ERICA SEWELL

HIRING, ADVISING, CONNECTING…

Erica Sewell is a talent leader, creative consultant, executive producer and advisor. Most recently she oversaw talent acquisition, inclusion & outreach at Netflix; building out all creative film & series teams in development, animation, music, literary, casting and production. Sewell and her team helped scale the company from 6,500 to 13,000 global employees in less than 5 years. Prior to Netflix, she held multiple leadership posts in talent for CBS Interactive’s portfolio of 30+ global brands in sports, gaming, tech, editorial, music, and entertainment. As principal consultant of Escape Artist, her experiences range from helping to launch the studio of contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas, to casting touring exhibitions with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young. 

Sewell’s first love was fashion, where she started in the global retail industry, working as head designer of Isaac Mizrahi’s iconic line for Target, to leading programs at Cape Town Fashion Council, including bringing Mercedes Benz Fashion Week to South Africa. Her fashion industry work also included working for labels Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren, and being a member of the administration at higher education institutions Parsons The New School for Design, The Art Institute,  and FIT, where she coached students and career-changers on attaining opportunities, while building company relationships for talent placement. Her creative imprint has also extended to Ann Taylor/LOFT, Williams-Sonoma Inc., “Funk, God, Jazz, Medicine” with Simone Leigh & Rashida Bumbray, Ghetto Film School, Pan African Film Festival, Pepsico, The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment” mentorship program, and Syracuse University.

Sewell is currently the career advisor and talent search consultant behind CreativeTypes, working with individuals and companies across entertainment, tech, fashion, and music. In 2023 she relaunched the former book deal-turned career development platform focused on fostering opportunities for creatives from underrepresented groups,  which was originally a mentor matching organization in 2012. Her most recent producorial projects include the documentary “In Our Mother’s Garden’s” by Shantrelle P. Lewis & Ava Duvernay’s Array, and she is working on a forthcoming project about fashion legend, Patrick Kelly.  
She holds an MA from The New School for Social Research, a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and research credits from the democracy & diversity institute for graduate studies at the University of Cape Town. Her work and collaborations have been featured in Elle South Africa, Vogue Magazine, The New York Times, ArtForum, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Sewell currently lives and works between Los Angeles & Miami.