Erika Anne had a whirlwind love life. She met and fell in love with Richard B. Laird the first time they met at a dance club in New York City. Though her heart belonged to Tom Jameson, who was thirty years her senior, she pursued him persistently and it was not long before he proposed to her. It was love at first sight and with Richard’s permission, Erika returned to England to wed him and return to America where her husband waited patiently for her.
It was not easy for Erika to adjust to her new life as a single mother. She took to cooking and baking and soon found a talent for baking bread, and by this time, it was apparent to all that there was a fire behind her good looks that was far from her natural beauty. It was this allure that was to take Erika to the next level of her career in the cosmetics business. In her early days, her clients were primarily women looking for relief from physical ailments such as back pain, arthritis, stress, and rashes. Erika’s expertise in these areas attracted several men who were drawn by her charm and the confidence that she seemed to have in all aspects of her life.
It was also in her teens that Erika Anne began to consider herself more than just a nationalities girl, as her interests and choices led her to explore relationships of other nationalities. At eighteen, Erika Anne and Richard B. Laird married in England and traveled to Cape Town where they settled in. During their short stay in South Africa, they were joined by Richard’s brother Louis who became part of the Erika Anne household. The siblings spent most of their time traveling between Cape Town and Nelspruit, where they were joined by a host of other tourists, some of them not so welcoming about their nationalities when it came to dating or marriage. This separation made Erika Anne feels more prepared for what was to come in her marriage, as her identity as a woman was more clear.