Short Bio
Erika Stallings is a music industry attorney, health advocate and writer. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and O Magazine. She is also a frequent speaker on issues relating to intellectual property law, women’s health and the experience of black women in the workplace.
Longer Bio
Erika Stallings is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she was the recipient of a Morehead-Cain scholarship and Georgetown University Law Center. She spent six years in private practice focusing on intellectual property litigation and trademark prosecution and enforcement before moving in-house to work at Broadcast Music, Inc, the largest performance rights organization in the United States. She currently serves as the co-chair for the Associates Board for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. She has been a featured speaker at the New York State Bar Association, the National Bar Association and the MONDO Music Conference.
In 2014, Erika underwent genetic testing and learned that she had inherited a BRCA2 mutation, a hereditary cancer mutation that significantly elevates the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. She underwent a preventative mastectomy in December 2014. Her experience led her to research disparities in breast cancer outcomes between black and white women and she has become a speaker and patient advocate for increasing awareness of hereditary breast cancer among women of color. She has spoken about her experience with BRCA at the New York Junior League, Susan G. Komen of Greater NYC, the Association of Black Women Attorneys and the Basser Center for BRCA. She also serves as the founding co-chair of the Young Leadership Council for the Basser Center for BRCA which has raised over $75,000 to raise money to support research into cancers caused by BRCA mutations. She has written about her experience as a BRCA carrier for the New York Times, The Cut, the Huffington Post, Lifetime, HelloGiggles, and SheKnows.