Erin Brockovich grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, the youngest child of an industrial engineer and a journalist. After graduating from Lawrence High School she attended Kansas State University for one year, then moved to Dallas, Texas, where she earned an Associate in Applied Arts degree at Wades Business College.

After college, Erin moved to Southern California where she worked for K-Mart as a management trainee before taking a job at Fluor Engineers and Constructors while there, she studied to become an electrical design engineer. On a fluke, she got into the world of beauty pageants and won the title of Miss Pacific Coast.

When the pageant circuit didn’t pan out, Erin and her new husband, moved back to Kansas and had two children, Matthew and Katie. After a few years, the family packed up and moved to Reno, Nevada. Erin and her husband parted ways, forcing the mother of two to get a job as a secretary at a local brokerage, where she met and married a stockbroker in 1989. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, but that marriage ended soon thereafter. Erin was again a single mother, with three children to feed and clothe.

It was in the early ‘90s that life gave Erin a few more surprises… After being seriously injured in a traffic accident in Reno, she moved back to Southern California and hired Jim Vititoe of Masry & Vititoe to handle her auto accident case.. Not long after the case was resolved, she was got a job at the firm as a file clerk. It was while organizing papers in a pro bono real estate case, that Erin found medical records that caught her eye. And, with Ed Masry’s permission, she began to research the matter that would explode into the biggest medical settlement in history.

Her investigation eventually established that the health of countless people who lived in and around Hinkley, California, in the 1960's, 70's and 80's had been severely compromised by exposure to toxic Chromium 6. Chromium 6 had leaked into the groundwater from the nearby Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Compressor Station. In 1996, as a result of the largest direct action lawsuit of its kind, spearheaded by Erin and Ed Masry, the giant utility paid the largest toxic tort injury settlement in U.S. history: $333 million in damages to more than 600 Hinkley residents.

Her investigation inspired the Oscar-winning tour de force "Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts, and highlighted her legal triumph and personal challenges. The movie's great success led to numerous awards and nominations, including 5 Academy Award nominations and Julia Roberts win at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and a BAFTA Award for “Best Actress” for her portrayal of Erin.

Due to the popularity of the film, Erin Brockovich became an iconic name. Over time, she realized she could use her notoriety to spread positive messages of personal empowerment and encourage others to stand up and make a difference. Her first television project was an ABC special in 2001 entitled “Challenge America with Erin Brockovich." In it she set out to motivate and organize hundreds of volunteers and donated resources to help rebuild a dilapidated park in downtown Manhattan a few months following 9/11. This show was the inspiration behind “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition”

Erin then hosted the Lifetime series "Final Justice." This series recreated incredible stories of actual women, their perilous situations and how they overcame adversity. She followed that up with a book entitled "Take It from Me, Life's a Struggle, But You Can Win."

Erin Brockovich is one of the most requested public speakers on the lecture circuit and travels the world for personal appearances spreading motivational messages, and telling her story and personal life lessons.

Because of her fighting spirit, Erin has become the champion of countless women and even a few men. She is the “Dear Abby” of this generation. In fact, she receives thousands of “Dear Erin” letters and emails from the nameless, faceless people who are begging for her help and support with their struggles, fears, pain, angst and more. Erin proudly answers each and every one of these letters and offers people advice and direction from someone who has walked in their shoes.

As President of the consulting firm Brockovich Research & Consulting, she is currently involved in numerous major environmental cases.

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