Erica Varlese

Organization:	Knock Knock WHOIS There
Affiliation:	GNSO
Region:	Latin America and the Caribbean
Country:	Brazil
Blog:	http://erica.blog
LinkedIn:	Erica Varlese

Erica Varlese is based in both New York and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the .blog Shepherd (Policy and Compliance) for Knock Knock WHOIS There, the registry for .blog.

Career History

Prior to Knock Knock WHOIS There, Erica began in the non-profit sector with a focus on women's health and reproductive rights.

In 2011, she joined Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, as a Happiness Engineer. Later, she joined the Happiness Hiring team, leading recruiting and hiring efforts, and lead the Store Happiness team, which focused on upgrades and domains on WordPress.com.

In 2016, she joined Knock Knock WHOIS There during the launch of .blog to work on ICANN policy and compliance, with a focus on the spirit of openness and transparency.

ICANN and Internet Governance Participation

Erica is a participant in the Registry Stakeholder Group. She represents the RySG on the GNSO Standing Selection Committee.

She was also an active member of the Next-Generation gTLD Registration Directory Services (RDS) Working Group.

Outside of ICANN, she co-chairs i2Coalition's Diversity and Inclusion Initiative to increase diversity within the domains, hosting, and technology industry.

Education

Erica received a Bachelor's with Honors in Anthropology and French from Drew University.

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).