Erika Gay
Director of Marketing and Communications
Erika Gay is the director of marketing and communications at Venture Richmond. She has been with Venture Richmond since its inception in 2006 in multiple roles, as marketing and program manager (2006-10), as a self-employed marketing consultant (2014-21), and now as director of marketing (2021- 24). Prior to that, Erika was the first executive director of River District Alliance (2003-06), a newly formed downtown non-profit that eventually merged as one of five organizations to create Venture Richmond.
In 2015, Erika was named an Urban Fellow, a National Park Service position representing Richmond as one of ten chosen Fellows in the nation. Serving as the lead to guide the park service towards community engagement by promoting collaboration, Erika engaged with local non-profits to create public-private partnerships to positively impact the downtown community.
Erika Gay holds degrees in historic preservation and community planning and art history from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. In Richmond, she was selected in 2004 as Style Weekly Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40,” an honor given to young professionals dedicated to the service of their community. She also served as president of the Board of Directors of the Greater Richmond Tourism Association from 2008-2010, and on the Board of Directors of the Falls of the James Scenic River Advisory Committee from 2008-2010 and was a James River Advisory Council Member from 2007-2010.
Erika enjoys spending time outside with friends, taking care of her plants and going to the many live music venues that Richmond has to offer.
To contact Erika for media or marketing needs, please email media@venturerichmond.com.
- Favorite Venture Richmond Event: Dominion Energy Riverrock
- Favorite Downtown Attraction: Riverfront Canal Cruises
- Downtown Fun Fact: On May 24, 1607, Capt. Christopher Newport and a party of explorers arrived at the Falls of the James River. Their boats could travel no further as the falls at Richmond ascend 105 feet over rocks upstream. They planted a cross in the vicinity of Mayo or Chappel Island (the site of modern-day Richmond) in honor of King James I of England.