Meet the face
behind the posts:
Erik Mario Austin
Businessman, Actor, Director, Set Designer, Accountability Coach, Artist, Author, and Philanthropist. Austin hails from Portage Indiana, where he began his career at 5, dressing up family members and putting on “basement shows. ” After graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC, Erik and his theater company. Kelrik Productions, took the plunge to the big city of Los Angeles in 1997 where Kelrik was voted “best children’s theater” by LA Parent magazine. When not producing shows, you might find Erik busy teaching theatrical workshops throughout the state of California, decorating houses for Christmas or touring his art collection Angels and Rainbows. Erik is the author of Stripped, a memoir, Popular Toothpaste, The Sadness and the proud owner of The Straight T blog where he uses his accountability coaching efforts to make the world a better place.
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Erik is a strong believer in owning and embracing everything that has happened to you. He believes that if people want you to say nice things about them, they should be nice and respectful. Your experiences are your own, and you should be able to mold them into stories that belong uniquely to you. Erik believes it is a real strength to own something horrible that has happened to you; to go from hiding a shameful secret to being able to say, “hey, this is my story, I got through it and I’m okay.” He finds bravery in people who are able to talk about their experiences openly. He finds courage and beauty in being honest and talking about things that happened to them.
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In his first book, author Erik Austin explores the desperation and depravity required to stay alive after he downloads a dating app and his american-dream-life becomes a nightmare. Erik finds himself in a modern day Dickinson tale, where a group of homeless con-artists steal from the rich and deliver to a devilish “Fagin” in return for drugs and shelter.
A raw and twisting page-turning memoir reads like fiction. Stripped spans how Erik’s existence drastically changed after escaping a rehab, ending up homeless, eating food out of dumpsters, and strung out in some of the roughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles ultimately thrown into the other side of what had happened to him, learning the hard way that some demons cannot be outrun.
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Austin takes you inside the underworld to the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. He is a born storyteller who has lived an incredible story, from blackmail to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer. His telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit after learning the secrets of what was really happening. Candid, shocking, and unforgettable, Stripped is a book about surviving one's own wreckage. It's harrowing, sometimes hilarious, and surprisingly hope-filled.
The Sadness bravely dives into the depths of depression, fearlessly addressing its complexities and making it easy for kids to understand what seeking help means. With creative storytelling and vivid imagery, the book gives a raw look into depression's impact - the heaviness it brings, the shadows it casts, and the challenges it presents in daily life. But amid the darkness, it also highlights the strength of love and empathy. Readers are taken on a journey of being seen and valued, finding hope in being supported and cared for, even during the toughest moments.
In this beautifully illustrated "children's book", Erik Austin tells the tale of how his life drastically changed after being coursed into attending a rehab, became homeless and his lessons learned. Although not a new idea, the phrase to put the toothpaste back in the tube, and its variants, refer to the impossibility of reverting a situation to how it formerly existed. Once something is said or done, it cannot be unsaid or undone. Think before you speak. Use your words wisely. This is a lesson we can all use. It’s a reminder we all need.
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