We recently connected with Erik David and have shared our conversation below.
Erik, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew from a young age that I wanted To perform in some capacity. I love Being on camera and I love making others feel seen, heard and laugh. I’m very opinionated but not in a “know it all” type of way. I try My best to come from a place of experience and understanding at the same time. I remember in a improv Class with Diane Christensen. I think I was about 13 years old. I was Performing and making the whole audience bust out in laughter. It made me feel really good. After the class my mom came up to me and said “ everyone was talking about you, asking who this kid was cause he is really good.” That made me feel validated that being able to perform for others is a passion of mine. Another experience is when I was in dance class. Yes, I did hip hop classes as well at the old Millennium Dance Studios on Lankershim. We were in the dome and the instructor chose me to “battle” against none other than Hilary Duff. She of course kicked my butt. But it also boosted my confidence to be chosen out of about 100 people to perform with someone who was already an established name. Let’s not forget the time I performed In one of Richard Simmons workout videos and he looked at me and said. “You’re the sassy one, I can Tell” totally a iconic moment for me. Many moons later became a make up artist. And my “moment” that validated me was directly out of my second make up school Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy in Hollywood. Two months out of school they asked me to assist them at New York Fashion Week in Lincoln Center and Bryant Park. After that they hired me in the company which was so epic. I’m forever grateful for that experience.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Something a lot of people don’t know about me. Is that I actually went to preschool on the Paramount studio lot. My mom worked in music clearance there for 17 years On stage 29. That was where the first seed in my brain was planted about make up seeing all the Klingons from Star Trek walk around with their make up. So I literally grew up in this industry. My father was an also an actor in the 70s and 80s. When I was young, I got into acting full force, and I loved every minute of it. The process of going out on auditions learning how to deal with rejection is something at all Cherish forever. I remember going on the set of Angel And getting to meet the whole cast and entire crew. And I told myself in that moment, this is something I want to be involved in whether it’s behind the camera or in front of the camera. In 2008 I discovered Makeup Artisty. I attended MUDD Makeup school in Burbank. I instantly fell in love. Shortly after that, I came down with the sickness and I had to take a couple years off from doing make up full-time. Then, in 2010 I attended my second Makeup school which I mentioned in the question before. And Ever since I’ve been as a Makeup Artist. I’ve worked with multiple brands & Started my career out doing retail make up. Which really gave me the discipline to learn all different skin tones, types, and textures. Things that you did not learn and make up school. After leaving the retail world, I went freelance full-time. I worked on major commercial sets, TV sets. I’ve done red carpets. I have over 30 magazine covers. I’ve worked with some pretty big celebrities and influencers. And I take none of it for granted. In 2020 when the world shut down, I started to do content creation. And Quickly realized how wide an audience could grow. I now have just over 300,000 followers From all over the world. I’m a big advocate for LGBTQ plus community. I do a lot of make up tutorials and I love answering peoples questions when it comes to Makeup. I am an open book and I think thats what attracted my audience to me. Getting messages and comments that I save peoples lives or I brighten their day and I make them feel a little bit better in their darkest times. Is the most rewarding thing that has ever happened to me in my 36 years of life. I Often think about if I was in a stadium and there was 300,000 people looking back at me just for me being me. How truly amazing that is. I am forever grateful to my followers, my make up clients and anyone that I have worked with. They have all made me who I am today.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I still have a few goals in my creative journey that I have not hit yet. That I really look forward to achieving. One of my goals is to actually do make up for a TV show or movie on The Paramount studio lot. Because I went to preschool there and I think it would be a major full circle moment for me. I would love to make up for the Met Gala and the Oscars. I also would love to do a world tour with an artist that I cherish and love. I also would love to do speaking engagement conferences to where I can connect with my audience on a more personal level while also giving them a make up tutorial. I love being creative in many different ways and be able to share with the world. On a more personal level, to make people feel better about themselves. Because anyone is worth a little bit of happiness in their life. And if I can bring that to someone or put a smile on their face I’ve done my job.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I believe the best thing that people can do to support a creative or a content creator is to share comment and like what they post. To support Make Up Artist that is
freelance full-time, Try to refer them to any job that you can. Sharing, subscribing to their YouTube channel Liking and commenting their post so the algorithm picks it up Are free that you can help a creative in my industry and many others. I see a lot of people giving their money to celebrities who Don’t even know who they are. But they will not share, support, subscribe or do any of that for their friends that are in the same industry or trying to get to that level. It kind of boggles my mind.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamerikdavid?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/iamerikdavid
- Other: TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@iamerikdavid?_t=8njDyjMxXwp&_r=1
Image Credits
All self taken on my phone.