Erica Chidi

Erica Chidi
Doula, Writer, Co-Founder of LOOM
Collector
Los Angeles, CA

When considering how to face seemingly impossible challenges, Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés wrote, “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach…What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing.” For Erica Chidi, to ‘make sense’ has looked like beginning where you are, starting slow, and listening to your intuition…but then not being afraid to pause, look at the landscape, and make a decision to push past your comfort zone. A writer and former doula, Erica is also co-founder of LOOM, an evolving platform dedicated to sexual reproductive health; a catalyst for women to connect to their bodies and one another. Founded in 2017 as an LA-based wellness and education center, LOOM’s first chapter was born out of the conversations Erica found herself having repeatedly in her one-on-one doula work. “Because [women’s health] has been stigmatized for so long, I found women not only didn’t know who to ask, but that there was a general deficit in knowing what to ask at all.”

And while LOOM was thriving within its community, a pivotal (yet unexpected) shift was around the corner. “Things were busy, I’d written a book, and I really thought, ‘I’m good,’ Erica says. “Then one day I was talking with a friend and she made a simple comment: ‘You should consider how LOOM can be bigger than you thought.’ Sometimes, someone makes an observation and you’re just ready to hear it. And I was. I left that conversation and wondered what it would look like to push past where I was comfortable.”
In the last five years, Erica has not just pushed past comfort, she has plunged herself into entirely new territory — growing LOOM into its newest iteration as a digital app spanning the breadth of women’s health. Addressing everything from periods to menopause, fibroids to endometriosis, LOOM is a catalog of stories, first-person testimonials, and robust educational resources. It’s both an information tool and something much more nuanced: a way to hear others’ model language around topics a woman may not yet have her own words for.

When we visit Erica at her remodeled craftsman bungalow in East Los Angeles, she’s in the throes of LOOM’s final tech development, yet her home-workspace is a respite. Music is playing, a Palo Santo candle is burning, and the wood-paneled walls are lined with art, ceramics, and book-lined shelves running the gamut from sexual healing to lunar eclipses to the writing of bell hooks. Textured and warm, the home is a reflection of intention, care, and a respect for one’s unfolding curiosities.

Erica’s passions have always been multifaceted — before becoming a doula, she dabbled in the culinary world before studying art history, visual culture, media, and writing with the intention of becoming a curator. “When I look back, I can see the ways that all the things I did before led to where I am now,” she says. “People are sometimes surprised when I explain that much of it comes down to a foundational care for language, syntax, and the way things are presented.”

—
Full story available in Making Sense Vol. 1 Book


Making Sense is a publication series with Le Labo Fragrances that is a study in distilling life to its essence, as told through the stories of 12 individual who have fearlessly hand-crafted lives of their own making.

Read more about the series here.