ABOUT EMILY
Emily grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and attended college at the University of North Carolina. After graduating, she lived and worked in Minnesota, Montana, and Charlotte before moving up the mountain to Asheville, where she and her husband stayed for 8 years.
Seeking more diversity and other opportunities for their growing family, they moved to the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. She has worked as a social worker since 2008, and has been licensed as a clinical social worker since 2015.
As a professional social worker, Emily seeks to uphold the core values of service, social justice, the dignity and worth of each individual, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and cultural competence in every role that she has held and every interaction that she has. These are not just words to her; she believes these values set social workers apart from other professions, and she takes them seriously as she pursues this vocation as (one of) her life’s callings.
So….where does art fit in? Art was always a part of Emily’s life, but it wasn't until after the birth of her first son that she began sharing her work publicly. Without formal art education or training, she never considered herself worthy of doing so...until one day, when she decided she was done hiding behind her fear. As fellow social worker Brené Brown says, "Vulnerability is not just about fear and grief and disappointment...it is the birthplace of everything we are hungry for." Emily knew she was hungry to share her weaknesses and shortcomings -- in life and art -- with the world. She knew that opening herself up to criticism as she stumbled along the journey of finding herself as an artist would be the "birthplace" of deeper things. For her, sharing her art is a public act that represents the deepest desire within each one of us to be fully loved AND fully known. It’s the physical acting out of her drive for authenticity, relationships, and meaning-making.
In an attempt to integrate these facets of her life, Emily holds all three of these roles simultaneously — therapist, social worker, artist — all the while, hoping she can become more fully herself, delve deeper into service and community, utilize her privilege for the good of others, and be transformed by the process of it all.
