2024 UAPCS Charter School Conference

Keynote Speaker


Erin Stafford

Figure It Out without Burning Out

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Erin is inspired not just by those on the cover of glossy magazines or the accomplishments of iconic leaders, but by everyday people who face challenges, are open, honest, and vulnerable about their setbacks and then pull themselves up to rise again and attain even greater heights. She’s inspired by these people because she’s one of them. 

Erin has blazed a trail of action-oriented success fueled by trial and error, bold decisions and unwavering self-confidence. Her figure-it-out mentality has shaped her career journey from being a fledgling public relations intern to a high-powered marketing executive at a hyper-growth company. 

Erin is a multi-faceted, marketing jack-of-all-trades. Her career has stretched from Paris and London to LA and San Diego. As an MTV advertising executive, she’s worked with the world’s biggest brands including Apple, Nike, Coke and American Express. As a celebrity stylist and fashion journalist, she’s dressed celebs for the Emmy’s, Grammy’s, Academy Awards and had her work featured in numerous international publications. As the head of marketing for the biggest healthcare staffing company in the country, Erin led marketing for the largest deployment of healthcare personnel in history while helping to grow the company by 9x in two years. 

In short, Erin has surrounded herself with some of the most motivated, ambitious, famous overachievers in the world for her entire, diverse career – people at the highest levels of success, but who often think burnout is something that happens to weak people, lazy people, those people, not high achievers like them. Yet leaders in all sectors today are suffering from severe cases of burnout as they struggle to make sense of the pandemic, the pressures it put on their personal and professional lives and the new normal it’s created. 

Using lessons gleaned from her distinct career and interviews with dozens of high achievers from all walks of life, Erin shares impactful and inspiring mindset shifts for leaders to move from exhaustion and burnout to kicking ass and thriving again. Ultimately, Erin helps businesses revitalize their workforce by providing them with tools and tactics to sustain peak performance without burning out. Leaders experience a renewed excitement and engagement in their work and personal lives. 

Erin’s insights have been called upon by The Wall Street Journal, MSN, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Style Network, The Orange County Register and a host of other global media outlets and organizations. 

Erin holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, UK and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has two different colored eyes, plays tennis poorly a few times a week to make up for her love of wine and cheese, loves to sing and knows the words to pretty much every song ever written.