https://www.instagram.com/p/Be_5wixgnF4/
It’s #TakeoverTuesday when we pull our most recent Instagram takeover participant off the ‘gram and onto our website for a fun Q&A on what they’re all about.
Shelby Erickson (@shelbyerickson) brought @longbeachpost followers a heartwarming take on raising a family in Long Beach’s Carson Park area, several inspired sunset photos and a glance at what it takes to run a creative business.
How did you get into graphic design and what about working in the field do you enjoy most?
I got into design by accident. When I was 19, I started working at a photo studio where I learned Photoshop. In short, I was removing zits from kids’ senior pictures. That exercise showed me the power of not only Photoshop, but the power of using design to tell stories.
Tell me a little bit more about A Creative Force. What are some exciting projects you guys are working on right now?
ACF is an experiential marketing agency. We currently are working on projects for Nike & LAFC, but have worked with brands like Lyft, Canon, Jordan, El Jimador, US Soccer… to name a few. Every project we do is exciting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be8kfHzgm9P/
As someone who grew up in Long Beach, how do you think the city has changed over the years, what excites you about these changes?
I’ve watched the city grow up right before my eyes. For example, I’ve heard my whole life that Downtown is on the up & up, but I never really see any change. But then, in the last 10 years – BOOM – an explosion of cool. Great “mom & pop” shops. Great local food. Great local bars. Having been to lots of places, I can honestly say that Long Beach is one of the coolest cities that I’ve ever been to.
What has it been like being able to raise a daughter in the city you grew up in?
My daughter is two, so we really haven’t been able to take advantage of all that LB has to offer. We do frequent the parks, and walk around the schools – which she LOVES. I’m excited for her to grow up in a city that is not only diverse but is becoming more integrated each day.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be3XZENg8Z2/
The post about how you and Kia met received such a positive response from our followers. Perhaps it might be fun to “bore us” with your entire “how you met story?”
Kia and I met at a backyard BBQ in Brooklyn. We started chatting, and enjoyed each other’s conversation enough that we didn’t find it necessary to talk with any other people. As that party wound down, we all went to a local bar, Diety, to have a couple of drinks. This bar was nothing special, beautiful exterior, but inside it was, eh. We continued to chat and drink but then, destiny, in the form of Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, had its way with us.
See, the DJ started playing some LBC stuff, and not the typical stuff that everyone knows, it was the DEEP CUTS from the obscure albums – this LB kid lost his mind, yelling lyrics, “dancing”. It was at that point that I think… that I KNOW Kia needed to get to know this tall, grey, boring-looking-but-rapping-LB-gangster-tap-word-for-word, a little better.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9LPRPAJmk/
We continued the night at “Cafeteria”, an NYC staple, and just continued to talk. On the cab ride back over to my hotel, the conversation continued and we knew that we needed to exchange info so we could keep talking.
The conversation continued daily via email at first, then text, then phone/video chatting for a year until we decided together that LB was going to be the place we were going to be together. This decision was heavily based on the fact that I had just started ACF and we were doing well.
Pretty quickly after Kia moved out here, we got engaged (at what used to be Asha’s Mediterranean). We knew we wanted to get married back in NYC and when we were looking at venues we found a place that had a beautiful exterior and an inside that used to be “eh”. That’s right, we ended up getting married at the same place we met – Diety.