Best Person for the Job: Erica Larson

Erica Larson knows that even the best ideas need a good strategy to succeed. As Co-Founder and Principal of Pixel Power, a Cleveland-based strategic communications and web design firm, she helps businesses, associations, and nonprofits connect their work with audiences. 

Since co-founding Pixel Power in 2015, Erica has built a career bringing together marketing, communications, and operations to help organizations grow. She’s also a member of NAWIC Cleveland Chapter 156, where she serves on the Board of Directors. 

Her work with NAWIC is especially meaningful because it combines her professional expertise with her commitment to helping more women discover opportunities in construction. 

Erica didn’t grow up planning a career in the building trades. Instead, her interests in sustainability and communications eventually opened that door. 

While attending an undergraduate university sustainability event, she learned about a design-build firm. Later, an engineer she’d met through networking reached out about an opportunity in the company’s energy services department. The position brought together Erica’s communications experience and environmental interests. 

The firm worked with schools, universities, and government facilities on projects involving energy efficiency, water conservation and sustainable buildings. Erica helped communicate the value of that work through marketing, blogging, and social media. 

“Construction wasn’t a career path I had planned, but it connected my skills with something I cared about,” she says. That experience helped her recognize just how many different skills the industry needs, including those that aren’t traditionally associated with building. 

Ask Erica what she enjoys most about her work, and she’ll tell you it’s seeing the big picture and figuring out how all the pieces fit together. “I love getting the pieces in place in ways that meet a common goal.”  

It’s a skill she puts to work every day at Pixel Power. Too often, she finds organizations working in silos. One person manages the website, another handles social media, and sales teams create their own materials. Everyone works hard, but their efforts aren’t always connected. 

Erica helps organizations eliminate those disconnects, creating coordinated communications that lead people from initial interest to meaningful action.

Of all her professional accomplishments, Erica places building Pixel Power at the top. Along the way she has developed skills in financial management, proposals, contracts, and operations, giving her a deeper understanding of what clients need to succeed. 

“What makes me proudest is seeing our work implemented and helping other organizations move forward,” she says. 

One particularly rewarding part of that work has been Pixel Power’s partnership with NAWIC. Working closely with NAWIC’s national office, her team supports the organization through ongoing website work and the design of Industry Impact magazine. 

As a NAWIC member herself, Erica appreciates the opportunity to help tell the stories of women whose accomplishments and leadership deserve greater recognition. The partnership also introduced her to an organization she eventually joined, allowing her to build relationships with women throughout the industry. 

Erica remains passionate about the environmental interests that first brought her into construction. She’s particularly excited about opportunities to connect the built and natural environments through energy efficiency, water conservation, responsible material choices, and healthier indoor spaces. 

Rather than relying on broad sustainability claims, she encourages organizations to explain what they’ve done, emphasize why it matters, and show how it benefits people and communities. 

That kind of clear communication can turn complex technical achievements into stories that build trust and encourage informed decisions.

Erica hopes future generations of women will discover construction careers much earlier than she did. “I’d like to see more women enter the industry because they understand the opportunities available to them,” she says. 

Her advice to young women is to explore those possibilities, ask questions and connect with people already working in the field. “Be curious about where your skills could fit,” she encourages. “You don’t have to grow up around construction or study it in school to be a valuable contributor.” 

Looking ahead, Erica plans to expand Pixel Power’s work with associations and nonprofits, including more NAWIC chapters nationwide. 

Her goal is to help these organizations attract members, encourage participation, and create stronger communities. And if her own career proves anything, it’s that sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you never knew existed.