Erica Williams Simon is an award-winning narrative strategist, author, creative and interviewer. As the founder and former Head of Snapchat’s Creator’s Lab, Erica creates content and drives soulful conversations that help a diverse, digital native generation tell new stories about “who we are and how we want to live”.

She is currently Co-Founder and Principal of Story Strategy Group, a strategic consulting firm that helps mission driven organizations use story and narrative to tackle big challenges and make real-world change.

A passionate speaker, facilitator and storyteller, through her company Sage House, Erica uses her voice to create digital and in-person experiences that surface deep wisdom for work, social impact and spiritual formation.

Her first book, You Deserve the Truth, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2019 and puts the power of story back into the hands of the people, exploring how to engage with the dominant cultural narratives of our time to build an authentic life worth living.

Previously, Simon worked as Senior Editor and Creative Director of Upworthy.com and as a guest columnist for TIME.com. Before moving to a career in media, she spent nearly a decade in Washington D.C. at the nation’s premier progressive think tank, Center for American Progress, and the country’s oldest civil and human rights coalition, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, developing innovative Millennial engagement programs on key social issues.  For her social impact work, Simon was named one of Politico’s Top 50 Politicos to Watch, an NAACP’s 40 under 40, a world Economic Forum Global Shaper, and an Aspen Institute Ideas Fellow. 

Erica received the O magazine Women Rule Leadership Award has also been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and ESSENCE magazine. Simon, a self-proclaimed “armchair theologian” and preacher’s daughter for life, spent 10 years as adjunct faculty at Auburn Seminary training clergy on media and storytelling and serves on the board of ColorofChange.org and Cinereach. As much as she loves all of this work, her greatest joy is spending as much time as possible making memories with her husband and baby boy.