Meet Erica Odoemene | Social Entrepreneur and Business Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erica Odoemene and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
When I started college I entered as a business student pursuing a Marketing degree. During my freshman year in college, I read a book called “Rich Dad Poor Dad’ which immediately sparked my interest in Finance. That book inspired me to learn more about finances, so I talked to my college advisor because I was eager to double major in Finance along with my initial Marketing major. When I started taking my finance courses, I realized that it’s not the type of finance I felt was necessary to my personal life, it was more of just corporate finance and skills needed in the workplace. When I realize the difference between personal finance and corporate finance, I spent the majority of my time outside of school, watching videos and reading books about investing, money management, how to budget, saving money, and other finance-related topics. As I watched most of those videos and read those books, I realized that most of them were finance topics taught by men. There wasn’t much women representation in this industry and I wanted to be the change for my generation and for my peers.

After my freshman year, I brainstormed ways to become a financial educator in order to teach young women my age about finances in the simplest way. During my brainstorming process, I was also multitasking with running my cosmetics line that I started in high school. I remember one day I posted a tik tok video about how I started my beauty brand at 17 years old, and that video went viral the entire summer. Over 100+ young girls worldwide reached out to me on social media asking for advice on how to start their own business and how to get into entrepreneurship. Seeing people ask for business advice while I was in the process of brainstorming a way to teach people about finance made me realize instead of limiting myself to just being a financial educator, I can become a business educator and teach young people many different topics in business.

After a year of planning how I can combine finance and business-related topics, I came up with my educational platform called ERIODO Education. I created ERIODO Education as a platform to teach women about personal finances in order for them to feel financially empowered. So I now dedicate my free time outside of school to make YouTube videos speaking about finance topics. I also created a mentorship program where I can teach women how to start and grow their own businesses through effective marketing strategies in order to grow their brands.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
ERIODO Education is a motivational business platform dedicated to teaching women about personal finance, entrepreneurship, and additional business-related topics. My platform is broken up into three different areas: visual learning, motivation, and mentoring.

For the visual learning aspect, I make YouTube videos teaching women about personal finance. I also create informative content about investing, money management, budgeting, savings, etc for the platform’s Instagram page (@eriodoeducation).

For the motivation aspect, I host a talk show where I interview inspirational women in business to learn more about their background and experiences with the goal to allow their stories to inspire other ambitious women that are watching.

For the mentoring aspect, I have a 5-week program where I teach young women how to start and grow successful online businesses through effective marketing strategies.

I am most proud that in only a short period of time, my platform has already impacted so many women, specifically college students who are more eager to prioritize their finances and pursue their dreams in business.

One lesson I learned along the way is that most people are eager to learn about certain topics, but they’re not sure who to ask or how to learn about them. As an educator, you have to be comfortable sharing your knowledge with others because you never know who has been searching for the information you’ve been wanting to share with the world.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First I would start off in Downtown Houston and bring them to my favorite place to eat, Nobu of course! After eating we’re heading straight to The Galleria shopping center since it’s right next door. After a day in downtown Houston, I would definitely want to show them around Sugarland, Texas. The shopping centers in that area are soo nice and there’s so many food spots over there, it would probably take us an entire day in Sugarland. A few other places we would go is Mastro’s Steakhouse. I’m a huge fan of steak and fine dining so that would definitely be another spot to go to during the trip. Another great spot I would bring them is the Seismique Immersive Art Museum. It’s such a creative exhibit that’s perfect for Instagram pictures! During our trip, we’ll most likely find other great places to eat because the brunch spots in Houston are undefeated! If I could spend the entire week just exploring new restaurants with my friend, that would be the best trip because trying new foods is my favorite hobby!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
One woman who definitely deserves some recognition in my story is an influencer from London named Patricia Bright. She is also a woman with an empowering voice when it comes to educating people about personal finances. I remember during my journey of trying to learn more about finances, I would always watch her YouTube videos. I always felt very similar to Patricia because not only do we have the same interests when it comes to business, lifestyle, and finances, but we also have a similar background. She’s also a Nigerian woman who has a passion for fashion/beauty and that was the first way I felt I related to her. But there were so many other similarities between us, such as us both being Aquarius and both being eager to help others, I just always felt like she is the older version of me and the woman I aspire to be in the future.

Website: https://eriodoeducation.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iameriodo/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC42edydwLIId5b7-3RAtqEw