Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily W.
Hi Emily, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have lived in St. Charles my entire life. It’s a college sleeper town perfectly designed to suit car owners, Lindenwood students, and tight-knit religious communities, and it has a historically unassuming yet growing population of people just like me- a progressive, millennial/genZ hopeful. This political identity is a drastic difference from my more conservative upbringing since I participated heavily in the Lutheran church youth group system and was enrolled in private Lutheran education from the age of 3 to 14. Until the last few years, I rarely spent time in St. Louis- anything across the river. Aside from trips to the zoo and Busch stadium, I was told it was dangerous, and my lack of access meant I missed out on its thriving arts culture. As I’ve been introduced to new scenes and people over the last few years, I’ve slowly been finding a space for myself, and I want to work towards bridging the cultural gap between the city of St. Louis and the city of “white flight.”
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been a fan of dumping my creativity into the internet void since 5th grade. However, I kept my personal feelings primarily to myself up until I began publicly documenting my struggles with mental health. In the spring of 2013, I transitioned from a college-bound varsity/club soccer player at the top of my class to a burnt-out victim of sexual assault, filing medical withdrawal from Truman State University.
Sharing my life online truly began when I decided to inform my friends and family through Facebook posts about my progress through mental health treatment and my medical withdrawal from school full-time to return home, attend community college, and seek help for severe depression that kept me bedridden. I received an outpouring of love and support and quiet confessions from others in this tight-knit religious community of similar struggles, and they shared with me that I had inspired them to seek help, too. This gave me purpose, so I maintained sharing my journey online through photos and Tumblr posts. I found I could help others by healing publicly, so I continued. In 2014, about seven months into my mental health treatment, my therapist died unexpectedly. Six months later, my mom began her battle with breast cancer. (Don’t worry; she won. Go, Mom!) Then, after a whirlwind of life events, followed by a failed marriage and a global pandemic, my life was redirected into many unknowns.
In the face of an impending divorce, I decided to get online again to discuss my experiences and connect with new people. I dove into the world of audio-only streaming on a platform called Spoon, and I started to gain a small following and met some incredibly talented people who became lifelong friends and helped get me through lockdown. I held multiple contracts with the app for a live 2-hour variety show-type podcast and got paid to talk to people through my phone. This reignited my confidence and my love for music, and I began making experimental beats and audio stories, dabbling in voice acting, and making videos.
As lockdowns subsided, I spent more time in the city and exploring life in the underground music scene and began to see it in a whole new light. I have been slowly making a path to use my experiences and skills to bring life to projects, ideas, and events in the underground music scene. I have had the opportunity to help both behind the scenes, behind the camera, and on the mic for the up-and-coming artists in St. Louis trying to find their way. Being a part of their journey over the last couple of years, I have witnessed just a fraction of its thriving underground culture of music, art, and dance in juxtaposition with the twisted world of politics and St. Louis’ racially wounded history, and my interests lie in healing and in giving back to the community.
It also allowed me to see the world I grew up in in a new light. St. Charles has been my home since I was a toddler-my family living within minutes in the same calm suburban “safe’ neighborhood.” I had been blind to so much struggle occurring just across the river, and as I learned more about the history of St. Charles and “white flight,” I realized how important it is for me to speak up and bring some more progressive and inclusive values out west. Everyone wants to leave their conservative small town for bigger and better things. I want to do that; the other part of me wants to stay and be the one to give voice to the quiet demographic that is very present and wants to see St. Charles do better for its community, including the very diverse Lindenwood student body and experience the fullness of the culture that St. Louis has to offer.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I enjoy the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none, though often better than master of one.” When you look at the variety of projects I’ve been involved in behind the scenes over the last two years, it’s clear I can’t pick one lane to stay in, and I have to thank the fantastic people who have trusted me with their art in any shape or form. I have experience in social media management, podcasting, event planning, flier/content design, photography, creative direction for an independent label (HAUS HAUS), tour/artist management, videography, music video directing/editing. I’m learning to do laser engraving and screen-printing on demand, 3D animation, play the bass guitar and mix and master my music. Most recently, I assisted as a tour manager for the Haus Party tour that traveled to cities across the US, putting underground artists in front of new audiences. I assisted in organizing the first-ever official Dutchtown Amateur Night competition for Your Place Diner, where the owner, Mr. D, and our sponsor, Nina’s Cocktails, could give away over $1600 in total prize money to the winners over three weeks. My goal is to use whatever advantages and skills I’ve been given in this life to help improve the lives of others and bring healing and positive growth to communities. I’m still a work in progress, and I see myself as a guest in many of the spaces I’m in now, but I am so excited that I am being welcomed in to try and help get things done for the good of all!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Authenticity rules over anything in my book. I see no good in exploiting the successes of others and trying to piggyback onto them. If I can be myself in a space, have good intentions, and act in accordance with those, the right people will find me, and we will make great things happen. I’ve also got my ears and eyes open at all times to know who does not have those same interests in mind, and I will always do my best to act in kindness and give others a chance to do good. That’s what works for me right now.
Contact Info:
- Form: https://forms.gle/JRZLzHPJRtUpo2CJ6
- Instagram: urmomemmy, urmomsproductionco,urnextmayor, ypdpresents
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/urmomemmy
- Other: https://u8kv3.app.goo.gl/ieAJN
