She received her Bachelor's degree at Simon Fraser University, Canada, in 2003 before completing her MSc and PhD with Tony Farrell at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She then completed postdocs with Frank Seebacher at the University of Sydney, Steve Cooke at Carleton University, Canada, and Scott Hinch at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Erika gave the Cameron Award Lecture at the annual Canadian Society of Zoologists meeting in 2013.