one of those things that I came back and was like, yes. So I totally believe in the power of having events like this, especially with these amazing women who want a change. It's why I do women's retreats, which is obviously on a very smaller level. But the impact that it makes when those women leave are great.
Erika Rothenberger: The room's capacity is 170, and I didn't want it much bigger. I want people to feel seen and heard, and not feel like granted. If I'm at the Mel Robbins or Rachel Hollis one day and I have to open it up to 6000, I'll figure that out. Like I told you, everything's figurable. But really, my intent was, I want this event to be sold out. I want this event to be the right people in the right room, but I also want it to feel intimate. I want them not to feel like they're just number 5,632. I really want people to feel seen and heard, and feel that energy in that room that day. And that was very, very intentional. And I'm hoping next year, maybe we have to double the size of it. Maybe it's going to be the 300 person Summit.
Heather Nelson: I like it. I love it.
Erika Rothenberger: I shouldn't say IF. I should say WHEN.
Heather Nelson: How do you have so much energy? I love your energy. That was my thing. I get fired up. But man, come 5:00 o'clock, and I'm done. Are you always like this? Is this just your personality? I'm always curious. Is it how you eat? Is it moving your body? What is it too high of a high energy?
Erika Rothenberger: I love this question. So my husband frequently refers to me as like the Energizer Bunny. He's like, you're either completely on, or completely off. Once we unplug you or take the battery out, you're done. When I sleep, I sleep right. When I work, I work right. When I'm in mom mode, I'm in mom mode. And I truly believe that a lot of it comes from holistic wellness. I was a fitness instructor. I used to own a gym. I really believe in movement every single day, but I also really believe, especially for women, I'm in my mid 40s, right? We're all going to be in that para menopause, menopause stage at some point of our life. And even if you're 35 listening to this, get ready for it. You need to be supplementing yourself the right way. Our foods are depleted. We're not getting what we need from real food anymore. We need things that assist us, that help us.
If you were training for an Iron Man, or you were training for a fitness competition, you probably wouldn't do it on your own. You'd hire a coach. Sometimes, you need assistance. Sometimes, you need help. And I will say that things like nootropic that I take every morning, I have a product that I share, and it's called Harmonia, and it's really helping women who are in our 40s, 50s. Who are like, hey, listen, I need a little bit of help because my mood feels a little bit off. Or, hey, listen, I'm starting to get a hot flash. Or, hey, listen, I'm not feeling 100%. I'm feeling a little fuzzy some days. And I truly believe in the right supplementation. And last is mindset. Knowing when to pause, knowing when to rest, and knowing when to defend the time for you. You can only pour from a cup that has water in it. And if it doesn't have the water in it, just like your energy, you're not going to be able to give anyone else a cup of water. So it's not selfish to do when you don't show up and do that for yourself. And sometimes, it's, hey, Mom's going to the gym, and everyone's like, whoa. It's an outlet. I'm like, yep, yep. It's because I'm gonna come back better, and I'm gonna come back recharged.
Heather Nelson: So good. I would love for you to share the link for people to get these supplements.I would love it in the show notes, because I'm 43. Most people in my life are in the 40s, not going through some crazy things right now.
Erika Rothenberger: Yup. 45, I get it. You know what? That middle of like, oh, my goodness. What's happening? No one gave me this warning that my body was going to change, and things might not feel 100%. And I think we have to humanize, and we need to talk about it more. Because I think what happened, again, going back to our mother's generations or generations prior to us, it was like, she's just crazy. There's other things going on here, right? So speaking to the PG-13 panel, we're going to be talking about hormones.
Heather Nelson: I love it. Yep, I've been having more hormones related, whether they're doing that type of work or along that, because I think it's so important, especially we're all in it right now. You have brought the fire. You have brought so much inspiration, and all the things in this beautiful Friday afternoon. What do you want to leave the listeners with today? Anything we didn't talk about, anything that is like a microphone drop.
Erika Rothenberger: Drop the mic. I just want to remind you that we constantly, and we're all guilty of it, especially with social media, to compare ourselves to everyone else, and just reminding ourselves that your journey is going to look different than someone else's journey. And we have almost 80,000 thoughts a day. And of those 80,000 thoughts a day, 90% of them are negative, and 95% of them are repeating. And so if you've doubted yourself, if you're comparing yourself, if you felt like, hey, I'm not enough, it's 100% normal. And sometimes when I still do that, because I preach like, you're amazing, and let's keep going and be audacious. But there's days, even earlier this week, on Tuesday, I told my husband, I'm ready to throw the towel in. I can't do this summit. How am I going to get this all together?
The book is due. I owe another manuscript this Sunday, to my editor. I was like, I'm never going to get all this done. I was doubting myself. Fear crept in. I clearly needed some more adaptogens to bring my stress levels down. And I look back now, four days later and I'm like, I kind of laugh about it. But it's normal. It is 100% normal to feel that way. To make sure that you find that group of men, women, friends, mother, whoever it is that you can call, that you can leave the voice message and say, I'm having one of these days, and reminding yourselves that you're not alone. And I truly believe that connection and community is really my secret sauce to everything in life, and it was my secret sauce to getting through this assault. It wasn't the doctors, the medicine, the nurses or the bandages. It was the connection with my kids. It was my sister jumping in the car to be the first one by my bedside. It was my husband jumping on a plane from Kansas City to make sure that I was still alive. It was the friends who drove up three days later just to sit by my side and make sure I was okay. I really believe that connection is our oxygen. And if you don't have those relationships, work on them. Be that person to someone else, and let's leave here, and be that light.
Heather Nelson: So good. My business is called The Connection Hive, and 100%, I believe in connectionYou have your word. That's my word because I'm like, it's so true in all aspects of business. It's what I preach to my clients. It's what I preach in my own life, and so thank you for that. Thank you for your energy, your motivation, all the work that you're doing for all of us. I'm so glad that we got connected. Thank you, and I feel honored to have you on the podcast.
Erika Rothenberger: Thank you so much for having me.