Erika Clarke has 20 years of experience in producing, writing, directing, and developing content for cable television (MTV, CNN, Bravo, Travel), advertising and PR firms (JWT, Edelman), and other top media/digital brands (Spotify, Red Bull TV, InStyle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar). 

Before entering the television arena, Erika was an editorial assistant for TIME for Kids, as well as a publicity intern for Caroline/Astralwerks Records. The combination of those two jobs led her to the MTV News department where her love of music, pop culture, and journalism were fused.

During her ten years at MTV—rising from intern to supervising producer—she was on the ground floor in the development of the pop culture phenomenon, Cribs. Post MTV, and as a freelance producer/director, she has worked on programming ranging from the premiere season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, to the Travel Channel's adventure/genealogy series, Follow Your Past, and the Peabody award-winning pro-social campaign, CNN Heroes.

In 2016 she was nominated for an Emmy Award as an executive producer on the MTV Look Different documentary, White People, which explored how white millennials view race in the United States. That same year she was the co-executive producer on Prescription For Change: Ending America's Opioid Crisis (MTV Docs), which premiered at the White House in conjunction with the South by South Lawn festival.

In 2018 Erika pivoted to the podcast space where she was an executive producer of original content and podcast development at Spotify Studios. In 2020 she co-led their in-house podcast studio, and in 2021 she joined Apple TV+ as a non-fiction programming executive.

In addition to her work in television and podcasts, Erika produced the short thriller, Empty Bed, written and directed by her husband, Brandt Shandera.  Empty Bed has screened at over 20 festivals in the U.S. and abroad and can now be viewed on Vimeo. Their latest collaboration, Poison, can be viewed here.

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