Emma G's journey through the challenges of hydrocephalus to the salvation of songwriting is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Our latest podcast episode is a heartwarming symphony dedicated to the transformative power of music, particularly for the youth who are searching for their voice. As our passionate guest discusses her YES initiative, you'll be moved by her resilience and the profound way music can bridge the emotional gaps for teenagers. Our conversation is a resonant reminder that in a world where young adults often struggle to be heard, music and songwriting can become an empowering ally in articulating their deepest thoughts and emotions.
The episode then shifts to a more personal note as Emma reflects on her own experiences guiding young souls through the tumultuous seas of adolescence with the compass of creativity. The pandemic has left its mark on us all, but none so much as the younger generation whose emotional wellbeing has been challenged. Unveiling a narrative of hope, we share how blending cognitive behavioral techniques with songwriting provides a unique outlet for their voices, fostering resilience that lights up even the darkest paths they walk. Listeners will find themselves nodding along, feeling the therapeutic vibrations that echo from the stories we share.
To wrap up, we flip the script with a lighthearted peek into Emma's life, from the playful dynamics within her hard rock band to the intimate details of newlywed bliss. With anecdotes that will have you chuckling and nodding in recognition, we close on a note as harmonious as it is empowering. This is an episode where laughter mingles with poignant insights, and every listener will come away with a renewed appreciation for the power of music to uplift and connect us all.
Emma G's journey through the challenges of hydrocephalus to the salvation of songwriting is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Our latest podcast episode is a heartwarming symphony dedicated to the transformative power of music, particularly for the youth who are searching for their voice. As our passionate guest discusses her YES initiative, you'll be moved by her resilience and the profound way music can bridge the emotional gaps for teenagers. Our conversation is a resonant reminder that in a world where young adults often struggle to be heard, music and songwriting can become an empowering ally in articulating their deepest thoughts and emotions.
The episode then shifts to a more personal note as Emma reflects on her own experiences guiding young souls through the tumultuous seas of adolescence with the compass of creativity. The pandemic has left its mark on us all, but none so much as the younger generation whose emotional wellbeing has been challenged. Unveiling a narrative of hope, we share how blending cognitive behavioral techniques with songwriting provides a unique outlet for their voices, fostering resilience that lights up even the darkest paths they walk. Listeners will find themselves nodding along, feeling the therapeutic vibrations that echo from the stories we share.
To wrap up, we flip the script with a lighthearted peek into Emma's life, from the playful dynamics within her hard rock band to the intimate details of newlywed bliss. With anecdotes that will have you chuckling and nodding in recognition, we close on a note as harmonious as it is empowering. This is an episode where laughter mingles with poignant insights, and every listener will come away with a renewed appreciation for the power of music to uplift and connect us all.
Have you ever wondered why so much hate and division comes from the media? It's kind of bananas when you really think about it. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to keep listening to them and continue to let them make us be shitty to each other. Nah, fuck that. I'm going to start a podcast.
Speaker 2:Boom skis.
Speaker 1:We are back, segment two, and we're going to be talking with Emma G and she has a very important topic to talk about and it's how young adults are not being heard, and you know what? I'm just going to let her run with this. I'm going to have some questions, mike's going to have some questions, but you know, this is her message and, emma, we're going to start with you on this and let's talk about what your nonprofit is. What is the name of?
Speaker 3:it, which stands for youth empowerment through songwriting and singing, if we're being grammatically incorrect, but the whole purpose of it is to help young people, specifically teenagers between 13 and 17, learn how to express themselves healthily and effectively through the methodology of songwriting.
Speaker 1:So you have a website for this.
Speaker 3:We do. It is yesyouthcoachingorg. That's yes as in the opposite of no Youthcoachingorg. I'm saying that just kind of facetiously just because of my accent.
Speaker 1:Here's what I'm going to do Strappy. It's strappy and you know what it's coming on the bottom of the screen right about now oh, fancy so am I.
Speaker 2:How long, how long have you been doing this?
Speaker 3:good question. So I? The songwriting component is relatively new, but I have been in education since 2006 when my vocal teacher at the time looked at me one day and said I can't help you anymore. Here's a list of students that are on my wait list. Go teach. So I went and got my teaching qualifications and started my own business, can we?
Speaker 1:can we? I don't mean to interrupt, but can we back up just a little bit in a timeline?
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 1:And can you talk about why? Why, like what led you to that, like what? Like, you told me about a condition that you had had that you learned from music that's a very good question.
Speaker 3:So yes, I have a condition called hydrocephalus. It is a brain condition which literally translates to water on the brain. So quick science lesson for all of y'all Everybody's brains floats in water or cerebral spinal fluid, otherwise known as CSF. That water comes into your cranium and drains down your spinal fluid, spinal column, sorry, and drains down your spinal column. Now, for most people that works fine. For people with my condition, we have an influx, or too much, cerebral spinal fluid. For me, that is because I have a cyst the size of my fist in the center of my cranium, which means that water can get into my head but it has no way of getting out.
Speaker 1:So you still have this condition.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like that. Condition was never removed.
Speaker 3:It couldn't be, because my brain grew around the cyst. So instead, when I was four months old, a tube or a shunt was inserted into my cranium, draining down into my peritoneal cavity, my abdomen, to drain out the cerebral spinal fluid. By the time I was 10, 12 years old, I already had 10 brain surgeries and 24 surgeries in total, and singing to your point, guy, was one of the key factors that I kind of leaned on to help me make sense of it all, express myself in a way that was healthy but I'm not going to lie, it was, I think, songwriting that really helped me feel heard and connected to my peers. Because, you know, I grew up in a very small town in new zealand. You know, raglan, new zealand, um. My school population was 30.
Speaker 2:None of my friends had had surgery like not your class, your school, no my school from age 5 to age 12.
Speaker 3:Population was 30. By the time I left at the age of 10, the school had grown exorbitantly to 100. It's huge.
Speaker 2:Wait, you were from nine people in your class 30 to 100.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, we didn't have nine people. The entire class, from five to 12, was in one classroom, which was beautiful, cause I mean that the older kids could teach the younger kids, et cetera. You know, but anyways, that's another story for another day. But you know, so music was the thing that helped me, you know, connect with my peers. Music was the way for me to become, you know, music was the way for me to become a, but wasn't confrontational or scary for people, um, you know. So cut to, you know, years and years and years of musical tuition. So I did piano lessons, I did violin lessons, I did ballet, I did guitar, I did drums. Um lessons, I did ballet, I did guitar, I did drums. Um, you know, but at the age of 17, again, you know, my, my teacher handed me a list of kids, or not kids, a list of names, and said go get your teaching qualification, start your own business, go forth and teach and I.
Speaker 3:I was like okay well, that sounds fun, let's go do that. Um, and that was awesome, because not only did that mean that I started literally my own private singing practice, but that culminated in me running education classes at a local high school. That led to me to running the Waikato Modern Choir, which Waikato was the state I lived in. So we had, you know, the youngest member was 14. The oldest was 67. And here I was, at, you know, 17, 18, 19 years old, conducting this choir, and then that led me to moving to Auckland, or, as you Americans say, auckland, new Zealand, auckland.
Speaker 2:That's Scottish. We're still determining if I'm Z Auckland. That's Scottish. We're still determining if I'm Z Auckland. That was beautiful, yes yes, no, I'm good.
Speaker 3:And that led me to, you know, to Auckland, where I was then teaching at a university college, and then that led me to teaching also at the YMCA as a youth empowerment coordinator. And, yeah, it's just like one thing led to another, led to another, led to another.
Speaker 1:So Hold up.
Speaker 3:Let me just answer the initial question. All of those, another, another, another's led me to Massachusetts, then to Connecticut, then to DC, where I officially started yes Youth Coaching in 2019.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:And it only like officially. Officially became a 501c3 in December of last year.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations. So when did you like? What year did you start this journey?
Speaker 3:The songwriting empowerment, yeah, like 2019. Yeah, so, but you were teaching, I was teaching. I've been teaching vocals forever.
Speaker 1:I mean mean like 2019. This is where the like your dream was inspired to to do this for other kids no okay yes and no like when was it? Inspired?
Speaker 3:so I was five oh my gosh um.
Speaker 3:On my fifth birthday, I wrote down a list of what I wanted to do. This I'm not making this up. I wrote down that I wanted to be a counselor, a teacher, a rock star, a um fashion designer and a mother. That was my list of careers that I wanted to do when I was a teenager. I also wanted to be a mechanic, so I learned mechanics for three and a half years. But that list of five things that was what I wanted to do when I was five and that I think fit into. Okay. I've done music my entire life. I have been teaching since 2008. I have been in the youth empowerment space since 2013. I have been, you know, doing doing this work for a long time, but it didn't actually fall into place for real, for real, until 2019. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:So I mean, it's 100% amazing and we didn't't. We have to have more people like you in the society, in the community. Um, so our topic though. Uh to to dial it back in because, um, you know, when you and I talked, you're very passionate about one thing, and when I brought it up, I said, hey, in the second segment, this topic, what do you want to talk about? And it took one second and you knew what it was. And that topic was young adults are not being heard. And I think we have to talk about that in this segment. It's an important thing because young adults are not being heard. They're in receive, they're not in transmit, and I think that young adults need to know they can be in transmit and put their voice out there. And I think your message is important to that. And so, if you can just kind of expound on that a little bit, you know why? Why do you think this?
Speaker 3:So I'm going to expand on it by going back a little bit, because your last question was when did you decide you wanted to do this? And I, you know I gave you half an answer. The second half of the answer was if I was to go back to my 19 year old self, my 19th year was the hardest year of my life. Um, my, my, my surrogate brother, um, passed away from a diabetes complication. My father passed away from alcohol abuse, my um dog died and my ex-boyfriend unalived himself. Um and I remember driving to my ex-boyfriend'salived himself and I remember driving to my ex-boyfriend's funeral thinking to myself I want to do everything I can with music to help other young people not give up. And I realize now that a lot of the reason behind and every other interaction, every other life that we've lost to suicide, a lot of that comes from young people not understanding how to understand themselves and then not finding the ability, the strength, the bravery or the tools to be heard.
Speaker 1:Or the human beings to hear them.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, right, well, no, just just be heard in general, because it's, you know, especially after the pandemic, um, and young people. You know, I've been working in groups and in one-on-one situations with these young people through the pandemic and up until you know, yesterday, I, you know, a lot of the things I've been seeing with these young people is that they don't even know how to talk anymore. They don't know how to understand what they're feeling, how to talk anymore. They don't know how to understand what they're feeling. They're, you know, for whatever reason, whether it's the isolation that they endured for most of their childhood, you know, pivotal years of adolescence, it's been really difficult for them to understand their thoughts, feelings, ideas and struggles, let alone find their own reach, to then express that and then find the bravery to do that.
Speaker 3:And that's where songwriting comes in, because songwriting is like the security blanket of creativity, confidence. It is Self-confidence, it helps them build self-confidence because finally they have this like oh, I can rap how I'm feeling. So it's like I'm not really telling you really that I'm feeling depressed, but I'm telling you, without telling you, that's kind of fun, or I can sing about it, and that's kind of that feels less vulnerable, cool and that that does some wonderful things. Because now the kids are like not kids, teenagers are feeling like they can, you know, at least understand themselves better. And now they can find the words to describe that. And you know, my husband is a self-defense instructor. He always talks about you can't defeat an enemy that you refuse to acknowledge is there. So it's like the best way for them to like oh shoot, I'm depressed. This is what it feels like.
Speaker 2:How does it work? You know somebody wants to get involved. You have the website. I know we've put it up there, but I mean, walk us through it. You know somebody new comes into it. What does that? What does that look like?
Speaker 3:It looks different for every student.
Speaker 3:And that is what I really pride myself on. I don't have a one suit fits all for the students that I work with. Some of the young people I work with, it's a case of sitting down and them talking to me for five, 10 minutes, and I'm just writing it down, and then we take the key themes and turn that into a song, or some of it. It's just like I'm feeling this emotion, this emotion, this emotion, this emotion, and then I might utilize AI to help them kind of at least get a mannequin is how I describe it. So it gives them like a really bare bones idea. Okay, this is what a song with those keywords might sound like if it was sung by Sia. That's not your words, though, so let's figure out how we can put the puzzle pieces together that actually exemplifies what your situation is.
Speaker 3:Or it's a case of them coming to me and this often happens after a couple of weeks is that they've written a whole bunch of word vomit into their journals and like okay, now let me think of the key themes here. Oh, this is actually five songs. Okay, cool, let's look at one song, let's look at the other song, and then we get the opportunity to explore or play around with some cognitive behavioral therapy practices of like okay, we're feeling depressed, that doesn't mean you are depression. You are feeling depressed. It's a feeling, not a state of being. So let's turn this around. If depression were a person and you were sitting across the road from it, or across the table from it, what would you say to depression? How would you reclaim your power in this situation? And that's where the coaching comes in to help them sort of at least start to understand how they're in more control of their words, their actions, their feelings and their responses to those feelings.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to go just a little off topic. For one thing, Talk to me Because I love this and I'm I'm an idea person and I look at things in my life. You're an ideator, how do you, how do you? I'm an ideator, how do you put these things together? An ideator guy I love and you're gonna love this, but this a hundred percent I don't like blue cheese. I love what you're doing fuck blue cheese sorry guys could you imagine this for veterans with p?
Speaker 2:And I don't want to go too far down that topic, but it's been something I've been thinking about for veterans and for incarcerated people and their families. Yes.
Speaker 3:Because there's a lot of trauma and that's the thing. Like we all wear trauma differently. So when I talk about like, is youth empowerment through songwriting? Yes, but we all have inner children that we often ignore. Yes, and that all have inner children that we often ignore. Yes, and that's why I'm doing my second greatest song, not guy.
Speaker 2:Guy embraces his inner child. I mean listen you do embrace your inner child.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 2:Look, look, emma you're the Minx agrees. Lots of head bobbing going on over there.
Speaker 1:I am literally a 15-year-old child in an almost 50 year old body.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I'm 17. So I see you.
Speaker 1:but but but look um, Emma, what? What you're embracing is what people need to embrace all over. So, uh, people have different outlets. You know you're searching out people that they don't know their outlet is music for therapy. Well, they might or maybe they do, but you're you're pulling it out of them right, yes.
Speaker 1:And um, you know the the best way I can equate this to it's it's a self confidence thing. Um, for my environment, my environment is okay Um, and, and there's there's multiple different perspectives. And you know what, mike, you can attest to this because you coach your son's basketball team I do baseball, baseball, and you were an assistant coach on his basketball team. And what happens to that kid that never touches the ball? He doesn't have confidence. And next year, when he touches that ball, what is he going to do with it? It's going to go out of bounds. He's going to do something fucked up with it because he doesn't have the confidence with that ball.
Speaker 1:It's the same thing with a voice and with what is internal to you. And if you don't give a person the confidence to use that voice and to show them how to use it, you're missing out. Because there's something there in those people. You know there there's something. There's a kid out there. I guarantee it. I staked my testicles on this. That's a big stake. I'm just telling you that's a. That's a. That's a hard one for me to do Open a debate.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's a small stake, but you went there, you know what. Look, what I'm saying is is like there's a kid out there who has the most talent anyone has ever seen, but no one has ever developed his confidence. So that talent will never come out. Yeah, that's right, it will never come out.
Speaker 3:Let me give you an example, I was teaching recently in a middle school in the DC area and the lead teacher is not your. He's somebody who is teaching the music program, but he's not a musician, nor is he actually a trained teacher. He came in because there is a massive teacher shortage in the country and he's coming in to sort of help fill in some gaps. He has a military background. He is a light and brighter and a predominantly Hispanic and black school. There was one kid in one of his classes who clearly did not connect with the teacher and the teacher, being ex-military um, didn't have some of the um knowledge of how to handle this kid I would call that okay.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I would say that person that was ex-military, he shouldn't be categorized. He should not be categorized because he was ex-military. He shouldn't be category. He should not be categorized because he was ex-military. He was a weak leader in the ex-military so that's what it was.
Speaker 3:I I that, yes, and the only reason I'm categorizing that is because he used to say, oh, he would always say to me piece of shit, this is I'm just. This is how I was taught to teach shit so just saying, throwing it out there. The way that he responded to some of his students was not the way that I would consider healthy and definitely did not build up these kids Not a leader.
Speaker 3:But one of the kids in particular. I noticed something was kind of a little bit off with him and he was acting out and he was getting in trouble and, you know, getting yelled at. So I turned around to him, I pulled him aside, I was like, let come, let me holler at you for a minute. Turned out his dad had recently died, his mother had just been diagnosed with cancer and his brother had just been incarcerated.
Speaker 1:Didn't know anything about him, nothing, nope, didn't even bother to ask. That's a weak leader.
Speaker 3:So I turned around to this young man and I said do you rap? He goes yeah, I could do a few, a few baits. I was like, okay, cool, what you're, what I'd like you to do this week is I want you to come back tomorrow and I want you to write out all of your feelings into some rap. You know some verse or whatever and just let it out. And I don't care if you cuss, but if you're going to cuss, I want to make sure that you rhyme your cuss. He came back the next day, a changed person. I read it out he had not cussed. I gave him permission to, but he hadn't. And uh, which I find a lot. I've, I think, in every in all the years I've been teaching, I've always given my kids permission to cuss and uh, they've never once one person has um, it's wild to me. But yeah, this young, this young person, like for the first time he felt like somebody actually took the time to sit and listen and speak his language.
Speaker 1:So so, Emma, you're right. You're right, but you're, you're um. I feel like.
Speaker 3:I'm not talking about the military guy, I'm just saying that, no, no no, no, no, no, no, you're you, no, no, you're, you're 100% right.
Speaker 1:But but I, but I think we're missing part of it, and it's not because they're not listened to, I mean kids are listened to the point I was trying to make was he didn't know he had permission to Amen. That's what it was.
Speaker 3:And that's what I'm trying to give these young people is the permission to express themselves healthily because they don't know how to. We've totally cut our kids off for the last couple of years because of obvious reasons, and so people have lost their ability to use their voice. Young people, millennials even don't know how to make phone calls.
Speaker 2:But I can take this back from a corporate perspective. Of course I hate Zoom calls. I own my own company. I have 300 employees.
Speaker 1:I hate Zoom calls. I am the worst person to be on a conference call.
Speaker 2:Is that why you keep dodging my Zoom calls? It is. I'm terrible at it. I am so much better in person and there are people that are wired that way and this whole I've told people for a long time and this is I'm going a little bit of a tangent, but it's relevant is the whole office environment. Everybody can work remote? Sure, you can, but teleconferences and Zoom calls are so impersonal. There's an agenda, you accomplish it. You move on In an office environment, in an in-person environment, you see people. Right, a meeting wraps up, you've got five minutes to spare. You go over, you have a conversation, you express yourself. These kids lost that. They lost that in the Zoom education generation.
Speaker 2:And some of them lost it at pivotal points of their developmental cycle. And they have no idea that it's okay in a classroom environment to just go up and have a conversation because they were used to the Zoom meetings over and you don't have don't have an opportunity to talk.
Speaker 3:Can I just push that a little bit more? You sure can because it's not just the zoom education, it's now also. I only know how to express myself through text snapchat, instagram and tiktok yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's expand it even more on that. Um, so let's just say I'm a, an 18 year old who saw something that they didn't want to see and express it what they saw, the pressure that is on them because of the outside pressures to not say that, and so so. So you look at, you look at all these kids. Instead of stopping someone from getting the shit kicked out of them, what are they doing?
Speaker 2:Video recording they're recording it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and everybody is in receive mode. Yep, Nobody is in transmit mode. These kids are conditioned and that's what we have to change. We have to change that condition to say look, dude, you are not in receive mode and you are not the person that has to record it for the other people in receive mode. You are the person that's supposed to stop shit when bad shit's happening.
Speaker 3:And that's bad.
Speaker 1:How do we change that culture? Yes, but I like the buts, not just Minx's but, but I like buts and I cannot lie, not to make light of the situation, but I was rapping.
Speaker 3:I see you as her ex a lot I like, buts you can't unless you are trained in self-defense. It is irresponsible to encourage young people to intervene in dangerous situations.
Speaker 1:I disagree, emma, I disagree, I disagree. I disagree in the fact that, growing up, it takes one strong person to say stop.
Speaker 2:Well, I would say, this is a diverging situation. I'm sure that some of the dangerous situations you're talking about are different than some of the dangerous situations.
Speaker 3:No, they're not, but they could be Either way. Either way, either way.
Speaker 1:No, no, no.
Speaker 3:No, I just want to bring this back to the point I was trying to make. So, irrespective of that point in terms, of dangerous situations.
Speaker 1:Well, stop recording it then.
Speaker 3:Okay, then I'll stop recording. It's about the then allowing the young people to figure out how, like, the. The very first step is to like, figure out how to let young people like or or learn how to use their voice.
Speaker 1:So your voice your voice is is basically a light at the end of the tunnel on this, because you want young adults voices to be heard. What also needs to happen is there needs that there needs to be other people out there that are supporting you to tell, to tell them how to voice, how to use their voices, not, you know. Go alongside, shoulder to shoulder with you. Do not be the the person that's always in receive and that's just pushing bullshit out I totally agree so think for yourself.
Speaker 1:I totally agree. Like everyone knows, defend the weak guy, totally. That's. That is not what's happening right now and I I believe your message is to stop that shit. But more people have to get involved to stop that shit.
Speaker 3:Totally agree. More people do. I think that, again, that's a symptom of the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:It's a symptom of shit.
Speaker 3:But I mean, yes, it is, I agree I agree, it's the media, it's everything shit.
Speaker 1:But I mean, yes, I agree, I agree it's the media, it's everything right now.
Speaker 3:So one of the things that we need to be doing is at least equipping young people with the tools to express themselves and the permission to use their voices in a way without telling them without telling them to sit down and be quiet, without telling them they're being too loud, without telling them they're being rambunctious without telling them they're being rambunctious without telling them that they're being foolish.
Speaker 1:Whatever happened to be like back in the day, like when the four of us were growing up. Whatever happened to be like the good guy, like fucking say, stop that shit. That shit has stopped. It's not okay to be the good guy. I think, at least for the young people I'm working with.
Speaker 3:It's still definitely okay to be the good guy.
Speaker 1:No no, that's what they tell you and that's what's in their head and that's what's in their heart, but in the public it is not. It is not okay to be the good guy now. It is just not because I mean, can I can argue this all night and I don't want to argue with you on this because you and I know, like we believe the same shit, we believe the same shit and we're saying you know it's it, we're articulating it differently, but the way the public sees now, the way that the public has made to believe stuff, it is not okay to argue the good guy side, the good guy point of view now. It's just not okay anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, but I would say, for some of these kids though, the good guy view is probably relative.
Speaker 1:They feel it in their hearts dude, they want to do it.
Speaker 2:Everybody's a good guy in their own story, regardless of what it is.
Speaker 3:My whole thing. Sorry, carry on, I don't need to cut you off.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you to kind of bring it back home to you know we have, yes, so how do we encourage people to get involved? How?
Speaker 2:do we encourage people who, because a lot of times it's not going to be the person without a voice that's going to reach out because they don't have a voice. So how do we encourage the people that are in their lives to refer people? What does that look like, and how do people start to get involved with what you're doing? And one last question, because I want you to answer both how do you expand? How do you get more emojis doing what you're doing, and have you given that thought?
Speaker 1:How do people support emoji?
Speaker 3:That's three completely different questions and you have 30 seconds to bring it home.
Speaker 2:How do people support MNG? That's three completely different questions. Let me bring this back a little bit and you have 30 seconds to bring it home Ready go.
Speaker 3:So the first thing is, when it comes to being the good guy, I think it's really important for us to support our young people and to at least just acknowledging that they have the strength to be true and authentic Yep 100%. And that I think can do a crap ton of good for the mental, emotional and social wellbeing of generation Z. 100%. Your second point remind me of that question. That was a very long winded question.
Speaker 2:I think I just asked how we encourage people to get involved with what you're doing with YES, because it's not the kids that don't have a voice, the young adults that don't have a voice are not the ones that are going to reach out to you.
Speaker 3:How do we encourage people?
Speaker 2:to get involved. How do they find you?
Speaker 3:How do we refer them? They can easily look me up Emma G or YES Youth Coaching Very easy.
Speaker 1:And look me up Emma G or yes, youth coaching very easy and Emma G musiccom yes, that too, but the the biggest thing.
Speaker 3:If kids, if teenagers, if parents, if whoever is struggling to find their voice at the moment, the best thing they can do for themselves is start a journal. And if they don't want, to start a journal.
Speaker 3:They can do for themselves is start a journal. And if they don't want to start a journal, they can go to my, go to Amazon and grab a copy of my latest book, which is an interactive workbook called um from pain to playlist turning struggles into song. And that's a guided workbook that will help them to literally go through the processes that I work with my clients on to help them figure out their funk. Um, and then, if that isn't enough, I have an online program. If that isn't enough, I do one-on-one coaching. So it's, you know, there's a whole plethora of tools that I have that people can use to learn how to express themselves, whether they want to talk out loud or keep a journal. Every time one puts their pen to paper, what they do is they get whatever's in here, out of here and onto paper.
Speaker 1:So so I'm going to throw this at you.
Speaker 3:I'm going to cash it. I don't know. It's a curve ball, so what?
Speaker 1:I what I would like to do what I would like to challenge you and not the press and anyone that's going to hear this podcast is if you've got a young adult that wants to speak out, that wants to be autonomous, we'll put them out there. We'll put their message out. Amen, their name will not be released. Their picture will not be released. Let's put it out there and if they got a message, we'll do their message out amen, they will not their name will not be released. Their picture will not be released.
Speaker 3:Let's put it out there and you know, if they got a message, we'll do their raps I mean I can literally like and I do this all the time with my kids that I work with um, you know that I have a group of 11 to 14 year olds that I'm working with at the moment and they literally gave me like five feelings and I it into a song and sang it to them last week. It was super fun. It was super fun because for them it was like for the first time they're like oh shoot, what I'm feeling isn't cheesy or dumb or unworthy. There's actually like merit here.
Speaker 2:There's stuff there, there's gold there, there really is there's an ongoing segment for not to press imagery raps.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to rap. No, not you. I'm not Not you. It could be from your students. You might rap. I got it, I got it. Listen, idea guy, we have to get appearances for 12-year-old rappers. Might be the idea guy. Big thoughts in a kid that lie. They don't have to get appearances for 12-year-old. That's big thoughts and I can't not lie. They don't have to give credit. No, they have their face.
Speaker 2:No, we don't have to.
Speaker 3:I got this you got this I got this We'll talk about this at the break.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so here's what we're going to do. Emma, that was a great message, thank, you. It was a great conversation and I would like to expel more on that because I believe there's something there the youth are our future right now.
Speaker 3:Amen.
Speaker 1:And the thing is is like if we cannot allow their voice to be heard, if we cannot understand why their voice isn't being heard, we cannot understand why people don't want them to be heard, then we fail. We fail as a society, and it's not a good thing and it has to happen.
Speaker 3:Can I add to that for one second? Absolutely, because I know this, just literally came to me. We talk about the youth being the future all the time, and I think that's a really beautiful thing, but it's also important to recognize that the future are reflections of us.
Speaker 3:Yes, so yes, the youth are our future, but yes, also, the youth are reflections of us yes, so yes the youth are our future, but, yes, also the youth are reflections of us and we are therefore shaping the youth of the future. So how are we going to show up for our young people?
Speaker 1:you know, listen to them. So I, I I kid you not, I, you know, I think about this. I know mike does, the minx does probably um, nightly, before I go to bed, of my failures as a father for my son. And you know, if people are not in that mindset, we're doomed. Because you have to know, you have to first understand your failures and how you can do better, and you have to understand that creates how you correct that. And I hear people bitching I shit you not every day about Gen, z, gen, whatever, blah, blah, blah. How fucked up they are. I'm one of them. I have said some things, but ultimately it is our failure. Our failure has led them to where they're at now. Um, regardless of what their shortfalls are, um, our failure has led them to that do you know.
Speaker 3:What's beautiful about that, though? I think, in that kind of statement, taking ownership of you know, our shortcomings or our you know, whatever it lessens the stigma around taking ownership for one's faults, and I think that's something that can be really a powerful lesson for young people, because, you know, again, in the work that I've been doing for the last five years, I've noticed that there's a lot of you know young people that are scared to muck up and you know, when we as their leaders, as their coaches, their mentors, their elders, can kind of lead by example and say it's okay to make a mistake, as long as you grow from it, learn from it, do better, that can do wonders.
Speaker 3:So that will be taking my hat off to you for acknowledging you know what?
Speaker 1:Talk to me, Thank you. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to end this segment, but I'm going to say this to you, Emma A year from now, at Not the Press, we're going to have all of our special guests all in one room and we're going to celebrate our one-year anniversary. And I'm telling you what.
Speaker 1:What's going to happen is there's going to be a bunch of people in that room that have done great things for human beings and that's going to create so much other things better for human beings, because they're all going to be in one room. Big things are going to happen. It's going to be badass and it's going to be pretty cool. And we're going to move to the third segment. As everybody knows, the third segment's fucked up but, uh, it's a whole bunch of fuckery. Um, that was a great segment and um, I'm just going to say this now thanks for your great conversation in the first and second segment and, uh, and the third segment. To, to lead it out, emma's going to be singing one of her songs and it is badass.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 1:The Minx, mike and I got to witness this. We do not know how to record music so hopefully we didn't jack it up, but we got to witness it live in my office.
Speaker 2:Let's be clear, I was the audio engineer for the first time in my life. Dude, you did a good job, you did great. I mean, did we? We haven't listened to it yet. I believe in you. We're just going to assume I believe in you.
Speaker 1:Look, you looked official with headphones Me and my deaf ear. You have a deaf ear. You did not put that on your bio.
Speaker 2:I might not have got the job.
Speaker 1:Come, come on, all right.
Speaker 2:That was awesome.
Speaker 1:And Emma, you are welcome back here anytime and we're going to follow you wherever you go. I know you're going on tour soon, I mean okay, well, this just got uncomfortable.
Speaker 3:Yes, I am going on tour. It's a Youth Empowerment Tour for 2024 with the High Rock Cafe.
Speaker 1:Where are you going to be?
Speaker 3:15 different states in multiple cities.
Speaker 1:Well, I think we're going to talk about it on every podcast. United States, yes, but aren't you going to go international too soon?
Speaker 3:Well, I have gone international.
Speaker 1:But I mean, on this tour are you going to do international? No, not on this one.
Speaker 3:I'm married now. Come on now.
Speaker 1:Am I married?
Speaker 2:I have to be a wife at some point. I have to be a wife. He likes her ponties Ponties. Wow, we're going to cut that part right now, that's not what she said we are not going to cut that part.
Speaker 1:I really want to.
Speaker 3:So I was in a hard block band for five and a half years. I advocated for a long time for us to be called. That's what she said. The entire male band vetoed me.
Speaker 1:I do not veto Losers. Losers, I love them, but no, but yeah, but I mean come on. Yeah, all right, let's end this segment, let's move this segment, the real segment three