Universal Audio

Employee Profile: Erica McDaniel
Sales Manager

Erica at AES Europe '03

One day I found myself working for this great company. Which was really cool because I had been slaving away at this horrible job when along came my big opportunity. I was so nervous…an audio company, what would I do? Having no previous music/instrument experience I was sure that it wasn’t going to work out. But when I first met Bill Putnam at the basement of his house on Cayuga Street ( the original location of UA) I thought to myself huh…this should be interesting. Although I knew instantly, as Bill was explaining the history and legacy of UA and why they were reviving the original lines that it was a perfect concept and that this was the place for me. So I was honest and admitted that I liked to listen to good music and I sing in the shower! Looking back I am sure it was the right thing to say.

"...when I first met Bill Putnam at the basement of his house on Cayuga Street (the original location of UA) I thought to myself huh…this should be interesting."

UA Break Director, Jupiter
aka "Jupie"

I laugh now when I look back I think that I’ve done a little bit of everything here at UA except engineering and soldering. I took UA to heart and was determined to do my part to help maintain its existence. I never imagined that things would move so fast, and that now I get to spend my days managing the sales channel and communicating with people all over the world. And because I’ve been with UA so long working with the sales channel, its like talking to old friends. I love the diversity and challenging aspects of my job here and continue to anticipate nothing but success. I didn’t really have a clear image of what I would be doing by this time in my life and now I can’t imagine doing anything else!

My life outside of UA is like being in a completely different world. My fiancée and I along with our dog Jupiter (who also plays an extremely important role at UA: Break Director) live in the Santa Cruz Mountains off the grid on Solar Power, we make wine and homebrew and continue plots to take over the world.

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