40 Kelly Erickson: project manager, creative studio owner, artist

Kelly Erickson leads Wild Horse Heart Consulting & Creative, where she helps mission-driven teams turn complex ideas into clear plans, simple systems, and meaningful learning experiences. 

At her core she’s a connector of people, ideas, and words, using sketchnotes and visual maps to align teams, invite collaboration, and make hard things easier to talk about. 

She lives in North Central Washington, where she tends a small orchard and keeps a stack of horse books close by.

Connect with Kelly through her website and on LinkedIn.

www.wildhorseheart.com

www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-erickson-pmp

Kathie’s note: I met Kelly through Caveday.org, where she is a guide and a participant. I can't remember which title she was using, haha, the first time I saw her smiling face, but she is known in that community for beaming out a lot of positivity. And I do love a good beam! Plus, she's a multifaceted entrepreneur, so what's not to love?

Writers Rotation intro/outro recorded at Dynamix Productions in Lexington, Kentucky.

Transcript

Kelly [00:00:00]:
I'm Kelly Erickson, a human-centered project manager and learning architect and creative studio owner. Words are one of my favorite ways to make challenging things easier to talk about.

INTRO [00:00:09]:
Hi, welcome to the Writers Rotation podcast. I'm your host, Kathie Stamps. I love words and writing and people and talking. So I'm talking to people who write all kinds of things in different professions. It's a Writers Rotation. 

Kathie [00:00:26]:
Kelly!

Kelly [00:00:27]:
Hi, Kathie.

Kathie [00:00:28]:
How you doing?

Kelly [00:00:28]:
Fabulous. Are you kidding? I'm here with you.

Kathie [00:00:31]:
You're fun. Also, you're an artist.

Kelly [00:00:35]:
Yeah, aren’t we all in our own way?

Kathie [00:00:37]:
Sure. But you do art-art.

Kelly [00:00:40]:
I do. I just think it’s anything that wasn't in creation until you created it.

Kathie [00:00:46]:
Oh, I love it. I want to talk about your business, your company.

Kelly [00:00:52]:
All right.

Kathie [00:00:53]:
Wild Horse Heart.

Kelly [00:00:55]:
Yes. Yes. So I grew up around horses. Like on horses. I was, I have pictures of me on a horse, like a full-size horse, when I was like 2 years old, maybe a little less. And I asked my mother, I'm like, what were you doing? Like, mom, was that safe? No, she was right there. But I have been around horses all my life.

Kathie [00:01:18]:
Where was this?

Kelly [00:01:19]:
Washington State.

Kathie [00:01:21]:
Because I'm in Kentucky and, you know, we know our horses around here.

Kelly [00:01:26]:
Yes. I thought that was going to be my career, Kathie. Like veterinarian, horse trainer, breeder, and I have been in and out of that. But horses, I don't have any right now, but I have for most of my life had horses in my presence. So Wild Horse Heart to me is about, there's a steadiness and a courage that I see and feel in my body when I think about horses and what I feel from them. And then there's this wild part that I think we should never lose, because to me there's the keeping it alive and enriching, there's magic in the movements in that freedom. And I would say I'd much rather work with a horse who's got a little too much go, a little too much energy than a horse that doesn't.

Kelly [00:02:13]:
Because you can direct and flow with energy. But yes, there's room for creativity and all of those things when we keep a little bit of that wildness. So that is an ode and an honor to that and something that embodies the way I try to show up and show up with and for others in the work.

Kathie [00:02:29]:
I love it. And ‘26, the year of the horse!

Kelly [00:02:33]:
Yeah, let's do it. Of course in my book every year is the year of the horse.

Kathie [00:02:37]:
Of course. And what do you do?

Kelly [00:02:40]:
So Wild Horse Heart is showing up in different ways. I'm a learning architect, instructional designer, really looking at the strategy and helping people think about the story they want to tell when they want someone to do, believe, know, act differently. That's one piece. And then I sit at this intersection of the learning and development, project management and also community building.

Kathie [00:03:05]:
Wow.

Kelly [00:03:05]:
So that's kind of the arc. The other side door, which is the more exciting one, is the artful side that you named up front. Because I wanted to make space. When I reopened consulting again after a transition this summer, I was working full-time, then the economy and I was then working for a nonprofit in the antiharassment space. So of course they're going to be targeted and not a great, you know, time. And so when I reopened space for consulting, I was like I also want to do all these little side things that I'm already doing. I just illustrated a book.

Kelly [00:03:41]:
And I am working on another one. I am doing a custom artful planner where things are not in squares. It's in a round, and it's beautiful. And the book I just did was about fermentation.

Kathie [00:03:57]:
Okay.

Kelly [00:03:58]:
And guts. And so never have I ever, until now, drawn a watercolor illustration of the Bristol poop chart.

Kathie [00:04:09]:
Totally sounds fun.

Kelly [00:04:11]:
We're having fun.

Kathie [00:04:11]:
That's awesome. So left brain, right brain, project management, art. But they're not as far apart as we think. I've always thought of 1 and 180 that you can meet in the middle around 89, 91.

Kelly [00:04:25]:
Yes.

Kathie [00:04:25]:
It doesn't have to be opposite.

Kelly [00:04:29]:
I think they're good partners. I think sometimes, where would I be if I was all right brain. I would need somebody who's thinking differently to help me. I think about the reins, you know, we're on this horse theme, and depending on if you're riding Western or English. I'm going with English and we have a rein in each hand and there's this, there's something that happens when they move in unison and there's a little bit of tension on both that enables you to engage the drive forward with some power and momentum and focus and fun all at the same time. I would not want to be a serious project manager. Like I can show up in serious spaces.

Kelly [00:05:13]:
But I'm also going to have some fun. And we're going to engage on the way because you can just plow through something, but I don't know, not my style. You might leave a wake behind you, you know, things burning left and right. It is about the goal of getting there. But I'm also a super processed person and I just want to enjoy the journey a little bit on the way.

Kathie [00:05:34]:
We never lose the creativity. You know, adding structure and systems and all that does not deplete or diminish the creativity at all.

Kelly [00:05:45]:
No. Amen. I will say that I came to project management as an official portion of my career, as a skill set. I think because I was a little on the wild side and found that in order to show up the way I wanted to and to have the impact the way I wanted in business and in life, I needed a bit more structure and accountability and some of those things. And found that I really enjoyed project management and found joy in that and showing up in the human-centered design aspect and because humans are important and if you're working with someone and you don't like requirements, gathering what they actually want instead of what they tell you they want because they may not know. And to go through that exploration with them is a bit art along with the science or the structure around it. And so for me it has been my own lifesaver and I think a joyful way to be able to be in both. And they work.

Kelly [00:06:46]:
They're such good partners. I love it.

Kathie [00:06:48]:
What kind of clients do you work with?

Kelly [00:06:50]:
I love working with folks who care about their work. So generally that tends to be mission-driven or values-driven people who are open to the creative side. So small to medium nonprofits, individuals. I am right now doing some community building and strategy for an influencer/author and that's a lot of fun. So someone who I say appreciates the process as much as getting there.

Kelly [00:07:21]:
And also just needs me. So the folks who tend to need me the most, the place where I can be of the most service, I believe, is folks where I can have a broad reach. Because I have the gift of being able to see and make connections. So being able to look at what's happening in different places. A strategic, I say cartographer because I also think in mind maps, all the glass boards in my house are full and wiped out and full again daily. And so just being able to make connections for folks when they are deep in the work. Someone to come in and see a little more broadly but also be able to pull on the different threads to help them get where they're going.

Kathie [00:08:04]:
That's very good. Do you have a favorite app or software, tech that helps you keep track of things?

Kelly [00:08:12]:
Oh, yes. I'm always leaning into what clients are working in, so I am fortunate to have a lot of different experience. And, you know, the world of apps is kind of booming right now, and I'm working with another company that is an AI startup in the health industry, doing something really cool and helping them set up their operations and thinking about streamlining and customer enablement. And so I'm really enjoying leaning into those spaces. I'd actually like to build something. My husband and I have been talking this week about, you know, a little bit of that vibe coding, where you're like, you know what's missing, and I need to do some more exploration.

Kelly [00:08:49]:
I don't know if there might be other folks already in this work, but it’s just an exciting time. I'm also watching this thing about essentialism. I don't know if you know the book or the theory. I'd have to find the author, but.

Kathie [00:09:04]:
I forgot his name.

Kelly [00:09:05]:
The image that struck me. Hold on, I'll tell you. Greg McKeown. Essentialism. And the image that struck me that really jumped out was, there's this visual of it kind of looks like a sun because it's a circle, and it has a little arrow going out like half an inch in all these different directions all the way around. And the concept is that I feel a lot. I can go in a lot of different directions. That's me and my energy and my focus, and I can be a little bit everywhere.

Kelly [00:09:34]:
And honestly, I think you can do some great things in that space. Great. And, if you want to go far in a direction and perhaps have greater impact, you got to shore up all those lines and say no to a bunch of things. Focus your energy in that line. But the same amount of effort and energy gets you way far.

Kathie [00:09:52]:
I know, but I have too many interests. I want to do everything.

Kelly [00:09:58]:
I would say you can do. You can do everything. You just can't do everything at once. We have to make choices. I don't think there's a right or wrong there. I just think there's a decision around thinking about what's the impact? Where do you want to show up? What feels like play? What is joyful to you? And who's to say how you live your life or me mine, or anybody, is right, wrong, good, bad? We show up into our lives and then we keep showing up, I think is what makes it successful. And however that adaption unfolds, great, beautiful. Go with that.

Kathie [00:10:32]:
Yes. My joy is a nonnegotiable. That's my mantra or my, what's it called? My. That's my manifesto.

Kelly [00:10:40]:
How do you. Well, first of all, I sense from you that that just shines out. It's like who you are that is embodied. I think it's just you, you don't have to work at that.

Kathie [00:10:51]:
Oh, I do work at it.

Kelly [00:10:53]:
Is there something that you do to help you remember? How do you keep that core?

Kathie [00:10:58]:
So it was actual physical practice. It's been, oh, at least 10 years now. I call it smile therapy. I would just be sitting there at night watching TV and I would just smile. And it hurts! When you do it for more than two seconds if you're not used to it, because you know the resting face, and then when you use muscles, the muscles have names. They're actual muscles in the face and in the eyes.

Kathie [00:11:28]:
So I practiced. I practiced driving a car, as soon as I put the key in the ignition, I do the seatbelt and I put on this placid sort of a Mona Lisa. It just became part of my game face because I want to put out as many positive or neutral molecules in the air as possible. I don't want to add to the negative.

Kelly [00:11:51]:
I love it.

Kathie [00:11:52]:
It is an actual practice. And then as with any practice or exercise, it becomes, you know, a little bit easier and easier. But when I get on a Zoom, I'm just, smile on.

Kelly [00:12:05]:
I love that. I remember thinking early in my, in my career, in my life that I want it to be like, you know, those awesome old ladies, like old people and the wrinkles on their faces. And I wanted to be one whose face is filled with wrinkles, but wrinkles of a good life and the laughing wrinkles and not maybe a sad face wrinkles. And no shade for anybody for how the wrinkles show up. It was a visual for me for when I think about my 80-year-old self or 90-year-old self . I have done this practice and this exercise with my somatics coach, and what does she have to say and what that wisdom that I embrace and embody now, like, what does satisfaction feel like? What is enough now from that looking back perspective? Because the wisdom is inside already. I already know these things, but I needed the visualization to help remind me.

Kathie [00:13:01]:
Oh, that sounds amazing. And your somatics coach. This is like more than just working out with a trainer.

Kelly [00:13:09]:
Yes. Body-based leadership coaching.

Kathie [00:13:12]:
Oh, wow.

Kelly [00:13:12]:
Her name's Tracy ReKart. I actually did a post about her on LinkedIn, which I have never done before because I got to meet her in person. 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kelly-erickson-pmp_somaticleadership-embodiedwisdom-leadershipdevelopment-activity-7399162895558717440-wsL0

Most of the work I've done has been virtual amazing. She has courses and one-on-one sessions and all of that. And it has been a little transformational because, you may know this, but I'm a thinking person. As humans, we use our heads and our brains a lot. I'm always thinking and yeah, that's where I kind of live.

Kelly [00:13:40]:
And so these connections to the bodily sensations and then the feelings and discovering what's happening on the inside that is showing up like our beliefs and what's happening inside shows up whether we're aware of it or not. So let's be aware of it and bring things out. And there's ways to get unstuck. My coach Tracy talks about, it's a little bit of getting to the unconscious through a back door. You can't just show up because the brain's like, ah, I got this, I have an answer. And we need that part to step aside a little bit.

Kelly [00:14:14]:
So there's some meditation, there's some imagination, there's some deep work that happens and the things that have come up have been surprising and awesome and I feel it in my body and how I show up as a leader, as a human in the world on the other side of that. It's a practice. It's been pretty life changing.

Kathie [00:14:37]:
Oh wow, that does sound amazing.

Kelly Erickson [00:14:39]:
Yes. And I'm a college opt out.

Kathie [00:14:42]:
Oh.

Kelly Erickson [00:14:43]:
I studied anthropology, which I love. No degree. And it's funny because I love education, I love learning. I've written curricula or supported—I haven't done anything by myself. I love collaborations. And there's not a four-year period in my life that I would trade out. I love my life. And so constantly learning and reading, and I would go to school now even, but yeah, that's that history.

Kelly Erickson [00:15:14]:
Early in my career I actually fell into learning and development. Not literally, but almost. I actually worked for the California Correctional System for a while in the training office. The medical with staff would come teach the new officers coming in, the new correctional staff, but they wouldn't show up, at that time, unless there were five or more. And it created a real challenge. And I sat there, I went, huh? What does it take to teach this class? So I did a little bit of research and told my lieutenant.

Kelly Erickson [00:15:44]:
I'm like, hey, by the way, you could go get this training and teach bloodborne pathogens and universal precautions on your own. You don't need to search out (certifications). You don't need them to do it legally. And so he said, great, go to that class and go do that. And I was like, all right, perfect. So I did. I love facilitating and being with a class and learners, and I got to keep training and to be a master trainer with the Department of Corrections, and then just continued on that path of learning and certifications and practicing and doing all the things to lead training and facilitation and graphic facilitation. Good times.

Kathie [00:16:18]:
Cool. What does writing and communication look like for you now, professionally and personally?

Kelly Erickson [00:16:25]:
Words are so important. When I'm holding space, words can be inclusive, they can be inviting, or they can be alienating. So there's the planning part of that, which is, for me, thoughtful. And then also live situations that happen where if I'm serving as a facilitator, holding that space, I'm responsible for that space.

Kelly Erickson [00:16:52]:
I will also say I am graphic. I mind map. I don't think linearly. I paint when I'm creating, I don't focus in on just one thing. I'm a little over here and a little over there, and you pull the pieces all together, and it's all the things that it should be.

Kathie [00:17:10]:
I love the mind map. We used to call it ballooning, because you would draw a little circle and little lines that look like balloons.

Kelly Erickson [00:17:18]:
There are different gifts that show up in different ways for folks. My husband, I swear he gets revelations while he writes. He'll have an idea, and he begins to write, and it pours out and it evolves while he's writing. And I don't work in full sentences. And so mine, like, our stuff looks very different. Eventually, a lot of my work gets fleshed out in ways that other people could read and interpret and understand in paragraphs, et cetera. But it's interesting to me to see how both of those contain words, but they're entirely different formats and ways of getting them out of us and into whatever space they're supposed to be in. Whether digestible for someone else or tucked away in our private journals or who knows.

Kathie [00:18:03]:
Fabulous. What are you reading these days?

Kelly Erickson [00:18:06]:
I am in five or six different books as always. Nonviolent Communication by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg has been a staple for a bit. I am still reading that. And I’ve actually pulled together two different communities of practice, like book clubs, around it. One is with family, which has absolutely transformed the way we connect, communicate, being able to ask for what you need in a way that is life-giving and honest. And then also another group of journeyers, sojourners on the road of continuous learning and development. So that's been a big one. That's like twice a week I'm in that. I got my fingers in a lot of other things. What about you? What are you reading right now?

Kathie [00:18:50]:
I just read the cheap trash novels a lot.

Kelly Erickson [00:18:53]:
Cheap trash novels.

Kathie [00:18:54]:
I read a lot of novels in audiobooks. Always have something going.

Kelly Erickson [00:19:02]:
I want to write a children's, write and illustrate a children's book or a series.

Kathie [00:19:06]:
Do it.

Kelly Erickson [00:19:07]:
I don't really care if anybody buys it. I just want to put it out there.

Kathie [00:19:11]:
Just go for it.

Kelly Erickson [00:19:12]:
We grew up on this little farm and we have all of these stories. I mean like some wild and then some little simple, funny. And I thought wouldn't that be a great kids book?

Kathie [00:19:20]:
Yes.

Kelly Erickson [00:19:20]:
And also with the grandkids and like just a memory. I mean my mom's still here, right? But what lives on and even just something cherished to take off the shelf and look at that just feels like such a treasure.

Kathie [00:19:33]:
Do it!

Kelly Erickson [00:19:32]:
You got me thinking about words when you invited me in here, language and words. I started thinking about the household I grew up in and how we were a huge look it up in the dictionary. But there was always some help to get there. And we had a word of the week and I remember that my dad who worked with metal as a sheet metal and very talented man in a lot of things with his hands, mechanics, he made this heavy metal sign that he crafted and cut out and welded on the word “perseverance.” I was in grade school and I remember it being a thing. There was an activity and it was on the wall and we talked about it and I just thought how grateful I am for that and what a beautiful thing. I was thinking about, oh, what are your favorite words and how do those impact how you show up? And that was really inspired by you and this invitation. So I just want to say thank you.

Kathie [00:20:23]:
And where is the perseverance heavy metal now?

Kelly Erickson [00:20:26]:
I wish I knew. I don't think it's still around.

Kathie [00:20:28]:
I would have to look up how to spell it because I don't know my -ance from my -ence words.

Kelly Erickson [00:20:35]:
Nor do you need to. We are so resourced these days.

Kathie [00:20:38]:
Oh yes. Kelly, thanks so much for being here today and talking.

Kelly Erickson [00:20:42]:
It was lovely. And yeah, you're just an awesome human to hang out with. Talk to you soon.

Kathie [00:20:47]:
See ya.

Kelly Erickson [00:20:47]:
Bye.

OUTRO [00:20:47]:
Thanks for listening to this episode of Writers Rotation. Like and subscribe for more. And remember, writing is a marketable skill. Smiling is a remarkable skill.