Check Out Erika Yang’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Yang.

Hi Erika, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in California, for the first half of my life in the Bay Area, then the latter half in Los Angeles, and I think that shaped me more than I realized at the time. The Bay Area especially has this quiet but powerful energy: people genuinely believe their dreams are possible. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit in the air, this underlying assumption that if you can envision something, you can build it. I absorbed that early.

But belief alone isn’t enough. I was lucky to grow up in a family that never dimmed me. My parents asked questions, offered perspective, kept me grounded – but they never made me feel like something was out of reach. That combination of encouragement and honesty gave me both confidence and responsibility. If big things were possible, then it was on me to do the work.

Leaving California for Chicago to start my PhD was the first time that belief was really tested. I had never lived away from my family. Moving across the country meant tears at the airport, starting over in a city where I knew no one, and figuring out who I was without the comfort of everything familiar. In hindsight, it was exactly what I needed. Being placed in an entirely new environment forced me to build community intentionally and to confront who I was at my core – not just who I had been in the world I grew up in.

Now, my life looks multidimensional. I’m a PhD student researching questions I care deeply about. I founded Made HERstory during the pandemic to spotlight women’s stories and create spaces where women feel seen and empowered. I run every day with my dog Coco – something that started as a personal habit and evolved into a community of nearly 20,000 people who share a love for movement and partnership with their pets. I document life on film and camcorders because I believe stories deserve texture.

On the surface, those things seem unrelated. But the throughline is discipline and storytelling. I care about building things that last – ideas, communities, conversations. I care about showing up consistently, even when no one is watching. And I care deeply about impact, even if it’s small and individual.

To me, impact isn’t abstract. It’s one woman who feels understood after sharing her story. It’s one person who starts running because they saw that it could be joyful. It’s one researcher who cites my work because it shifted how they think. If something I create changes even one trajectory, that matters.

There have been rejections, stressful seasons, moments where the workload felt impossible. But I’ve learned that failure is rarely a dramatic event – it’s a daily practice of adjusting, recalibrating, and continuing anyway. I don’t see setbacks as signals to stop. I see them as part of the cost of building something meaningful.

If I had to describe my story so far, it would be this: I grew up believing big things were possible, and I chose to build a life that reflects that belief – not in one area or lane, but in many. I don’t fit into a single title, and I don’t want to. I’m still becoming. But at every stage, the goal has stayed the same: to create something that moves someone forward.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth road – but not in a dramatic, single-defining-moment kind of way. The challenges have been quieter and more cumulative.

The recent difficult decision I made was leaving California for Chicago. I had never lived far from my family. Moving across the country meant stepping away from the people who had always been my foundation and starting over in a place where I knew no one. There were tears, moments of loneliness, and seasons of questioning whether I had made the right choice. Growth sounds exciting in theory, but in practice it can feel isolating.

There have also been the everyday struggles that come with ambition. Pursuing a PhD means sitting with uncertainty constantly – research that doesn’t work, studies fail, revisions feel endless, ideas that take longer than expected to develop. Building platforms and communities means showing up consistently even when engagement fluctuates, even when doubt creeps in, even when you’re tired. The days where I just feel like no one is engaging or listening. Discipline sounds glamorous from the outside, but most of it is quiet repetition and pushing through days that feel heavy.

There have been rejections – from schools, from opportunities, from ideas that didn’t land the way I hoped. There have been moments where the workload felt unmanageable and moments where I questioned whether I was stretching myself too thin across different identities.

But I’ve learned that struggle doesn’t always look like failure. Sometimes it looks like choosing to continue. It looks like recalibrating instead of quitting. It looks like trusting that the long road is still the right one, even when progress feels slower than you imagined.

If anything, the road hasn’t been smooth – but it’s been formative. The friction is what sharpened the discipline, clarified what matters, and strengthened my belief that meaningful things take time.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At the core of my work is understanding people – what moves them, what motivates them, what makes them feel seen, and what helps them grow.

Professionally, I’m a PhD student at Northwestern studying consumer psychology and behavior. My research explores how people respond to feedback, identity threats, and the psychological forces that shape decision-making. I’m especially interested in how subtle social dynamics influence motivation and behavior – the invisible mechanisms that explain why we react the way we do. What I love most about research is that it gives language and structure to experiences people feel but can’t always articulate.

Beyond academia, I build platforms that translate that curiosity about people into real-world impact. I founded Made HERstory (@madeherstory) during the 2020 pandemic as a storytelling platform to highlight women’s journeys: not just their achievements, but the vulnerability, pivots, and resilience behind them. It has become a space where women feel seen and connected, and where stories ripple outward in ways I could not have predicted. It’s now a community of 5k and continuing to grow everyday.

More recently, I’ve built a community around running and movement through documenting my daily runs with my dog, Coco (@cococollieruns). What started as a personal habit evolved into a space that inspires others to move their bodies, train for races, and build healthier relationships with their dog. I’ve learned that impact doesn’t have to be grand – sometimes it’s simply showing what’s possible through steady action and consistency yourself – leading through example. We’re now a growing community of 23k people and strive everyday to make more of an impact through our story and videos.

What sets me apart is that I don’t see these worlds as separate. Research, storytelling, athletics, and community-building all come from the same place for me: a belief that ideas matter most when they move people forward. I specialize in building things that connect – whether that’s a research paper that reframes a question, a story that empowers someone, or a platform that encourages healthier habits.

What I’m most proud of isn’t a single accomplishment. It’s the communities that have formed – the women who felt empowered after sharing their stories, the runners who started because they saw consistency modeled, the scholars who engage with my research. I’m proud that my work lives both in theory and in practice.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is impact: but in a very personal, human sense.

I care deeply about whether what I’m building actually moves someone. Whether it’s a research paper that changes how someone thinks about motivation, a woman who feels seen after sharing her story, or a person who decides to start running because they watched our journey – those small shifts matter to me. I’ve never been driven by titles alone. I’m driven by ripple effects.

Growth also matters deeply to me. Leaving California, starting over in Chicago, choosing paths that stretched me – all of those moments reinforced that comfort and growth rarely coexist. I don’t want a life that feels stagnant. I want to keep becoming. That doesn’t always feel glamorous. Sometimes it looks like doubt, long nights, or recalibrating after rejection. But growth is the price of building something meaningful.

And finally, authenticity matters to me. I believe in owning your story – the polished parts and the messy ones. That’s at the heart of Made HERstory. It’s at the heart of how I show up in research. It’s even at the heart of documenting daily runs. I think there’s power in showing up consistently and authentically, and honestly, in creating spaces where others feel safe to do the same.

What matters most to me, ultimately, is living a life that feels intentional: one where I’m not just achieving, but contributing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://instagram.com/cococollieruns
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/_erikayang_
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikay77
• Other: https://instagram.com/madeherstory