Hidden Gems: Meet Erika Gilsdorf

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Gilsdorf.

Erika, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a video producer with a passion for conscious living for our planet and each other (including wildlife). I’ve set out on a year-long road trip to vlog about inspiring people, businesses, and organizations working to drive positive change in their communities. I’m also visiting and showcasing national wildlife refuges and their importance for wildlife, habitat protection, and health and recreation benefits for people and surrounding communities.

I’m sponsored in part by Mitsubishi Motors and am driving the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) to broaden awareness on the importance of electrification in transportation in tackling our climate crisis. I’m also pulling in and living in a tiny house that I had custom built.

I took off from my home state of MN and since Jan 1st have been traveling the Pacific Northwest, down the west coast and lovely desert states, into the Rockies, down south, back up through TN and KY, on to the Midwest, and am now on my final leg on the northeast coast.

It is my hope to inspire others to support those challenging the status quo and take risks to drive change and inspire others to do the same.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Overall thankfully, it’s been a fairly smooth road but it hasn’t come without its challenges of course. I’ve had to learn a lot about tiny house living. I’ve had it flood driving in a downpour (needed a window cover), had my license plate blow off (had to spend three days at a truck stop to get a new one mailed to me), had part of my roof come off (I repaired in a lumber yard parking lot), and have had to learn how to back up and get out of tight spots with a single axle trailer.

They’re trickier than I thought. But, I’ve received some good lessons along the way. As for videography and techie stuff, I’m a producer by trade which means I have much more (much more!) highly skilled people doing all of that so I’ve had to learn a few things. And, if we’re talking social media… that has been a vertical line learning curve. But, thankfully I’ve had great people helping me!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What Fuels You? An Electric Road Trip is a video/vlogging project under my company, South Shore Productions. I started my video production business back in 2007 with zero experience in video but thinking if the video was going to be the way of the future to reach more people, then I better get into video.

I started out with a few small environmental-themed productions and then did a piece for public television on clean energy in the Midwest. After that, I jumped to doing some work funded by National Geographic Wild Chronicles, The World Bank, USAID, The Nature Conservancy, United Airlines, The Department of Natural Resources, and others around environmental protection and sustainable travel.

I’ve since this past year, going out on my own to travel for a year to vlog about great things happening in my own country. It is my hope to continue into future seasons to share more stories and hopefully drives change for our planet.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
I’m always looking for sponsors or donors to help fund time and travel to different communities to share their stories. I’m also always looking for interns to help with story research, and social media strategy, analytics, and assistance. I’m also always interested in finding like-minded partners and collaborators to work with reaching more people with messaging and content.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.whatfuelsyouusa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatfuelsyouusa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatfuelsyouUSA
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgOjNEdhr7Nj7b_Ur_6zjcQ