| ASTA’s Erika Richter on How Personal Tragedy Led Her to Fight for Change
Editor’s Note: This episode of Humans of Travel includes discussions on the topics of infant death, child loss and grief.
Erika Richter, the senior director of communications for the American Society of Travel Advisors, (also known as ASTA) has been a tireless advocate for travel advisors. She is well-known in the industry— by travel advisors and suppliers alike — and has spent nearly eight years as a spokesperson for the association. | | | |
| A Michigan native who started her professional career on the Hill in Washington, D.C., Richter spent years gathering experience and honing her skills in advocacy, public relations and communications until a personal tragedy led her to push for a new kind of change.
In this episode of Humans of Travel, Richter recounts the horrific day that changed her life forever — the day she lost her two-week-old daughter, Emma, in August 2018. Richter shares how she spent her time in the months following, including the moment she found out that Emma had died due to positional asphyxiation from Fisher-Price’s Rock ‘n Play Sleeper — an inclined infant sleep product that was recalled in 2019 — and her subsequent fight to hold the CEOs of Fisher-Price and Mattel (the owner of Fisher-Price) accountable, including by providing written and video testimony earlier this year during a Congressional hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. | |
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