Founder & CEO of ERIA
Nikita Khandheria
Building businesses has never been the goal. Building opportunities has.
About Nikita
Nikita Khandheria is an entrepreneur, hospitality founder, and the CEO of ERIA, a luxury hospitality company specializing in waterfront wedding venues, corporate event spaces, luxury stays, experiential marketing, and destination events across California.
What makes Nikita's story different isn't the number of businesses she's built—it's why she built them.
Rather than chasing one industry for an entire career, she intentionally pursued businesses that would teach her something new. Every company became another classroom. Every challenge became another lesson. Every successful exit became the capital to build the next chapter.
Today, ERIA has grown into a hospitality brand spanning luxury weddings, corporate events, retreats, waterfront venues, and vacation properties, but its foundation was built years before the company ever existed.
The Early Years
Ages 13–15
Building Opportunity in Rural India
Nikita's entrepreneurial journey didn't begin with a business—it began with service.
Beginning at 13 years old, she spent time in rural India helping establish two nonprofit health clinics in villages with limited access to healthcare. While the clinics addressed immediate medical needs, she quickly realized that healthcare alone wasn't enough to create lasting change.
The biggest challenge wasn't medicine—it was economic independence.
Instead of simply providing resources, Nikita helped develop programs focused on teaching women how to become financially independent. She partnered with agricultural specialists who trained local women in modern farming and fertilizer techniques, allowing them to grow higher-value crops that could be sold for income.
To ensure the program would continue long after volunteers left, she negotiated an exclusive purchasing agreement for the crops being produced, transforming what could have been a charitable initiative into a sustainable local economy.
One of the organizations involved in those early projects would eventually change the course of Nikita's own life. Years later, after seeing her work firsthand, they became one of the investors who helped finance her first restaurant venture in California.
The relationship eventually came full circle. After opening their own restaurant, Nikita invited them to expand into Sausalito, reconnecting the partnership that had first started in a small village thousands of miles away.
Those experiences taught her something that still guides ERIA today:
The greatest impact comes from creating systems that allow people to succeed long after you're gone.
Dependency Law
Ages 15–17
Founded in High School
Inspired by her experiences working with underserved communities, Nikita founded Dependency Law while still in high school.
The nonprofit focused on educating families and young people navigating the dependency court system, helping make legal resources and information more accessible.
Running the organization introduced her to fundraising, public speaking, leadership, nonprofit management, and community advocacy—skills that would later become invaluable as an entrepreneur.
More importantly, it gave her confidence that she could build organizations from the ground up.
Education
University of St Andrews
St Andrews, Scotland
Nikita began her university education at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Studying internationally exposed her to different cultures, leadership styles, and ways of thinking while reinforcing her curiosity about entrepreneurship and business.
Living abroad also fueled her love for travel, hospitality, and creating experiences that bring people together.
William & Mary
Nikita later completed her education at William & Mary, graduating in 2024.
Unlike many students, she wasn't waiting until graduation to begin her career.
Throughout college she balanced academics while simultaneously building companies, learning lessons through real-world experience that couldn't be taught in a classroom.
Learning Through Business
Ditas
Hospitality wasn't originally the destination.
It was the classroom.
Ditas gave Nikita her first opportunity to truly understand operations, staffing, customer experience, branding, finance, and what it takes to build a memorable business.
Although she discovered that the traditional restaurant business wasn't where she wanted to spend her career, it confirmed something even more important:
She loved creating experiences.
The restaurant wasn't the end goal—it was the foundation for everything that came next.
Laundromats
After Ditas became profitable, Nikita used her first distributions to purchase laundromat businesses.
To many people, it seemed like an unusual transition.
To Nikita, it was another opportunity to learn an entirely different business model while building long-term equity.
Managing service businesses taught her operational efficiency, systems, cash flow, and the value of recurring revenue.
When the time was right, she sold the laundromats to fund her next acquisition.
Judy's Breadsticks
In September 2024, Nikita acquired Judy's Breadsticks using the proceeds from selling the laundromats.
The business introduced her to an entirely new industry—consumer packaged goods.
Rather than serving guests one meal at a time, she learned manufacturing, food production, wholesale distribution, retail partnerships, logistics, and scaling a consumer brand.
In December 2025, she sold Judy's Breadsticks.
The proceeds from that sale allowed her to complete the buyout of ERIA's investors, making the company fully founder-owned.
For Nikita, Judy's wasn't simply another business.
It represented another lesson—and another stepping stone toward the company she ultimately wanted to build.
Building ERIA
January 2025
ERIA Sausalito
In January 2025, Nikita acquired the iconic waterfront property that would become ERIA Sausalito.
The upstairs had previously operated as Ondine, while the downstairs was home to The Trident.
Rather than reopening another traditional event venue, Nikita envisioned something entirely different.
ERIA would become a hospitality company built around unforgettable experiences.
Today, ERIA Sausalito hosts luxury weddings, proposals, corporate retreats, nonprofit galas, product launches, milestone celebrations, and destination events overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
January 2026
ERIA Corte Madera
The following year, ERIA expanded into luxury accommodations with the acquisition of a waterfront estate in Corte Madera.
The property became home to ERIA Stay, offering luxury vacation rentals, executive retreats, wellness escapes, concierge services, and intimate private experiences minutes from San Francisco, Sausalito, and Napa Valley.
2026
ERIA Marina
Only months later, Nikita acquired ERIA Marina.
The venue was transformed in less than a month into one of San Francisco's premier waterfront venues for conferences, corporate events, offsites, networking events, and product launches.
Today it welcomes everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies looking for hospitality-first event experiences.
Today
Nikita now leads ERIA, a growing hospitality company focused on creating unforgettable experiences through luxury weddings, corporate events, experiential marketing, private celebrations, destination stays, and waterfront venues throughout California.
Looking Ahead
Her vision extends far beyond venues.
She hopes to build one of the country's most respected hospitality brands—one known not just for beautiful spaces, but for making every experience feel extraordinary.
By the Numbers
2
nonprofit health clinics established in rural India
1
nonprofit founded while in high school (Dependency Law)
2
universities attended across two continents
4+
businesses acquired, built, or sold
3
ERIA hospitality properties launched
Hundreds
of weddings, corporate events, and celebrations hosted annually
“I've never believed success comes from finding the perfect business. I believe it comes from never stopping learning. Every company I've built has simply been another chapter in becoming a better entrepreneur—and creating better experiences for the people we serve.”
