Erica Blaire Roby
Lawyer, Award-Winning BBQ Pitmaster

Erica Blaire Roby was born in Omaha, Nebraska on September 7, 1983 to Air Force parents, Wendell Roby and Michelle Sledge. Her mother named her after Erica Kane (All My Children) and Blaire (Facts Of Life).  At 5 years of age, Erica and her family relocated to Dayton, Ohio.  As a child, Erica dreamed of becoming an astronaut, but after her first experience at an amusement park, she realized she hated heights and decided to become a doctor or lawyer.

In the household, Erica’s father was the primary cook. He emphasized cooking from the family’s Creole heritage for most meals. There wasn’t a night where the house didn’t smell of beans, rice, gumbo, and on weekends barbecue.

In 1991, Erica’s parents took the leap into entrepreneurship. It was an exciting time in the household, but it meant Erica’s parents spent long hours outside the home. Erica busied herself between school, cleaning office buildings at night with her parents, and watching cooking shows on television. By 1993, Erica began cooking for the family and happily assumed the primary cook role in the household. Her family encouraged her to cook and would take Erica to the local bookstore to buy one cookbook a month. It was around this time, Erica had her first barbecue experience. She was helping her father replace a deck while he cooked steaks. Her father asked her to go to the grill and turn the steaks. Erica knew this was a major moment because only the men in the family were allowed to touch the grill. Mustering all her courage, she marched to the grill, grabbed the tongs, and flipped the steaks. After that moment, Erica ran to the grill whenever her father started barbecuing and began her journey.

In 2000, Erica began attending high school in Hawaii. There she began learning different cooking styles and the cultures behind the meals. This opened Erica up to learning about her own heritage and culture. She asked her older family members for recipes and stories and began imitating them. It was also around this time, Erica stumbled upon chef Nigella Lawson’s television show, “Nigella Bites” this was a pivotal moment for Erica. She had found her first culinary hero.

Erica began university at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She was conflicted because her heart told her to follow culinary, but her family believed she needed to be in a more traditional field. Erica accelerated her studies and graduated with a B.S. Psychology in two and a half years. She spent the rest of the year living in Montreal and Granada, Spain.

In 2005, Erica began legal studies at Rutgers School of Law in Camden, New Jersey. Erica excelled in her trial and litigation courses. In 2008, she graduated and drove to Miami, Florida to find work as an attorney. She loved the Miami culinary scene and began cooking Latin inspired dishes with her own Creole flair. Erica began working as a public defender in the criminal courts of Miami. Her heart was taken in juvenile law and she worked tirelessly for her young clients.

In 2012, Erica successfully defended a young man wrongly accused of two attempted murder charges. The stakes were high, but Erica refused to give up. The young man was declared innocent, and Erica knew she had reached the peak of her legal career as a public defender. She began her own law firm, got married, and began her first venture into entrepreneurship. Erica was content, but not fulfilled or happy no matter what she did or achieved. This weighed heavily on her and she knew change in her life was imminent.  On her thirtieth birthday, she decided to buy herself a grill. Childhood memories instantly flooded her mind, and she began cooking again.

By 2014, Erica was in a full state of change. Her marriage was failing and her legal career was unsatisfying. A computer ad for wine school changed everything. Erica read the ad and began researching wine as a career. She found a parttime job as a wine bartender at a local cheese shop and also worked at a wine store. Although the pay was low, Erica was the happiest she had been in a decade. Six months later, Erica found herself on a plane headed to San Francisco to start her first day at wine school (from the computer ad). Nervous, but determined, Erica threw herself into her wine studies at culinary school and began her new career as a certified sommelier in Napa Valley.

Erica’s new found passion brought her to San Diego working at The Marriott Marquis as an assistant sommelier. Erica loved watching the chefs and culinary staff in the kitchen bringing culinary concepts to life for guests. She began imitating their techniques and plating styles on her food in her apartment.

In San Diego, Erica met Navy Lieutenant Commander Joshua Stehr. He had recently returned to San Diego from a three year military deployment in France. Within a year, Erica married and began her newest chapter, Mother.

Motherhood brought many changes to Erica’s life. She took care of her newborn son, spent mornings working as an online contract compliance attorney, and began talking to her father about businesses the family could do together. Many ideas were thrown around, but one stood out…opening a barbecue food truck. Erica and her father began planning, but quickly realized they would need to be competent in all styles of barbecue and the business side of running a restaurant. This led Erica to competition barbecue. She decided to compete and learn about regional barbecue styles. One cold California morning, Erica landed on legendary Harry Soo’s doorstep for a competition barbecue class. She instantly loved the community and the people in the competition barbecue scene. It was at Harry Soo’s house, Erica’s barbecue identity “Blue Smoke Blaire” was born.

Erica studied barbecue religiously and began competing. Her first competition in Leburn, Kentucky was a major milestone. Erica drove to Kentucky and competed entirely by herself. She came in last place, but was excited to know she finished and was capable of doing everything by herself. She also noticed the “bbq love” of the community and made lifelong friends and mentors at that competition.

In 2020, Erica was approached by a casting agent on Instagram. They asked Erica to apply for a BBQ competition show. Erica applied and made it onto Food Network’s BBQ BRAWL. For the first time, Erica was scared and felt like the underdog (which became her nickname on the show). Erica knew this show was a defining moment and knew she represented many men and women who were on similar life journeys as her own. This gave her the courage to come out of her shell and battle for the title of “Master of Cue”.  After ten weeks, Erica won the coveted title of “Master of Cue” and dedicated herself to promoting “BBQ love” and amplifying voices of pitmasters throughout America. 

Erica began documenting her journey on social media with her hit series, “The Pit Stop With Blue Smoke Blaire”. Erica traveled the country by herself in her Winnebago hitting up barbecue restaurants from Tennessee to Texas.

In May 2022, Erica competed at the barbecue world championship Memphis In May and tied for first place in brisket and won fourth place in the world in the rib division. Her journey was filmed for Food Network’s BBQ USA airing July 11, 2022.