“All things are connected like the blood that unites us. We do not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

─ Chief Seattle

By Steve Young, for SiouxFalls.Business

Erika Tordsen tells a story about the challenges of being a first-generation college student at the University of South Dakota that ultimately speaks to the power of perseverance and, in a broader sense, to the value of connections.

At times as a senior media and journalism major at USD, she grappled with trying to balance school, work and making sure she kept up with the monthly bills ─ with no safety net or backup plan if things went south.

“That’s how much I struggled in college,” Tordsen, 30, said. “I didn’t have a car. I had to figure out a way to pay my tuition each semester, my phone bill, even other bills I didn’t realize I had. I mean, everything I did, I had to jump through hoops to get.”

That she came out on the other side with a degree and now a job as associate director of alumni engagement at USD is testimony to the indomitable resolve of this daughter of the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

In a state where it’s not uncommon for Native youth to remain on their reservation and either work or pursue other opportunities, Tordsen represents what she sees as a turning of the page on that front.

“I think the success of Native youth going off to college is changing,” she said, and points for example to her husband, Tyler, an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe who is now a state legislator and the president and CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance ─ South Dakota’s largest regional nonprofit economic development organization.

“I feel the access to information (through social media and the internet) has a lot more kids wanting to be successful, or they want to find ways to be successful,” Tordsen said. “I see that with a lot of my classmates from Wagner. A lot of them are successful in their own ways.”

Her success has manifested itself on many fronts. Working with alumni engagement for the USD Foundation and Alumni Association, Tordsen combines her background in digital communications with event planning and connecting in other ways to the diaspora that is USD Nation.

So, for example, there may be an occasion when she’s accommodating alum who are traveling to Vermillion and want a tour of the campus. She might be helping a sorority that is celebrating its 100th anniversary at USD and wants to stage a special event. And with her tribal background, it’s not unusual to find Tordsen working closely with Native recruitment and alumni director John Little, producing communications and pursuing other avenues to reach out to the university’s Native American alum.

“For me, personally, that’s important work … to help John’s efforts to find Native alumni because it hasn’t been the easiest task,” she said.

That doesn’t surprise Michelle Van Maanen, chair of media and journalism at USD. As Tordsen’s adviser during her young friend’s college years, Van Maanen witnessed Tordsen’s growth academically and personally, and continues to keep tabs on her as she ascends the ladder of success in her career.

While Tordsen is engaged with all alumni on a wide range of fronts, Van Maanen understands the young woman’s desire to maintain connections with her fellow tribal USD alum as well.

“She’s cognizant that she represents Native Americans,” Van Maanen said, adding that Tordsen “is very cognizant as well of her ability to be a role model in that regard.”

Interestingly enough, Tordsen said she didn’t grow up immersed in Native traditions. While she attended powwows as a youth and thought they were fun, “some of my first exposures to a lot of spirituality was in college,” she said. “And actually, my husband’s family has really helped me figure out who we are … the traditions, the spirituality.”

What she did come to embrace as a teenager living with her grandparents in Wagner was a steely resolve to pave a positive path forward for herself ─ to get a job while still in high school, to graduate, to go to college and to make the most out of the future that awaited her.

That drive led her to an opportunity at USD called Upward Bound. The program brings high school students from low-income families to campuses during summers with the goal of increasing their graduation rates and potential success at post-secondary institutions.

In fact, the summer after she graduated from Wagner High School, Tordsen spent 12 weeks at the Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer ─ earning college credits while gaining a valuable learning experience and even participating as a tour guide during her internship there.

All that bolstered her belief in herself.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to find a way no matter what, to do what I need to do,’” she said. “And a lot of that, I think, goes back to my earlier struggles. … They really helped me to be who I am now because I don’t take anything for granted.”

Her work with alumni at USD is just the latest stop on a journey of success since she earned her degree. She worked as a reporter at KELO-TV. She has worked in a number of digital marketing jobs, including social media and digital content with The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

Tordsen’s creativity and her way of making people feel comfortable in front of a camera made her a valuable asset at the bank, marketing manager Renata McCain said.

“Erika knew what would resonate with the public,” McCain said. “So what we decided to post on social media was a lot of her brainchild. We’ve been complimented many times from different organizations about our strong social media, and a lot of that was Erika setting some of the stage for us.”

From their work together and from their conversations about Tordsen’s goals and dreams ─ even about her tribal background ─ McCain sees a highly skilled and capable young woman who maybe hasn’t recognized yet the leader in herself.

“I’ve shared with her before how proud I am of her, that she has been able to buck the norm … or at least what people incorrectly assume about tribal life,” McCain said. “She absolutely has the ability to lead.”

Others obviously see that as well because Tordsen was part of the latest cohort in Leadership South Dakota, an effort to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to prepare them to become the next generation of leaders in the state.

Part of building that knowledge was getting to know South Dakota better, Tordsen said, whether it was visiting Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, spending time on a Hutterite colony or simply visiting areas of the state she had never been to before.

But just as important, she added, are the relationships within her cohort that she has forged, the connections with other people who may lead South Dakota one day. Those relationships now play an important part in who she is, Tordsen insists, whether through work or through the volunteer opportunities she has pursued: as a board member on the South Dakota Board of Educational Telecommunications, which oversees South Dakota Public Broadcasting; on the Lost&Found resource development committee; or volunteering with Feeding South Dakota and South Dakota Cares.

She said she also has made important connections with others through the simple act of being willing to expose her own vulnerabilities. For example, she has on occasion shared with others the challenges and lack of resources she faced during her teenage and high school years in Wagner. She also has written about the postpartum blues she endured after her son Emmett was born in March 2020. That story appeared in September 2023 on Lost&Found, a partnership with the South Dakota Humanities Council that told stories about 30 South Dakotans who have faced and overcome adversity resulting from mental health challenges.

She said the loneliness and isolation after the birth of her son brought a dark time to her, especially because friends and family weren’t able to help with her newborn during the pandemic and because the fear of coronavirus was a constant worry.

She thought she was alone. The flood of messages and comments after her story published told her otherwise and reinforced in her the value of sharing and staying connected.

“So then I thought about what it means to be vulnerable in a leadership position,” Tordsen said. “I think it means being very transparent, opening up about how you feel about something. Admitting you’re wrong. Maybe just being a little more than a statue when you’re talking to somebody and letting them in a little bit … being open to their communication and feedback.”

What better way to test that theory than starting a side gig when she’s not working at USD. When COVID had her homebound in the summer of 2020, Tordsen began making cakes and other goodies at home. What would people think of that, she wondered? Would they even like them?

As she dabbled in wedding cakes, birthday cakes, graduation cakes and more, friends and family responded enthusiastically. Erika’s House of Cakes was born.

Its growth now by word of mouth has been so steady that Tordsen and her husband actually have fantasized about moving the venture out of their home and to a storefront one day with a small coffee shop attached to it.

“Yeah, there have been talks about doing that,” she said. “But probably not any time soon.”

One day? Maybe. For now, she’s satisfied with the work of making connections at USD with all its alumni. She’s satisfied to be a mother to their young sons, Emmitt and Atlas, and to be there for her husband should he decide to turn his job as a state legislator into something more.

Certainly, a storefront someday is nice to dream about, she said. And since becoming a mother, her compassion for children has grown even more as well. So the possibility of being a foster parent to young children is also on her dream list for down the road.

For now, though, doing the best job she can at the USD Foundation and Alumni Association is enough. That and building connections and, in the process, living a life that she hopes will help make South Dakota a better place.

“I really do think she is a big-picture thinker,” McCain said. “If people pay attention to that name, they’re going to see her growing in the public eye as she continues to mature and age. She’s laying the groundwork now. I truly believe she’s going to be great.”