Meet Erika Stormm | Artist, Vocalist, Song Writer, Musician and Music Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erika Stormm and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erika, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success has always been consistency. Doing things even when I don’t want to do them. Pushing myself to hold onto the visions I have about my dream lifestyle. I go to work, write lyrics, make beats or study music during my lunch time. I do my vocal warm ups on my way home from work. When I come home i practice on my piano, track vocals, have dinner, work out and then get ready for bed. Sometimes I’ll wake up an hour earlier than I normally would to have time to make reels early morning. Every dream requires sacrifices that are possible if you’re motivated enough to do them. Positive self talk, videos, self help books and podcasts about self love have helped me a lot in my journey. Sometimes you have to realize that loving yourself can change your entire life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a musician born and raised in South Central Los Angeles in Southern California. Coming from the culture of Los Angeles, I already take so much influence from hip hop, a diverse taste in genres of music, graffiti and paintings all over the streets, busking all throughout Hollywood, the museums, architecture and history of LA. My mom is from Mexico Michoacán and my dad is from San Vicente El Salvador so I grew up listening to a lot of Latin music genres too. The influence I’ve taken for my music has allowed me to be more expressive and embrace my roots. My family is Christian so as a kid, we’d go to church a lot and I use to spend a lot of time with the musicians there. I even had a band with my sister who drummed back then and I’d sing. I kept attempting to start different bands since I was 12 after that and always surrounded myself with musicians. Staying in a band didn’t work out for me so I started purchasing beats and my friend Alex infinity started to record my music back in 2019. Before I ever purchased beats though, I was already recording on my phone or on my friends computers and they’d cheer me on through it all. I started writing lyrics at the age of 8. I was going through so much growing up so the eagerness to express myself always flowed through music and made it easier for me to process what I was going through. My parents were separating at the time and I knew I’d have to be in two different places at the same time for a long time after that. Everything that happened before the separation was painful too and it only got worse after that. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be 18 already so that I can be in control of my own life. I was inspired to become a millionaire and have dreams. Even though my driving motivation came from dark situations, I’m happy I didn’t turn to drugs or the streets. I did at one point but as I got older, I realized that music was the biggest reason I wanted to be sober and have a healthy life style. It was always present during hard times and when I had nothing and no one. The biggest challenges for me is knowing that you learn more and more about this industry the longer you’re in it. There is so much that goes into a music career that people don’t often think about. Rehearsals, creating sets for different events, stage presence, performance skills, social skills, people skills, producing beats, tracking your vocals, marketing, networking, creating merchandise, knowing everything about distribution, keeping up with your social media performance, writing every single day, practicing and so much more.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I knew someone who was flying into LA and they were relying on me to show them some fun spots, I’d take them to Stoney point in Canoga Park for rock climbing, Matador beach for a nice swim, New York Style Chicken and Gryo for some awesome and delicious Mediterranean food, The Getty museum, the Hollywood walk of fame, all the open mics, talent shows and the Griffith observatory.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shoutout my boyfriend and friends for always encouraging me to be as independent as possible in every aspect of my music career. Many of my friends, including Julie (@grxy.gxd) , Crystal (@crystall.022) Alex Infinity(@vlxu) , my sister Leslie (@lesliedenisee, Hallie (@hallieromero) Kassy (@kassyness) and Brice ( @pixxed ) have all been the greatest encouragement/support system I could’ve ever asked for. I’ll send them my tracks and we chat about them and I always feel comfortable getting a review from them. Luckily I have supportive parents so shoutout to them too. I think in order to be successful in life , you gotta keep people around you who INSPIRE you. People who make you feel magical. People who BELIEVE in you and SEE YOU for everything that you are. I always express gratitude to the universe for this because I don’t know where’d I’d be without them.

Website: https://linktr.ee/erikastormm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamerikastormm/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-stormm-5039a3239

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamerikastormm/status/1734749620998476170

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070866080693&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@iamerikastormm?si=TX-MX8ZF8XGr_5zl

Image Credits
Some of these images were shot by my friend Brice Avalos (@pixxed on instagram) , The photo where I’m performing was shot by Arielle Samson (@arielle.samson on instagram), The photo with the least brightness was shot my friend Kassandra (Kassy for short @kassyness on instagram). The rest of the photos were shot by either my boyfriend or me.