"Evolution", Because There Is No Final Version

When we asked Erlinda to describe womanhood in one word, she landed on something that says everything about how she moves through the world.

"I think of evolution," she told us. "There are a lot of different phases in my life, different seasons. As life throws new things at me, as I meet new people, as new challenges pop up, there's just a new version of me every single time."

For Erlinda, womanhood was never a fixed identity. It was never about arriving somewhere. It started with one version of herself in her family home, shifted when she went to college and encountered things she'd never seen before, and has kept changing ever since. "Being independent, being on my own, really starting to figure out who I was," she said. "That's what brought me to a new definition."

She grew up in an immigrant Asian household, watching her older cousins navigate the balance between their cultural roots and a Western world that didn't always leave room for both. "I got to see them in different capacities," she said. "And really just being able to navigate that space shaped me early."

What Her Days Actually Look Like

Erlinda's calendar, she'll tell you, doesn't tell the whole story.

On paper, she's a Vice President at an advertising agency, leading people initiatives, culture work, and the intersection of DE&I with the creative output of the agency. Her days are full of meetings, strategy, and the kind of complex, messy problems she genuinely loves to solve.

But between the calendar holds? That's where the rest of her life lives. Cooking new recipes. Exploring restaurants. Traveling. Listening to music. Showing up for her friends' kids at recitals and birthday parties. And more recently, stepping into a new and significant role: caregiver to her mom as she navigates the challenges that come with aging.

"I had always envisioned caregiving to be more task-oriented," she said. "Reminders, appointments, bills. But as time's gone on, I've realized it's so much more than that." What she didn't anticipate was the emotional weight of it, the role of being a sounding board, being present, helping someone she loves figure out a new stage of life. "That role wasn't something I thought about previously," she said. "I didn't fully realize it until I stepped into it."

The Anchor People Don't Know They're Leaning On

Erlinda has a word for the role she plays in the lives of the people around her: anchor.

"Being an anchor means showing up consistently," she said. "Whether it's the good or the bad, really empowering people to figure out what's next, meeting them where they're at." She's the person her friends call for career advice, for life advice, for the honest answer they're not going to get anywhere else. "I think people come to me because they know I'm a little more raw," she said with a smile. "I'll tell them directly how things are."

She's also become, in her words, the "bonus mom" to the next generation around her. Showing up for her friends' kids. Pushing them in ways their parents sometimes can't. Helping build their confidence. "I fill a gap sometimes," she said. "And I've found that I'm really good at helping people see things in themselves they haven't seen before."

The Face People See and the Person Behind It

Erlinda knows how she can come across when people first meet her. She's not shy about it.

"I know I have a resting bitch face. I'm very well aware of that," she said, laughing. "I think most people see me as a little standoffish, a little intense. But I do have a softness. I have a nurturing side, a caring side. Most people wouldn't know that about me."

What's interesting is how she's made peace with that gap between first impression and deeper truth. She doesn't try to soften her edges to make herself more approachable. "If you can crack it," she said, "then we've actually built a real connection. I'm never going to shy away from how I look or how I am. But if you get there, it means something."

Ambition That Finally Became Her Own

Erlinda grew up with the bar set high. In her household, ambition wasn't a choice. It was the expectation. "There was a lot of pressure to live out your parents' dreams," she said. And for a while, that's exactly what she was doing.

"When I really tried to do it for them, it didn't feel authentic," she said. "That was probably when I wasn't doing things well." It wasn't until she started owning her ambition for herself that everything shifted. "When I started to really claim it, that's when I started to see a difference."

She brings that same lens to her career advice. She's navigated tech, sports, and fast-paced agency environments. Women come to her asking how to break into rooms that weren't built for them, how to hold their ground without losing themselves. Her answer always comes back to the same thing: know who you are before you walk in.

"I would tell my younger self to be more of myself," she said. "When I started letting go of trying to model what I thought I was supposed to look like, and started showing up as myself, everything changed. People valued what I brought to the table. It came naturally."

The Work That Won't Let Her Clock Out

As someone who leads DE&I work professionally, Erlinda carries a particular kind of weight that doesn't stay at the office.

"There is not a moment, not a day, not an instance where I'm not forced to think about all the different injustices, all the different challenges that people are being faced," she said. "Before, I may have been able to separate myself from work a little more. But now, given the lay of the land, there is no separation."

She said it plainly, not as a complaint, just as the reality of what it means to do this work right now. The world makes it personal. And she shows up anyway.

A Trip to Thailand That Changed Everything

One of the most quietly powerful moments Erlinda shared was about the first time she traveled to Thailand, where her family is from.

"I had this romanticized view of what Thailand was," she said. "But when I got there, there was an instant connection I didn't realize would be there. Something familiar, whether it was the food, the sounds. It felt like a second home."

What surprised her most was what the trip gave her in terms of understanding her own mother. Seeing the values her family held playing out in real life, watching the family dynamics up close, helped her understand where her mom was coming from in a way she never had before. "I pushed back a lot less after that," she said. "I had an appreciation that didn't exist before."

On Holding It Together (And What It Actually Takes)

People look at Erlinda and see someone who has it together. And in a lot of ways, she does. But she's clear-eyed about what that actually requires.

"Holding it all together is really about slowing down and being intentional, protecting your time," she said. "When you're reactive to everything, that's when you're not actually holding it together." For her, being stretched too thin has a very physical feeling. She gets flustered. She forgets things. She's not her best. "When I'm stretched, I am definitely crabby," she said with a laugh. "And that's when I know."

The thing she wishes people understood about women who carry a lot? "They also need support." She said it simply but with real weight. "A lot of people think that because she holds everything together, she doesn't need anything. But that's the opposite. You may not need it as often. You're probably not going to ask for it. But don't assume you're fine."

Intentional, Not Effortless

We asked Erlinda about that word that follows women like a shadow. Effortless. She didn't hesitate.

"I actually don't like that word," she said. "It doesn't give weight to the intentionality behind the reasons I do things. I'd like to think that I live a life that's intentional. Everything I do, I show up in a very specific way. The things I do, the things I say, it's all an act of choice."

When she thinks of effortless, she thinks of someone moving through life without direction. That's not who she is. Not even close.

"Womanhood is not one-dimensional," she said. "It's multidimensional. One day can mean one thing. The next day, something different. It's about being able to figure out who you are and being able to navigate."

One season at a time. One evolution at a time.

We're so grateful to Erlinda for sharing her story with us. Her clarity, her depth, and her honesty are a reminder of exactly the kind of woman this series is made to celebrate. Check out her video on our Instagram.