Erica Nego was born and raised in Minnesota with her Ghanaian father and German and Persian mother. Sadly, when Erica was just eleven years old, her family lost their father to an unsuccessful heart transplant. This allowed Erica to learn at a young age the importance of living life to the fullest.

At age thirteen, Erica started her professional modeling career by signing with Ford Models in Chicago. By age seventeen, Erica had already become a full-time working model and has been fortunate to travel the globe for her modeling career. She is currently being represented by agencies in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, doing work for companies such as Target, Macy’s and Aveda.

Although Erica’s modeling career was quite extensive for a teenager, she never neglected her studies. Graduating valedictorian of her high school class, Erica continued her academic success in college, maintaining a 3.9 GPA. Erica is currently taking the proper steps to obtain a PHD in Research Psychology.

Through her studies and modeling career, she realized another passion of hers - being of service to people. Erica started Women Achieving Knowledge and Empowerment (WAKE). The idea was first generated when she was just sixteen years old. WAKE is an organization that brings women of all ages, races, and religions together by sharing their experiences, knowledge and support regarding important issues that affect women in today's world. HIV/AIDS, Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence are examples of the issues focused on by WAKE. WAKE also puts a strong focus on building women’s self esteem. Erica believes a strong since of self will allow any women to persevere. Throughout her year as Miss Minnesota USA she hopes to “wake up” women about the issues that affect them daily.

In her leisure Erica enjoys watching movies (mainly romantic comedies). She says, “They almost always have a happy ending, and who doesn’t want happiness?” She also takes interest in reading non-fiction books and finds relaxation in cooking. In her free time, Erica continues to do research for the book that she is currently writing which focuses on how young women are affected by the absence of a male figure.

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