# Erika Rothenberger on Surviving Assault & Rewriting the Law | REAL Mentors Podcast | Ep. 74

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727/erika-rothenberger-on-surviving-assault-rewriting-the-law-real-mentors-podcast-ep-74
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727/erika-rothenberger-on-surviving-assault-rewriting-the-law-real-mentors-podcast-ep-74.md
Podcast: [REAL Mentors Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727)
Published: 2026-03-10T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/erika-rothenberger-on-surviving-assault-rewriting-the-law-real-mentors-podcast-ep-74--70567583
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70567583/caa4dbad_9e98_47f3_b369_ccc0fe567eb6.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1921

## Resource

She had the corner office, the MBA, two kids, a husband, and the suburban dream. Then a stranger punched her in the face, threw her to the asphalt, and strangled her until she blacked out in a parking lot at 8 a.m. on a Tuesday. Most people would've stayed a victim. Erika Rothenberger decided to change the law instead.In this episode of The REAL Mentors Podcast, host Sean Martin sits down with Erika Rothenberger—civil engineer, corporate director at Henkels & McCoy, keynote speaker, author of Audacious Expansion, and the woman behind "Erika's Law," a bill pushing Pennsylvania to make strangling a stranger a felony instead of a misdemeanor. They go deep on the brutal 2022 attack that nearly killed her, the backyard moment where she chose to thrive instead of break, the childhood trauma she'd been burying for decades, and the exact frameworks she uses to rebuild identity after devastation. This isn't a story about "staying positive." It's a blueprint for what to do when life hits you in the face—literally. What You'll Learn in This Episode:✅ The minute-by-minute story of Erika's attack by a stranger in a quiet Pennsylvania suburb—and the survival instinct that saved her life✅ Why her attacker—a man imprisoned 12 years in NY who assaulted multiple women and prison guards—received concurrent sentencing of only 15–20 years✅ The backyard decision: how hearing her kids laugh three days after the assault rewired her entire identity✅ Why she told her attacker "I forgive you" in court—and why forgiveness is a selfish act (in the best way)✅ The disturbing PA law loophole: strangling a stranger is a misdemeanor, but threatening to strangle someone carries a harsher sentence✅ Her BOLD framework—Believe, Ongoing, Lean on Others, Develop Others—and how it was already in place bef…

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