September 14, 2016

Meet Studio City Barre Instructor & Makeup Artist : Ericka Taylor Honig

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to the drop dead gorgeous Ericka Taylor Honig.

Ericka, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always had a passion for the arts. I grew up in Princeton, NJ where my mom put me in dance classes at just three years old. I was the little girl that invited all her friends over to do hair and makeup and put on plays for our parents. I grew up in a loving home with extremely supportive parents, an older brother and a younger sister.

After entering high school, I started to struggle with bullying and begged my parents to let me audition for our local performing arts high school. I looked the part but I was just so shy people interoperated that as being stuck up, so I was an easy target for the “mean girls”. Performing arts high school saved me, and it was there that I realized I couldn’t imagine going off to college to pursue anything other than dance.

I studied at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I took one semester off to attend the Disney College Program, where I was a character performer in Disney World for six months. When I returned, I finished at Uarts with a BFA in Jazz Dance Performance.

After graduating college, I moved on dancing professionally for about two years. One of my proudest accomplishments was dancing for the Brooklyn Nets for two seasons. While on the team I rediscovered my love for makeup. While on the team I was going to more and more makeup seminars with MAC, and studied at the Glam Academy, with Alexa Prisco from “The Glam Fairy”. At this point in my life I knew I still wanted to move to California, this was my now or never moment.

I moved out to LA with no plan, a few hundred bucks, and BIG dreams. I knew ONE girl out here and luckily she took me in and gave me a room to rent out. I had no job and didn’t know where to start. At the time we were living down the street from the Cardiobarre that my roommate was teaching at, I took one class and fell in love. She knew that there was a Brentwood location opening up and hooked me up with an audition to become a Cardiobarre instructor! little did I know my life would change forever….

It was the hardest three weeks of my life, but I came out of that training a different person. I went on teaching Cardiobarre at the Brentwood location, all while joining Thumbtack and so I started freelancing again. I started to finally make some friends and a little life for myself here in California. At first, it was very uncomfortable for me to teach these barre classes. Again I was extremely shy so it was difficult to stand in front of a large group of women and even talk, let alone motivate and inspire. After a few months of being so far outside my confront zone, It started to feel organic and I was having a blast.
About two and a half years went by of teaching and freelancing and I started to feel stuck, I wanted more. I saw a casting for a Beachbody project and decided to submit myself for it. I really did not think anything of it, being in the industry you get really used to rejection. About a few weeks went by and I got a call from the casting director asking to submit another audition tape. About 4 submissions/auditions later I got the call. I was invited to live in a beautiful house with 1o other trainers to compete to be the next Beachbody super trainer! The show is called The 20s: The Search For The Next Beachbody Supertrainer, the first episode aired Aug. 8th on Beachbody on Demand and POP-TV. After returning from filming, I found out that my studio in Brentwood had shut down. I currently am teaching at Cardiobarre Woodlandhills, and still freelancing all while waiting for America to decide if I’m the next Beachbody Supertrainer!

Has it been a smooth road?
I am very close to my family and friends back East, moving across the country not knowing anyone was really difficult. It definitely took some time to make friends and contacts.

Tell us about your childhood, what were you like growing up?
Growing up I was VERY shy, especially around new people. If I was comfortable with you I was a goofball! My mom put me in dance when I was just 3 years old, I loved it! I lived for recital time when I was able to dress up and play with makeup!

Is there a specific memory from when you were younger that you really miss?
Definitely recital time! It only came once a year but I always looked forward to it!

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I want to continue to be able to combine my two passions, fitness, and makeup. I truly feel so much joy making someone feel beautiful from the inside out.

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