在丈夫查理·柯克于犹他谷大学（Utah Valley University）演讲活动上遭枪击身亡四天后，艾莉卡不得不向三岁的女儿解释父亲为何不能回家。艾莉卡·柯克在刺杀事件后的首次公开讲话中表示：“对一个三岁的孩子，我该怎么说？我对她说：‘宝贝，爸爸非常爱你。别担心，他正与耶稣一起出差，赚钱为你买蓝莓。’”
柯克离世八天后，美国转折点（Turning Point USA）的董事会全票选举36岁的艾莉卡担任新任CEO兼董事长，协助领导亡夫于2012年创办的这家机构，当时她丈夫年仅18岁。
这一任命并非意外。董事会成员透露，查理·柯克此前曾向多位高管表示，如果自己去世，他希望采用这样的继任计划。董事会在声明中表示：“查理早已为这一时刻做好了全面准备。他孜孜不倦地确保美国转折点能经受最严峻的考验，继续发展壮大。”
从政治学到圣经研究
艾莉卡·莱恩·弗兰茨维于1988年11月20日出生，由离异的母亲在亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔抚养长大，后入读丹佛的瑞吉斯大学（Regis University），曾参加NCAA二级篮球联赛，为期一年。
柯克在亚利桑那州立大学（Arizona State University）完成本科学业，获政治学与国际关系双学位，2017年又在自由大学（Liberty University）获得美国法律研究法律硕士学位。据其个人网站显示，她目前正在该校攻读圣经研究博士学位。
柯克很小就热衷于参加选美赛事。她在2012年接受《亚利桑那山麓杂志》采访时表示，这么做是为了回馈社区。她表示：“母亲常带我们去施粥所，并不断教导我们要与他人分享自己的福分。当我意识到参加选美比赛能接触到更多人、推进公益事业时，我明白这是一个可以扩大影响力的契机。”
2012年11月，柯克在23岁生日当天加冕亚利桑那小姐冠军，同年，她代表该州参加美国小姐选美，但未获名次。
融合信仰与时尚
柯克的学术背景与选美经历塑造了她以基督教信仰为核心的商业理念。与丈夫查理一样，艾莉卡18岁时创办了非营利组织“像你一样的日常英雄”（Everyday Heroes Like You），旨在推广和支持未被充分认可的慈善机构。
2018年，柯克推出信仰主题服装品牌Proclaim Streetwear，强调采用美国制造。公司官网声明：“在PROCLAIM，我们坚信荣耀上帝意味着尊重诚实劳动的成果。”该品牌与她在2016年创建的BIBLEin365读经计划协同运作，鼓励参与者一年内读完《圣经》。
柯克还是播客节目《周中奋起》（Midweek Rise Up）的主持人，自称该节目聚焦圣经领导力主题。据报道，她同时担任纽约市科科伦集团（Corcoran Group）的房地产经纪人；该集团未立即回应《财富》杂志的置评请求。
与查理相遇
艾莉卡在Instagram发帖称，2018年，她与查理·柯克在一次工作面试中初次相遇。两人在纽约比尔汉堡店（Bill’s）“深入”探讨了“神学、哲学与政治，临别时你凝视着我说：‘我想追求你’。”
在查理离世后的另一篇帖文中，她附上了一段丈夫向女儿讲述两人相遇经历的视频：“本来是一场工作面试……当我发现妈妈美丽、聪慧、优雅且基督般圣洁时，我说：‘忘记这场面试吧。我想追求你。’”
2021年5月8日，二人在斯科茨代尔举行了一场温馨的小型婚礼。他们育有两个孩子：2022年8月出生的女儿与2024年5月出生的儿子。全家严格保护孩子的隐私，从未在社交媒体上公开孩子的姓名或曝光正面照。
执掌美国转折点
查理遇害后，美国转折点组织称已收到数万份来自全美学生的分会成立或加入申请。在枪击案发生两天后，柯克在演讲中表示：“若各位以为我丈夫的使命已足够强大，此刻席卷全国乃至世界的浪潮将超乎想象。这位遗孀的泣诉将如战斗口号般响彻世界。”
上周日，在亚利桑那州举行的追悼会（特朗普总统与万斯副总统均出席了活动）上，艾莉卡公开原谅了22岁的嫌疑人泰勒·罗宾逊。她说道：“我原谅那个年轻人，以恨制恨绝非解决之道。”这番话引发全场起立鼓掌。
艾莉卡·柯克接任之际正值美国转折点组织的关键时期。据官网数据，该组织拥有450名员工，有数百万美元资金，并在全美3,500所学校中设有分支机构。在上一次选举周期中，柯克发挥了重要作用，成功动员了年轻选民。柯克现在的任务是维持组织的发展势头，同时平衡自己的其他事业，包括服装品牌和播客事业，以及两名幼子的养育责任。（*）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
在丈夫查理·柯克于犹他谷大学（Utah Valley University）演讲活动上遭枪击身亡四天后，艾莉卡不得不向三岁的女儿解释父亲为何不能回家。艾莉卡·柯克在刺杀事件后的首次公开讲话中表示：“对一个三岁的孩子，我该怎么说？我对她说：‘宝贝，爸爸非常爱你。别担心，他正与耶稣一起出差，赚钱为你买蓝莓。’”
柯克离世八天后，美国转折点（Turning Point USA）的董事会全票选举36岁的艾莉卡担任新任CEO兼董事长，协助领导亡夫于2012年创办的这家机构，当时她丈夫年仅18岁。
这一任命并非意外。董事会成员透露，查理·柯克此前曾向多位高管表示，如果自己去世，他希望采用这样的继任计划。董事会在声明中表示：“查理早已为这一时刻做好了全面准备。他孜孜不倦地确保美国转折点能经受最严峻的考验，继续发展壮大。”
从政治学到圣经研究
艾莉卡·莱恩·弗兰茨维于1988年11月20日出生，由离异的母亲在亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔抚养长大，后入读丹佛的瑞吉斯大学（Regis University），曾参加NCAA二级篮球联赛，为期一年。
柯克在亚利桑那州立大学（Arizona State University）完成本科学业，获政治学与国际关系双学位，2017年又在自由大学（Liberty University）获得美国法律研究法律硕士学位。据其个人网站显示，她目前正在该校攻读圣经研究博士学位。
柯克很小就热衷于参加选美赛事。她在2012年接受《亚利桑那山麓杂志》采访时表示，这么做是为了回馈社区。她表示：“母亲常带我们去施粥所，并不断教导我们要与他人分享自己的福分。当我意识到参加选美比赛能接触到更多人、推进公益事业时，我明白这是一个可以扩大影响力的契机。”
2012年11月，柯克在23岁生日当天加冕亚利桑那小姐冠军，同年，她代表该州参加美国小姐选美，但未获名次。
融合信仰与时尚
柯克的学术背景与选美经历塑造了她以基督教信仰为核心的商业理念。与丈夫查理一样，艾莉卡18岁时创办了非营利组织“像你一样的日常英雄”（Everyday Heroes Like You），旨在推广和支持未被充分认可的慈善机构。
2018年，柯克推出信仰主题服装品牌Proclaim Streetwear，强调采用美国制造。公司官网声明：“在PROCLAIM，我们坚信荣耀上帝意味着尊重诚实劳动的成果。”该品牌与她在2016年创建的BIBLEin365读经计划协同运作，鼓励参与者一年内读完《圣经》。
柯克还是播客节目《周中奋起》（Midweek Rise Up）的主持人，自称该节目聚焦圣经领导力主题。据报道，她同时担任纽约市科科伦集团（Corcoran Group）的房地产经纪人；该集团未立即回应《财富》杂志的置评请求。
与查理相遇
艾莉卡在Instagram发帖称，2018年，她与查理·柯克在一次工作面试中初次相遇。两人在纽约比尔汉堡店（Bill’s）“深入”探讨了“神学、哲学与政治，临别时你凝视着我说：‘我想追求你’。”
在查理离世后的另一篇帖文中，她附上了一段丈夫向女儿讲述两人相遇经历的视频：“本来是一场工作面试……当我发现妈妈美丽、聪慧、优雅且基督般圣洁时，我说：‘忘记这场面试吧。我想追求你。’”
2021年5月8日，二人在斯科茨代尔举行了一场温馨的小型婚礼。他们育有两个孩子：2022年8月出生的女儿与2024年5月出生的儿子。全家严格保护孩子的隐私，从未在社交媒体上公开孩子的姓名或曝光正面照。
执掌美国转折点
查理遇害后，美国转折点组织称已收到数万份来自全美学生的分会成立或加入申请。在枪击案发生两天后，柯克在演讲中表示：“若各位以为我丈夫的使命已足够强大，此刻席卷全国乃至世界的浪潮将超乎想象。这位遗孀的泣诉将如战斗口号般响彻世界。”
上周日，在亚利桑那州举行的追悼会（特朗普总统与万斯副总统均出席了活动）上，艾莉卡公开原谅了22岁的嫌疑人泰勒·罗宾逊。她说道：“我原谅那个年轻人，以恨制恨绝非解决之道。”这番话引发全场起立鼓掌。
艾莉卡·柯克接任之际正值美国转折点组织的关键时期。据官网数据，该组织拥有450名员工，有数百万美元资金，并在全美3,500所学校中设有分支机构。在上一次选举周期中，柯克发挥了重要作用，成功动员了年轻选民。柯克现在的任务是维持组织的发展势头，同时平衡自己的其他事业，包括服装品牌和播客事业，以及两名幼子的养育责任。（*）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
Four days after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed at a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University, Erika had to explain to their 3-year-old daughter why her father wasn’t coming home. “What do you tell a 3-year-old?” Erika Kirk said in her first public address after the assassination. “I said, ‘Baby, daddy loves you so much. Don’t you worry. He’s on a work trip with Jesus so he can afford your blueberry budget.'”
Eight days after Kirk’s death, the board of Turning Point USA unanimously elected Erika, 36, to be its next CEO and chair, to help lead the organization her late husband co-founded in 2012 when he was just 18 years old.
The appointment wasn’t unexpected. Board members revealed that Charlie Kirk had previously expressed to multiple executives that this succession plan was what he wanted in the event of his death. “Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one,” the board said in its announcement. “He worked tirelessly to ensure that Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests.”
From political science to Bible studies
Erika Lane Frantzve was born on November 20, 1988. She was raised by her mother, a divorcee, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and later attended Regis University in Denver, where she played NCAA Division II basketball for one year.
Kirk completed her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University, earning dual degrees in political science and international relations. She later obtained a Juris Master degree in American Legal Studies from Liberty University in 2017. According to her website, she’s currently pursuing a doctorate in Biblical Studies from the same institution.
Kirk also immersed herself in the world of beauty pageants from a young age—to give back to the community, she told Arizona Foothills Magazine in 2012. “My mom used to take us to soup kitchens and constantly said we needed to share our blessings with others,” she said. “When I learned that by competing I could touch more people, further my causes, I knew it was a chance to make a greater impact.”
Kirk was crowned Miss Arizona USA in November 2012, on her 23rd birthday. She went on to represent Arizona in the Miss USA pageant that year, but failed to place.
Bridging faith and fashion
Kirk’s academic degrees and beauty pageant experiences shaped a similar approach to business, which is centered on her Christian faith. Like her husband Charlie, Erika founded her own organization when she was 18: the nonprofit Everyday Heroes Like You, which is designed to promote and support under-recognized charities.
In 2018, Kirk launched Proclaim Streetwear, a faith-based clothing company that emphasizes American manufacturing. “At PROCLAIM, we believe that honoring God means honoring the work of honest hands,” the company’s website states. The clothing line operates in conjunction with BIBLEin365, a ministry program Erika Kirk created in 2016 that challenges participants to read the Bible in one year.
Kirk also hosts the “Midweek Rise Up” podcast, which she describes as a series focused on Biblical leadership. She also reportedly works as a real-estate agent with the Corcoran Group in New York City; the Corcoran Group did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
Meeting Charlie
In an Instagram post, Erika said she met Charlie Kirk in 2018 during what initially was supposed to be a job interview. They sat in Bill’s, an NYC burger joint, and had a “deep” conversation about “theology, philosophy, and politics and at the end, you paused, looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to date you.'”
In a separate Instagram post, made after Charlie’s death, Erika attached a video of Charlie talking to their daughter about how they met. “It started as a job interview … and then I realized momma was beautiful and smart and elegant and Christ-like, and so I said, ‘Forget this job interview. I want to date you.'”
Erika and Charlie got married on May 8, 2021, in an intimate ceremony in Scottsdale. They have two young children: a daughter born in August 2022 and a son born in May 2024. The family has carefully protected their children’s privacy, never sharing their names publicly or showing their faces on social media.
Taking the helm at Turning Point
Since Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Turning Point USA says it’s received tens of thousands of requests from students across the country to start chapters or join existing ones. “If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, and this world,” Kirk said in her speech two days after the shooting. “The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.”
At her husband’s memorial service on Sunday in Arizona—attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance—Erika Kirk publicly forgave her husband’s alleged killer, the 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson. “That young man, I forgive him,” she said, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd. “The answer to hate is not hate.”
Erika Kirk’s appointment comes at a critical time for Turning Point USA, which has 450 staff members, millions in funding, and a presence on 3,500 campuses across the U.S., according to its website. After playing a significant role in the most recent election cycle in mobilizing young voters, Kirk is now tasked with maintaining the organization’s momentum while balancing her other business ventures, including her clothing brand and podcast, as well as her two children.