Meet Erika Martin of Good Earth Foundation and Conscious Commerce™, Eco-App Inventor

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

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. 
I’d like to say my path was straightforward, but when you allow yourself to be led by the wisdom of the Universe, it very seldom is. I’ll include my bio below for the “official” story…

For several years, I was a broadcast meteorologist with a focus on severe weather, Nor’easters, Hurricanes, Tornadoes and the like. No matter what station I worked across the country, I realized that people are really strong and can handle “the truth” about the weather. Some consultants would recommend simplifying content for the sake of the viewer because research had shown that the average viewer just wasn’t that capable of understanding complex terminology. That is false and it sets a low bar for society, for humans, for STEM.

I always wanted to reveal and describe the “ugly truth” about any severe weather situation without exaggerating or scaring people. The deeper I got into the science, the more I realized I’m not doing enough for people at home watching and trusting me. I need to give them dinner conversations, water cooler fodder if you will. “Hey did you hear about that Nor’easter headed our way? It’s supposed to be one for the books because of how the system is moving up the coast.” That’s what I wanted to hear folks say and appreciate, not just that it was going to rain a lot and they should carry an umbrella.

So, I continued to take courses that would allow me to qualify for a Masters in Meteorology and that’s where my life and introspection began. The more storms we got, the bigger, the stronger they got, the more I just wanted to be sure I had a handle on the atmosphere. I was a chief meteorologist in CT during SuperStorm Sandy and once Mother Nature ripped through the coastline, the beach erosion took my breath away. I was sad, in awe, confused and angry that Sandy had so much fuel in the Atlantic Basin to cause such devastation. I then started to look into different types of master’s program.

I came across a program in New Hampshire at Franklin Pierce (named after our 14th president) and it was an MBA program in Energy and Sustainability. “What the heck does that mean, I thought?” Well, a few things I’ve learned about myself include: I work hard and smart, I live for love, I believe in a higher power and when something nudges at my soul I just have to follow it, no matter how random it is. So, I did just that. I followed my gut, called the program director and started the most painfully hard two and half years of grad school. It made the hydraulic equation and differential look like a cake walk.

While numerical statistics is required at Mississippi State in order to get a degree in Geoscience with a focus on Meteorology, it’s just one course and is buried under the adiabatic process. I mean wow energy efficiency and calculating energy consumption in all its forms renewable or otherwise are overloads. Studying case study after case study is an exhaustive process and the head of the program is a genius who had little compassion-though now, I am so happy I was blessed to have him guide us.

Now, at the time, I was working full time at a news station and going to school full time. I was truly burned out, but the more I dove into Energy and Sustainability the more I realized that Universe, God, Mother Nature was calling me to use my experience to explain what the heck the studies of Energy and Sustainability mean. You see, I started to care more about “WHY” these storms were getting stronger apart from the natural processes of climatological periods. I started to care less about being a talking head on TV with just two minutes and 30 seconds to tell a story.

I wanted to tell people. “Yes, a huge hurricane is coming and it is going to be destructive, there’s nothing you can do to stop it, BUT you can be smart and invest your money in companies like Home Depot, or in construction firms that will have to rebuild the infrastructure once it’s been damaged!” With my new-found education and SUSTAINABLE POWER, I was able to give better insight into behaviors that allowed for our lack of knowledge of the ocean and atmosphere-both fluid, btw.

Anyhow long story short, I’ve since created a company that focuses on sustainability called Conscious Commerce ™ and The Good Earth Foundation that falls under my weather brand of Erika Martin, LLC, and under Conscious Commerce I have develop eco-tech that will allow for the value-action gap in sustainability to be better understood. I have recently been named the Sustainability Officer and Meteorologist for the city of El Segundo. It was serendipitous, how that all came about. However, it’s kind of perfect. Their city slogan is, “Where big ideas take off!”

Bio:
Erika has recently been named Sustainability Officer and Meteorologist for the city of El Segundo. This opportunity is a dream come true for her. She explains: “We’re moving towards a world that must be retrofitted for sustainable implementations. My goal as Sustainability Officer is to keep it intuitive and integrated in order to facilitate participation from the entire community.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, no not at all. However, I would not change a thing. I don’t want to talk about the struggles, because those were my struggles and everyone has their unique struggles. Just know it always works out. Do your best every single day, meditate, pray, and find a strong support system.

I workout six days a week, study Kundalini yoga, meditate every day, have a chakra healer, get my yearly physicals, and have an amazing support team. Set yourself up for success, don’t worry the struggles will always work their way in. Ignore them, keep going, don’t stop. EVER!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Erika Martin, Good Earth Foundation, and Conscious Commerce™ story. Tell us more about the business. 
My companies are focused on weather and environmental awareness. 

As the Sustainability Officer and Meteorologist for the city of El Segundo as well as founder and CEO of my own eco tech firm, I’m developing breakthrough sustainable global initiatives. I have a proven track record of working through environmental challenges and natural disasters and my experience in severe weather research, and the effect of poor atmospheric quality has motivated me to invent and develop an environmental technology.

I hold patents and trademarks which I hope contribute to making a positive change on our planet’s dire need for alternative sustainable behaviors. 

My eco-tech firm Conscious Commerce and its main product (I can’t disclose the name just yet) are owned and run by myself and a few partners. I am the majority shareholder, which makes my eco-tech firm a woman minority owned. That is my proudest achievement.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Being involved in two distinct, yet synergistic industries has allowed me to see the potential for parallel growth in sustainability to match the consistent change we have seen in technology over the last decade and leading into the next.

Technology is such a broad and voluminous industry, with so many components growing and evolving at rates far more prolific than anyone could have anticipated. The same is true with sustainability, despite the complexity still attached to it while everyone from scientists, to consultants and industry, struggle to accurately label and define it.

I expect a far more exact construct to sustainability over the next decade, as more and more nations, businesses and peoples become more familiar with it and engage in it more proactively.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]

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