Our founder, Erika Hovland Bahij, has more than 20 years experience in leadership positions. She began leading teams while in high school, as Cadet Commander in Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary program of the United States Air Force. She was also co-captain of her swim team and launched a mentorship program in her high school. In college, she had leadership positions in her sorority and on the Panhellenic Council. She worked as an intern and legislative correspondent for a United States Congressman on Capital Hill. These early leadership experiences led her to take on a supervisory role at the age of 21, leading a team of 22 people. From there, she held advancing roles in organizations, leading her to roles such as Product Director at a Fortune 500 company and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Erika completed her Master of Business Administration at Temple University, graduating in the top 5% of her class. She was awarded a Silver Stevie Award for Entrepreneur of the Year for Business Services in 2015.
As an educator, Erika has more than 10 years experience teaching at a university level. She has mentored children of all ages. Her experiences have led her to develop a holistic teaching approach that involves heart, mind and body. She is certified as a Forest Therapy Guide by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) and leads immersive nature experiences with adults and children.
Erika believes everyone has a unique gift to offer the world. When people connect with their authentic “true” nature, they are better able to contribute these gifts. As a result, Erika encourages and facilitates programs to help people reconnect with their intuition and authenticity.
In 2019, Erika launched Rose and Redwood, LLC, with the vision of creating programs to help people connect with their true nature – and the ultimate goal of creating leadership programs for children. The idea and desire to create leadership programs stemmed from (1) her own childhood experience, (2) from becoming a step-mom and mom and (3) her experiences working in corporations. Erika believes early leadership experiences – especially ones that inculcate development of social and emotional competencies – can help children become great leaders*.
*A leader is someone who uses their voice and influence to positively impact people and outcomes.