Be GOOD and GREAT
The inspiration for Working Your Best Life began in earnest in 2005, when I co-founded Red Stamp, a correspondence platform on a mission to make relationships stronger, one tweet/test/post/card at a time. With over 2 million users and 10 million cards sent, Red Stamp was best known for its award-winning app and was acquired in 2013 by Taylor Corporation, one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. I served as CEO until 2016.
My next entrepreneurial adventure was to co-launch Bright Health (now NeueHealth NEUE), where as the founding Chief Marketing Officer, I collaborated with health insurance veterans to craft people-first mission, vision, insights, benefits, and values within the health insurance landscape to drive top tier recruitment in years one and two. Not all ventures can be a smashing success, but I am now thankful to say I learned a lot about what to look for (and what to look out for) in a team and venture.
My years entrenched in the highs and lows of start-ups, exits, raises, and scaling combined with early years in the Fortune 500 all came together to launch the Best Day workshop at the life-changing ModernWell. Best Day is a practice that can and should be applied to every area of life, particularly business. The work is rich with helpful daily discoveries. Identifying the way things are and should be. Alignment. Synchronicity. When put into practice, you will discover what it means to Work Your Best Life.
Currently, you can find me creating day-making experiences that spark chain reactions of GOOD at Caribou Coffee. As Chief Brand and Marketing Officer, my team and I hold ourselves accountable for how Caribou's brand comes to life across all touch points while keeping team, guests, and our global community as central guideposts.
You’ll also find me advising life-changing entrepreneurs at TurnSignl (Independent Board Member), Omnia Fishing (Advisory Board), and ModernWell (Advisory Board). I am so grateful.
Full consumer work includes award-winning brand management at General Mills and Kaplan. I received my MBA in Marketing + Operations from Indiana University Kelley School of Business, a BA in Journalism from Drake University, and earned a Certificate of French Studies from the Université Paris at Sorbonne.
Erin is an active speaker, mentor, advisor, and board member. An advocate of global stewardship, Erin and her husband enjoy traveling the world to visit family and friends, including her son who is enrolled in the international business program at Northeastern University School of Business.
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Highlighted Press
National Restaurant News, interview with NRN’s managing editor Leigh Anne Zinsmeister
CMO Weekly explores the journeys of top Chief Marketing Officers
Clicks2Bricks, a multi-location leadership podcast with Rob Reed of SOCi
How Caribou Coffee is Seeking Sustainability, by Susie Eaton Hopper (Edina Magazine)
Erin Newkirk of Caribou Coffee on how to Take Your Company from Good to Great, an interview with Ben Ari at Authority Magazine
New Brand Strategy Leader Brings Entrepreneurial Energy to Caribou Coffee (Star Tribune) & Caribou Coffee Hires Serial Entrepreneur (TCB)
By All Means Podcast, A Conversation with Allison Kaplan, Editor-in-Chief of TCBMag
The TCB 100: People to Know in 2019
How to Schedule for Maximum Output. Twin Cities Business
Minne Inno’s 2019 ‘Inno on Fire’ Winner
Bright Health named to Forbes’ Next Billion Dollar Start-Up List
$160MM Series B Raise @ Bright Health
Red Stamp named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Brilliant Companies” as a “Company that [is] identifying and solving the problems we face every day."
Finalist in Martha Stewart’s inaugural American Made Awards
Professor for Fast Company's 30 Second MBA
Honored recipient Forty Over 40
Power Moves: Technology as a platform
Selected by EU's Global Board Ready Women initiative
Mentor for Target + Techstars Retail Accelerator
Author .net Magazine (UK) "The 5 Traits of Killer Apps"