TEDx Speaker, Award-winning singer/songwriter, and youth empowerment coach talks about music’s ability to heal

“Music can heal the wounds that medicine cannot touch” – Debasish Mridha

Being able to communicate through song is more than just words and melodies coming together. For songwriter Emma G, it is a lifestyle.

The award-winning songwriter, who has appeared on CBS, The Daily Show, and even had her own TED talk, has overcome so many obstacles in life. Born with hydrocephalus, she endured several brain surgeries in an effort to heal her condition. She has also dealt with depression and abuse, but through her music, has been able to not only heal herself, but now has empowered others to do the same. Recently, she spoke with the PW Perspective about her journey. Last Saturday she performed at the “Breaking Cycles” Conference hosted by the organization Carried to Full Term in Manassas. She spoke about what it meant to be there.

“I have been focusing on including the stories in my music, and it’s to help people recognize their strengths,” she said. “It’s to the fact that we have so much strength and magic within us, but it’s sometimes hard to believe that.”

“My performance at the conference was just a small part, but it was about how I channeled my trauma and used it as motivation. My talk was about how we’re all superheroes, and as a woman, we have that inner power within. We have so much on our shoulders and we can show radical impact and compassion, yet remain true to ourselves.”

Originally from New Zealand, she moved to the DMV several years ago, and has explored an entirely new environment that gives her a different perspective on life.

“It’s all important for us to recognize that every superhero is born with a set of circumstances, but within us is that power to overcome these adverse experiences. I remember the story ‘Tale of Two Wolves,” a Cherokee fable in which a grandfather tells his son about the battle in us all. Life gives us a choice to feed the good wolf of joy, peace, love and hope, or the or the wolf of lies, jealousy and ego.”

She continues. “We need to feed the positive wolf within us. Every superhero is powerful within themselves, but when we team up, we can join forces and see how much we can do together. I talk about that with a song called “When We Rise.”

What keeps her strong in spite of everything she has faced? “I think that on a slightly selfish note, it’s through the power of music. The saying goes that prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening to God, and music is hearing from God and turning it into song. What helps me to move in a forward direction is a song that reminds me how far I’ve come, and I can go further.”

So what’s it like living in the DMV?

“Living in the DC community, women are so supportive of one another. Having that sisterhood helps in so many critical phases.”

She credits her fiancée’s support, her practicing faith, and consistent meditation with helping her produce such amazing music.

Who were some of the artists that have influenced her? “I used to be in a hard rock band back in the 2000’s, so my musical influences span from Iron Maiden to Jill Scott, Pink, Alanis Morisette, Adele, and Enigma. For me music is not about musical influences, but personal influences. For example, Alanis’ album, Jagged Little Pill, just mad e Broadway, and it’s a think piece. It’s about providing a voice to make the world a little bit better.”

Youth Empowerment Services is her opportunity to teach young people discover their voice. “In addition to my brain surgeries and trauma, I struggled with depression, lost people to suicide, and was sexually assaulted many times. Things haven’t always been peachy, and when I lost my ex-boyfriend at 20 years old, I wanted to do everything in my power to help young people hold on. In 2019, I started this journey to help young people reclaim their voice, and find ways to communicate with their families more effectively, and try to reprogram the algorithims of social media. If we can get young people that are empowering themselves, it’s feeding the algorithm, it can make these platforms change what they feed young people.”

Emma is excited when talking about the future possibilities. “I want to continue to help young people find their voice and overcome their stress. In addition, I want to help others discover their power. During the conference, I helped a group of women work on developing songs for themselves, it was so amazing. I’d like to create mental health and creative projects in schools, show children how to use music to help them excel.”

With all of the talk about superheroes, who is her superhero? “Captain Marvel. She’s pure joy in superhero form, and the way she’s portrayed is as a leader, but a leader with compassion.”

Here is the TED Talk that she did in Rockville, Maryland about what songwriting did for her healing.

Each month, she is releasing a new song to address a different issue. Below is from her website’s press kit: