Meet the face
behind the posts:
Erik Mario Austin

Businessman, Actor, Director, Set Designer, Accountability Coach, Artist, Author, and Philanthropist—Erik Austin wears many hats with style and purpose. Originally from Portage, Indiana, Erik’s creative journey began at the age of five, staging “basement shows” with costumed family members as his first cast. After graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC, Erik and his theater company. Kelrik Productions, took the plunge to the big city of Los Angeles. There, Kelrik was honored as “Best Children’s Theater” by LA Parent magazine.

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When not producing or directing shows, Erik can be found teaching theater workshops across California, decorating homes for the holidays, or diving into his visual art projects.

He is the author of the memoir Stripped, along with Popular Toothpaste, The Sadness, and is the proud creator of The Straight T Blog, where he combines personal storytelling and accountability coaching to inspire growth and spark change.

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Erik is a strong believer in owning and embracing everything that has happened to you. He believes that if people want you to say nice things about them, they should be nice and respectful. Your experiences are your own, and you should be able to mold them into stories that belong uniquely to you. Erik believes it is a real strength to own something horrible that has happened to you; to go from hiding a shameful secret to being able to say, “hey, this is my story, I got through it and I’m okay.” He  finds bravery in people who are able to talk about their experiences openly. He finds courage and beauty in being honest and talking about things that happened to them.

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