We were lucky to catch up with Erika Kotite recently and have shared our conversation below.
Erika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Our mission is always informed by the women we meet. Creating beautiful studios in which a person can freely do whatever she wants without worrying about anything or anyone else is truly the most gratifying business imaginable. Our mission, to help women thrive in a space of their own, is also something we are doing every day in our own lives. I was already in love with the possibilities of a tricked-out shed for a reading room before getting a book deal in 2016. Sabrina discovered she sheds years ago through reading Where Women Create and wanted to contribute to the movement. Our discovery of each other was providential and resulted in a company that cares about women’s mental and spiritual well-being. She Shed Living adds sanctuary and beauty to life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce your business give our readers some of your background and context?
She Shed Living is a woman-owned company dedicated to making other women’s lives better by helping them find a “room of their own.” Launched by the popularity of backyard studios otherwise known as “she sheds,” the company was founded by Erika Kotite and Sabrina Contreras in Laguna Hills, California. Erika wrote two books about she sheds and the women who love them in 2017 and 2019. The books sold well both then and now, and established Erika and Sabrina as authorities on living well in the back yard. The company partners with key builders in California to design, build and install she sheds for clients within Southern California. For those who want guidance outside of California, She Shed Living provides interior design and site consulting and offers building resources from its national database and from book sources. She Shed Living provides inspiration and information on its website as well as through an exciting new membership platform called She Shed Living Circle Membership. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about building an affordable and beautiful place of your own is available through She Shed Living and its Circle Membership. We are growing and launching new projects every year but behind it all there are two real women who want other women to experience the joys of privacy and creativity in their own space. We are very proud to have clients who went from a cramped dining room table or spare room to run their business to having a fully functional backyard studio for their use. She sheds allow women to put their own personal stamp on their space even though they live in a house with other family members. She sheds are quiet, separate from the house and have a lock on the front door! Giving women autonomy, peace and privacy is a very powerful thing.
Have you ever had to pivot?
My career was spent almost entirely within the magazine editorial field. I am a UCLA graduate with a BA in English Literature. I know how to write and communicate. Throughout the 80s and 90s I found great work as a senior editor at Entrepreneur Magazine, then at a trade magazine for nail technicians, followed by my dream job as editor-in-chief of Victorian Homes and interim chief for Romantic Homes magazine. We all know that print publishing went through hard times and contracted severely in the late 90s. My last role at RH was at a company that was fearful of “giving too much away on the internet” and as a result, the publications and advertising suffered setbacks. I was ultimately laid off. I taught myself how to use WordPress and launched an online “magazine” about chefs, restaurants and food. I figured out LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest (remember these were early days) without having the benefit of a company with training to figure these things out. I discovered I liked online work and social media. I understood how important it was to be able to have keen vision and do long-term planning while still knowing how to execute tasks as an entrepreneur. These skills allowed me to successfully pivot to being a business owner and thriving, after merely writing about entrepreneurship 25 years ago!
How’d you meet your business partner?
After publishing my first book I spent a lot of time doing events and book signings. I yearned to take the she shed phenomenon to a higher level. Then I met Sabrina Contreras. She too loved the whole story and potential of she sheds and knew about my book. She was at an event where I had a booth and she came up and introduced herself. She invited me to participate in her own Mercantile Marketplace in Fullerton the following month. She even built a darling she shed on wheels so that I could have it as a backdrop! (It ended up being in my second book, along with a great how-to on antiquing wood using stain.) Sabrina is both creative and a savvy businesswoman; she was VP of Product Development and Licensing for The Red Hat Society and continues to sit on the board. While at the Marketplace, we discussed how great it would be to have a platform for women to meet other women and share their stories of she shed ownership and other creative topics. I was nervous about bringing on a partner yet knew she could bring expertise to the table that I lacked. Over the next four years, we’ve developed a great partnership that allows us to do big things even though it’s just the two of us. We were thrilled to bring on a part-time marketing person very recently (who happens to work out of her she shed!) and she is a vital link to our next growth phase
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sheshedliving.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheshedliving/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/174274389875146/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikakotite/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/livingshed
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR2IqeVLbjKsHR4NeOYIfSQ
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sheshedliving/