Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Bride.
Hi Erika, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi!! Thanks for having me. I would like to start off with a quote, “Sometimes when you are in a dark place, you feel like you are buried, but in actuality you are planted.” As I tell my story today, you will understand why this quote stood out to me.
In 2019 when I introduced my wine brand Butterfly Effect to the world. At the time, I was 39 years old, the General Manager of Bel Vino Winery, I was also a single mother of two living with my parents. I have had a good life to this point, but also one filled with many traumas. I was a survivor of domestic violence, divorce, childhood traumas and other pretty traumatic events. I suffered in silence and carried these pains around with me on a daily basis.
The term Butterfly Effect means that the flapping of a butterflies wings can cause a hurricane a thousand miles away. My version of this for my wine means that one act of kindness can change someone’s life. The day we started to sell my very first wine thousands of butterflies flew through Temecula! Looking back, I see that this was a sign that I truly had been planted and that my life was about to bloom.
By the end of 2019, I had created two more best-selling wines for the winery and things were looking good. I was rebuilding my life as a single mom and was genuinely doing well. Then in walks David, my now husband into my life, and honestly my life has never been the same since.
My dilemma at this point in my life was that I wanted to marry David. But he lived in Georgia and I was running the winery in California, which was thriving at the time. To me, there wasn’t a question about where I belonged so I started to plan my move to Georgia, against everyone’s advice. Now when the pandemic hit in March of 2020, I took it as an opportunity to pivot and train a new GM and also start a Private Label program for the winery, which I could run from Georgia.
Now about a week before I moved, I called my best friend Noelle and told her my plans. She was excited for me and told me that her sister Danielle Kortava also lived in Georgia and that maybe we can meet up sometime. When I sent Danielle a message on messenger later that week it came as a huge surprise that we were going to live only 5 minutes apart. Looking back, this was just another sign that I was finally on the right track. So when it came time to leave to Georgia, I had two suitcases to my name. My son and daughter had one suitcase each and we were off to start a new life.
I began to grow the Private Label program and at the same time get some licenses in the financial industry. My husband works in the financial services industry. I decided to learn about financial services because I got tired of going to events with him and looking stupid because I didn’t know anything about mutual funds, investments or the stock market. My career is doing well at this point and I was introducing 9 more varietals under the Butterfly Effect brand and working on getting into distribution in Georgia (which is very hard to do btw). At this point in my life, it was safe to assume that every prayer I had ever spoken deep in my heart had been granted. I found myself with a home I owned, a thriving career, a wonderful husband and beautiful family. But…. There was still something missing, I wasn’t happy and I desperately had to figure out how to fix it.
The best way to describe how I was feeling is that every morning when I woke up before I got out of bed, I put on this imaginary backpack heavy with rocks that symbolized every traumatic event that has ever happened to me. I didn’t know how to deal with it. Bad thoughts crowded my brain on a daily basis, stealing my joy. In my heart, I screamed to the universe to help me and almost immediately Danielle came to me and told me that she needed my help. She was changing her career and was studying to become a hypnotherapist and she needed to practice on me. I immediately said yes!
When I went to my first session about a year ago in August of 2022, I went with my heart wide open. There is something about Danielle that eases people and it wasn’t hard to follow her voice and start to heal. I told her that I wanted to work on healing my inner child because I knew that the person I was meant to be in this life was there somewhere, I just needed to find her.
This session I had with Danielle truly freed my spirit. There was a point when I was on a beach, I could feel the sun on my face and I was holding the hand of a little girl. Me. I was about five years old. I spent what felt like the whole afternoon playing on the beach with my childhood self. What was 100% clear to me at this point was that she was fine! Not only was she fine, but she was happy, vibrant, funny, loving, creative, empathetic and joyous. Everything I wanted to be as an adult, everything I felt about who I was deep at my core. Her eyes urged me to realize that she is still there, and instead of me thinking I needed to heal her, she healed me. When I woke up from the session, I was in full-blown tears. It was like every weight that was in the backpack had vanished. All the rocks were finally gone. What I was left with was this creative surge of happiness and all I wanted to do was paint! That is when I created my self-portrait and as you can see it is disjointed but vibrant and beautiful. It is a celebration of my life.
I have always been an artist. Prior to this experience, I could only paint as a way to deal with hard things happening in my life. I couldn’t paint a stick figure when I was happy. But after this session, it was like this new version of me emerged. Erika 2.0! It was like an 8th Sense had been freed and every bad event that happened in my life made sense to me. I knew that I went through so many things so that I can empathize with others on a deep level. I was a seed that had been planted and was absorbing every experience so that I could emerge as a strong oak tree. I am able to use this deep empathy to connect with people and use their stories to inspire me and create art that truly reflects their souls. I see people in a different way, I care about them and see beautiful art where they may see brokenness, heartache and pain. I have learned how to help others celebrate their life and be proud of it. My pains and past traumas happened for a reason and I accept that now, which is a huge accomplishment!
Sometimes when in a dark place, feeling buried, is when a new seed has been planted. It is hard to distinguish between the two because both can feel scary, lonely, cold. Facing fears, changing the thought process is key to changing life. 8th Sense Artistry was created to help figure out how to find the light, how to grow, blossom, feel actual joy, to help others experience the joy of transformation. It was through struggle, the acceptance of that struggle, newfound understanding that 8th Sense Artistry was born to help others in a unique and fantastic way to overcome fears and tackle new horizons.
8th Sense Artistry helps by guiding our clients towards gentle healing from deep within. Solidifying this journey with, one of a kind unique painting that celebrates the life journey of our clients which allows to fully embrace their purpose in life.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road is never smooth in my experience. But if you don’t learn how to overcome adversity, you never truly learn what you are capable of. I have had to literally start my life from scratch multiple times. One thing I never did was give up hope. I knew that I had a purpose and I never stopped searching for it.
I am a survivor of depression, divorce, domestic violence and childhood traumas. I was a single mother for many years. I forgot about what I wanted and focused on what my kids needed for many years, as many single parents do. My two children were my anchors. They kept me grounded during the hard times. One thing I have learned through my life experiences is that perspective is key. You can look at your past and feel sad about it, or you can look at it and learn from it, take it and transform yourself. It was my tenacity for answers that I was able to create 8th Sense Artistry. I knew that everything I had been through in my life was for a reason, I just didn’t know what that reason was….. yet!
One thing I always tried to do is the right thing. That is a struggle in and of itself sometimes. When things are crumbling around you and you want to lash out or take a shortcut because it is easier, that is a huge struggle. It takes courage to face your past and take actual measures to change it. That is what hypnotherapy helped me with. It helped me face my past and allowed me to understand that the struggle was necessary for me to truly empathize with people and understand what is important to them and take that information and create art that heals!!! It feels like you are being freed from a prison and my goal is to help as many people as I can to experience emotional freedom and learn to celebrate it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
One thing I love about being an entrepreneur and networking is that I can shift my business model as needed. I have received a lot of positive feedback from corporations that are interested in my art to showcase their business, help brand their company as well as incorporate the story of their founding members and their business accomplishments. I am also branching out to work with life coaches to help people solidify their goals for the future through hypno-vision boards to celebrate accomplishments and create future goals for clients. Our mission is to use the transformative power of hypno-art to inspire, motivate, promote healing and facilitate re-birth at whatever stage of life you happen to be on.
As humans, one of our basic needs is to be truly seen. In our society, we spend so much time creating this image of what we want people to see and we forget about this basic need. What sets me apart from other artists and other people in general is that I have a way of seeing people as they are. I have a heightened sense of empathy that allows me to identify and understand what people are really going through and transcend that into a unique art piece.
As I talk to people that are interested in hypno-art, I start off with their childhood. I ask questions about their life, what is important to them. Ask about their life and what they have been through, about their careers and what drives them. People easily open up to me and feel safe because I think people can sense my empathy and understanding. There is no judgment and feeling safe is key to opening up. As they speak, I can sense what is important and what isn’t. Images start to fly into my mind like a puzzle in the air. I take these puzzle pieces and use what I call my 8th Sense and create a Hypno-portrait that is truly unique.
What matters most to you?
Helping people sounds so cliché. What I do helps people yes, but what matters most to me is reaching people on a deeper level and giving them something that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. I want to empower their trauma. Show them how to open a new door that they are able to step through and empower them to find their purpose is what matters most to me. I want to change lives, one color at a time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.8thsenseartistry.com
- Instagram: @8thsenseartistry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/8thsenseartistry
- Other: tiktok – @8thsenseartistry
