Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / Why Not Today? Season 1 - Episode 19 with Emma G
Transcript
- 0:00Hello, this is Leslie Kane and I am the host of the Why Not Today podcast.
- 0:05This is a podcast to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, why not today?
- 0:11I started this podcast to honor my father Patrick Kane who often said, why not today?
- 0:15I am based in Western Virginia, a Planned community right outside of Washington, DC.
- 0:19Thanks for joining us today.
- 0:21And I'm super excited.
- 0:22My guest is Ms. Emma Gee.
- 0:24She's a musician, an amazing person and we met through mutual friends and booking music
- 0:30and I'm excited to hear her story.
- 0:33But before we hear from her, I always like to talk about connections and how you meet
- 0:38people.
- 0:39So I think she, I booked music for a local restaurant, bar in Reston and somebody said,
- 0:45oh, you got to have Emma Gee play.
- 0:47And then of course she started playing eclipsos and then other people knew her.
- 0:51And actually recently somebody said to me, they overheard you playing, she was on the
- 0:58plaza and she's like, how did you find that person?
- 1:01She's amazing.
- 1:02And I'm like, well, it's word of mouth.
- 1:03So you never know who you're going to know that's going to refer somebody.
- 1:06So I'm super excited to hear from you today and hear your story.
- 1:10And I love hearing your voice because you've got an amazing accent.
- 1:14So dare a little about you before we start talking about courage and a fun fact about
- 1:21you that people wouldn't know.
- 1:22Oh goodness.
- 1:23Okay.
- 1:24So great to see you, Leslie.
- 1:27Thank you for having me on this podcast.
- 1:29And yeah, so who am I?
- 1:31I depends on where who's asking me really.
- 1:36If I was in New Zealand where I'm from, I would first start off by telling you that
- 1:41Kareoia is my mountain.
- 1:42The Pacific Ocean is my ocean.
- 1:45The Waikato River is my river.
- 1:48And my parents go back to Norway, Iran, United States, Fiji.
- 1:54And I was born in New Zealand.
- 1:56Who I am today, however, so I'm a singer songwriter.
- 2:01Yes, have been a professional musician for over 20 years now is wild to think of because
- 2:09I'm only 34.
- 2:11But here we are.
- 2:14And but in addition to that, you know, the last couple of years, I have not pivoted.
- 2:20I don't I think pivot was the buzzword for most people.
- 2:23For me, my I've expanded and more I've stepped into who I actually authentically am, which
- 2:31is not just a musician.
- 2:32I'm also a youth empowerment through songwriting coach, a speaker, an author, and a girlfriend.
- 2:39And that's really kind of, you know, for me, it's really important that we look at the
- 2:46whole person, not just, you know, not just the labels.
- 2:50Yeah, for sure.
- 2:52So tell me a fun fact about you.
- 2:54Oh, the fun fact.
- 2:56Well, I don't really have to.
- 3:00I mean, a big fun fact that used to be about me was that I've had 10 brain surgeries, which
- 3:06people was kind of bug out about.
- 3:08I didn't know that.
- 3:10OK, that's a fun fact.
- 3:13But for for other people who know about that, who have seen my TED talk recently, a fun
- 3:19fact about me is that I don't like blue cheese.
- 3:29OK, is that a fun fact?
- 3:31That's a fun fact.
- 3:32I think I didn't like blue cheese for a long time until I got older.
- 3:36So I'm a lot I'm older than you, so maybe it's coming.
- 3:39Because when I was pretty poor, I didn't like it.
- 3:42OK, OK, with not liking blue cheese.
- 3:44That's OK.
- 3:45So and yeah, I mean, I love that not only did you meet and I booked you, but there's
- 3:51a lot of people I book.
- 3:52I don't even know who they are, but I love that we became friends and connect.
- 3:55And I love everything you represent and your positive energy and your spirit.
- 4:01And there's just so many things I love about you.
- 4:02So I couldn't wait to talk to you.
- 4:03So tell me, what do you how would you define courage?
- 4:09What does it mean to you?
- 4:11Courage is the ability to look at adversity and recognize that.
- 4:19There is more.
- 4:22Positives on the other side.
- 4:25OK, so giving yourself permission to take a deep breath.
- 4:31And leap.
- 4:32I like that.
- 4:33All right, take a deep breath and leap.
- 4:36So eventually, I'm going to take all these courage, everybody's definitions and make
- 4:41courage.
- 4:42I like that.
- 4:43I like that a lot.
- 4:44All right.
- 4:45So from brain surgeries, I didn't know that to you move to the US, which I think takes
- 4:53a lot of courage.
- 4:54This girl that grew up in the same town my entire life pretty much.
- 4:58And although I've traveled, not very much.
- 5:00I mean, in the United States, not out.
- 5:02So that whole thing.
- 5:03Right.
- 5:04Well, to be fair, to travel within the United States is also a wild adventure.
- 5:09I've been lucky to travel to 27 different states on tour most of the time.
- 5:15And there's a huge difference between Iowa and Los Angeles and a huge difference between
- 5:22Los Angeles and Austin and a huge difference between Austin and New York.
- 5:29And some people would say it takes courage just to live or drive into DC.
- 5:35I have friends that are from rural areas that won't even come to Northern Virginia because
- 5:39they're afraid to drive.
- 5:40I'm not going to lie.
- 5:41Driving in Los Angeles is a lot scarier than driving in DC.
- 5:46All right.
- 5:47So tell me what are things in your life that's taking courage?
- 5:50And when have you said why not today?
- 5:53And how can you encourage people?
- 5:55Like tell me all your why not today?
- 5:59I think it was, gosh, what's her name?
- 6:04There was who's the woman?
- 6:08There is a very famous woman whose name I can't remember right now, which is terrible.
- 6:13Think of it in the middle of the night.
- 6:15Sorry.
- 6:16Think of it in the middle of the night.
- 6:17I totally will.
- 6:18Two o'clock in the morning.
- 6:19I'll text you.
- 6:20So but there was a saying that basically the challenge of do something that scares you
- 6:26every day.
- 6:27Eleanor Roosevelt.
- 6:28It was Eleanor Roosevelt?
- 6:29I think it is.
- 6:32Okay.
- 6:33So that to me has kind of been my one of my philosophies since I was a child, because,
- 6:42you know, I had my first brain surgery when I was four months old.
- 6:46By the time I was 10, 12, I'd had 24 surgeries, 10 brain surgeries, 24 in, you know, all together.
- 6:58And as a result, it was kind of like, you know, people attributed courage to me every
- 7:05day because they're like, oh, how do you survive?
- 7:09And how do you survive having brain surgery?
- 7:12You deal with it, right?
- 7:13That's your reality.
- 7:14That's what you do.
- 7:15Right.
- 7:16It's like that's like saying, how do you deal with washing your hands every time you go
- 7:20to the bathroom?
- 7:21You just kind of do it.
- 7:22You know what I mean?
- 7:23For me, you know, courage has always been like something that I kind of was a little
- 7:31bit perplexed about because for me, it was just existing, merely existing.
- 7:38And I think a lot of people who, you know, experience trauma or who experience adversity,
- 7:46just existing is a kind of courage.
- 7:49There's a saying, again, of in a world filled with, you know, the intent on making specifically
- 7:57women and girls feel like they need to purchase this, that and the other thing in order to
- 8:03feel pretty, loving yourself is the sincerest act of rebellion.
- 8:10You know, I think every day we are presented with opportunities to be courageous.
- 8:15For me, I kind of know, so if I'm waking up every day, choosing to scare myself a little
- 8:23bit, if your comfort zone is here, this is where the awesome stuff happens.
- 8:27I at the age of, I don't know, 22 decided, you know what, I'm going to really actively
- 8:34try to scare myself.
- 8:36How can I do that?
- 8:38Wow.
- 8:39I love that.
- 8:40And sometimes I would fail and sometimes I wouldn't.
- 8:44You know, I tried bodybuilding for a while because that was totally out of my comfort
- 8:49zone.
- 8:50And the only reason I didn't actually go through the competition was because I was talked out
- 8:57of it by a boyfriend I should not have been dating.
- 9:01But nonetheless, you know, I tried CrossFit, I did the CrossFit games, I got into doing,
- 9:08I was the ambassador for Tough Mudder, you know, all these things that were outside of
- 9:12my comfort zone.
- 9:13I, you know, took a leap and decided to become a youth empowerment worker at the YMCA.
- 9:23You know, all these things, I studied to be a mechanic for three and a half years.
- 9:27Things that were just like, kind of, okay, that's interesting.
- 9:31Why would you do that?
- 9:33Because it kind of scared me and let's embrace that a little bit.
- 9:36I think the most notable growth opportunities for me though, have come directly as a result
- 9:42of stepping out of that comfort zone.
- 9:45So by your very example, I packed my bag, you know, back in 2015 and sold all of my
- 9:54belongings in New Zealand and boarded a plane, spent two weeks in Vietnam by myself, not
- 10:01speaking the language, read Eat, Love, Pray, whatever it's called.
- 10:05And I've laughed because I was like, oh, we all know that.
- 10:10And then moved to the States, not knowing, not being quite prepared for the culture shock,
- 10:20which was surprising to me.
- 10:21So what are the things that are culture shock?
- 10:24Oh my Lord.
- 10:26So my first ever job in America was working as an outdoor hiking instructor at a girls
- 10:34camp.
- 10:35Where did you move by the way?
- 10:36Did you come here?
- 10:37No, I went straight to Massachusetts.
- 10:38Okay.
- 10:39So I was working as an outdoor hiking instructor at a girls camp.
- 10:41And the biggest culture shock there was how pippy everybody was.
- 10:47And I'm incredibly pippy.
- 10:49Like I'm a very positive person.
- 10:51Yo, I was like the Scrooge compared to the camp.
- 10:58So that was a thing.
- 11:01The food here, definitely.
- 11:04I wasn't prepared for the obsession with physique as much.
- 11:13Everybody in America has this obsession with wearing shoes all the time.
- 11:17In New Zealand, bare feet are fine.
- 11:20In Fiji, bare feet are fine.
- 11:23I hate you.
- 11:24Sorry.
- 11:25You hate me.
- 11:26I hate you.
- 11:27But I think on a cultural level and semi-political level, I think I was not prepared for the
- 11:39cultural diversity of the states.
- 11:41New Zealand is a very multicultural country, but very rooted in Southeast Asia and the
- 11:48Pacifica.
- 11:49Whereas here, you have everything under the sun.
- 11:53Right?
- 11:54And I wasn't in my head prepared for that, nor was I prepared for being typecasted as
- 12:02Ethiopian, Spanish, and Black, depending on the day, depending on who the person was.
- 12:08And then all of the cultural perspectives that come with being interpreted as Latino,
- 12:17Ethiopian, or Black.
- 12:19So it's just-
- 12:20Not a white man.
- 12:21Well, yeah.
- 12:22And then my accent totally shifts that energy as well.
- 12:29So that I definitely wasn't prepared for.
- 12:32I wasn't prepared for the depth of misunderstanding when it comes to multiculturalism.
- 12:40I think America is very intent on tick one box, move on.
- 12:45Whereas I'm like, I will tick seven.
- 12:47I love that.
- 12:48So how did you immerse yourself or get acclimated?
- 12:52Did you say it'd be too long or did you come to DC quickly?
- 12:56So I was working as a hiking instructor in Massachusetts, and then I got a second contract
- 13:02in Connecticut as an outdoor science education teacher.
- 13:06Between those two jobs, I had 11 days off, road tripped with a girlfriend to Indiana,
- 13:11broke down in New York State, ended up in Rockville, Maryland, had my guitar with me,
- 13:17so decided to go busking and see what happens.
- 13:19And for anybody who's listening to your podcast who doesn't know what busking is, that's street
- 13:24performance.
- 13:25So I would wake up, go sing for people on their way to work, and then see how much money
- 13:32I made.
- 13:33And it got to the point where I was like, actually, I can make a living doing this.
- 13:36And there's an energy about DC that I really fell in love with.
- 13:43So I made the decision to move here November 2015.
- 13:49And as you could say, that was another act of courage.
- 13:55But keeping in mind that this is the nation's capital, and I come from a country that has
- 14:02seven sheep per person and four cows per person.
- 14:06To go from that to then living in arguably the most powerful city in the world was nerve
- 14:16racking.
- 14:17But I don't know, the universe, the source, God, whatever you want to call it, was just
- 14:22telling me this is why I needed to be.
- 14:24So were you always a musician?
- 14:25Yeah, exactly.
- 14:26Were you a musician for years before or just got better?
- 14:32I was actually the lead singer for a hard rock band back in New Zealand called Static
- 14:36Era.
- 14:37And we were together for five and a half years.
- 14:40I was also doing a gigging solo as well, touring with the band, touring solo.
- 14:47And yeah, that was back in New Zealand.
- 14:48But it's hard to make a living in New Zealand where you have seven sheep per person.
- 14:55So I always had other jobs here and there.
- 15:02To then move here and make a full time income from street performance was wild to me.
- 15:10Yeah, which is interesting.
- 15:12Somebody I think it was Crush Funk Rass Band.
- 15:15Crush Funk is amazing.
- 15:17Yeah, and I love them.
- 15:18And they said one time, and somebody recognized them from playing on the street.
- 15:22Yeah.
- 15:23But they said one time that they loved you and you were both respectful of the corners
- 15:28that you played, which is, I mean, that's such a cool thing.
- 15:31Well, that was one of the things that I really wanted to bring from New Zealand to DC with
- 15:36me, because I think from my conversations I've had with people, there is this very combative,
- 15:51abrasive approach people in the music industry tend to have towards one another.
- 15:56And I'm like, dude, we're all here, we all love what we do, we're all doing this for
- 16:03a purpose beyond money.
- 16:05Like for me, my very reason for doing this in DC in the beginning was if I'm going to
- 16:12live in the world's most powerful city, I want to make sure that the people who go to
- 16:17work and make decisions that impact the country and the world aren't grumpy.
- 16:23So I want to make them smile.
- 16:26I think of people, and this is my naive opinion, like that people are living on playing on
- 16:32the street or almost living on the street.
- 16:34And that's how they're surviving is by that not never would have thought you're doing
- 16:39it to entertain the grumpy people.
- 16:41You know, I just like I wouldn't even care if people gave me a dollar as long as they
- 16:46were smiling.
- 16:47That's all that matters.
- 16:48In fact, one specific time I was singing at Metro Center, and this is when it kind of
- 16:56like all fell into place for me.
- 16:57And I apologize if this triggers anybody who listens to this podcast.
- 17:01But I was singing a song that I have written.
- 17:07And suddenly all these police and ambulances turned up and parked across the street.
- 17:15And I was like, what is going on?
- 17:16Like, I'm just there singing and people are coming up the escalator and whatever.
- 17:21And came to find out that somebody across the street had been struggling so much so
- 17:33that they jumped off of the roof of the building and into their life.
- 17:39And I was like, I don't know if I can carry on singing.
- 17:44That feels really rude.
- 17:52And as soon as I said that out loud to another person who was selling newspapers beside me,
- 18:00a stranger came up to me and said, no, Emma, we need you.
- 18:06Exactly.
- 18:07The reason, you know, I'm so sorry that that person did not feel like they could find a
- 18:12glimmer of hope, but you have no idea.
- 18:17This is what he said.
- 18:18You have no idea how much what you do helps.
- 18:24And that was a punch in my feelings if ever I had one.
- 18:27Yeah.
- 18:28Yeah.
- 18:29Do you know the story of the starfish?
- 18:33The starfish?
- 18:34I usually wear a starfish necklace.
- 18:35I don't have it on today.
- 18:37And I share this story often.
- 18:39The story of starfish is a man was walking down the beach picking up those thousands,
- 18:44millions of starfish on the beach and he's picking them up and throw them in the ocean.
- 18:48And somebody walks by and he's like, what the heck are you doing?
- 18:51You will never make a difference.
- 18:52And he picked up a starfish and threw it in the water.
- 18:54He said, I made a difference in that one.
- 18:57And so I live by that motto.
- 18:58Like, you never know what you do and people are watching that you can make a positive
- 19:03influence on one person.
- 19:05By you being courageous, by you keep playing, that you made a difference in somebody else's
- 19:11life.
- 19:12And you just never know who that one person where it could be today and you hear 20 years
- 19:17from now, like that the next ready to jump.
- 19:21But you encouraged them.
- 19:22And so I really live by that.
- 19:25This tattoo here is of a songbird made out of musical notes.
- 19:30Back to tribute to a woman who, so I think it was 2017, I went back to Iowa where my
- 19:37Norwegian family live and for Christmas.
- 19:41So I was not in DC for about two weeks.
- 19:44Came back.
- 19:46Somebody had taken my regular Wednesday or Tuesday spot or wherever it was.
- 19:51And so I went to a random other place to find, you know, to set up and sing.
- 19:57And this woman came rushing up to me and stuffed an envelope into my hand and said, thank goodness
- 20:04you're here.
- 20:05I have been looking for you everywhere.
- 20:07Oh my goodness.
- 20:09Okay.
- 20:10Random.
- 20:11I wasn't thinking just open the envelope without thinking, oh, this could be a bad idea.
- 20:16But nonetheless, it was fine.
- 20:19There was a Starbucks gift card in there.
- 20:21And then there was, she'd written this fully, like full computer typed page address to songbird.
- 20:30And I have no idea who this woman is, like anything about her.
- 20:36But in this letter, she stated that she was a full time working mom, had two children,
- 20:44worked two jobs to make ends meet, slept on average between three to five hours a night,
- 20:51had every second weekend off, was feeling super overwhelmed, super stressed, never quite
- 20:58knew how to make ends meet, never quite knew, you know, what the next day would bring or
- 21:03whatever.
- 21:04And she said that she had two lights in her life.
- 21:07One was her faith in God, Lord, Jesus, whatever.
- 21:12And the second was my performances on Wednesday mornings.
- 21:18Two lights.
- 21:20And I was like, how is that even a thing?
- 21:24You never know.
- 21:25People notice and we're so worried about thinking what if they think bad of us?
- 21:29Who cares?
- 21:30Like if that one person...
- 21:31They need more hugs.
- 21:32What?
- 21:33They need more hugs.
- 21:34Yeah.
- 21:35If one person can make a difference and just smile and people, I mean, in general, this
- 21:40is a hard world and this area is hard and we're all busy and COVID was kind of a wake
- 21:47up call, but we're back to the busyness and we're back to crazy life and people are still
- 21:54suffering.
- 21:55And one thing I want to be able to do with this podcast is give people hope, give people
- 21:59the courage to say, it's just a young girl listening or somebody that wants to play,
- 22:04be a musician, to think of it not as, okay, a way to make money, but to be a light in
- 22:09somebody's life.
- 22:10Like I'd never thought of it that way.
- 22:12That you enjoy it.
- 22:13You know, when I'm booking music, it's not the people, a lot of people that I booked
- 22:17are not making huge bucks doing it.
- 22:20And you can tell there's a passion.
- 22:23I don't have that music ability, but I can give it other ways.
- 22:26I can be passionate about other things.
- 22:28Well, it's about leading with your why.
- 22:30Yeah.
- 22:31You know, whether it's music or something else, it's about leading with your why and
- 22:34that goes back to your courage thing.
- 22:36Yeah.
- 22:37And having the courage to do it.
- 22:38If your why outshines your fear, that's courage.
- 22:43Yep.
- 22:44I love that.
- 22:45If your why outshines your fear.
- 22:49And you know, for me, I quit my job 22 years ago, started 28 years ago.
- 22:56And you know, it was scary, but it was like, I knew that it was for me.
- 23:01And I knew a lot of people that are stuck in things and miserable in life because they
- 23:06don't have the courage.
- 23:07And so I'm hoping to get people courage to follow their dreams, follow their why, follow
- 23:12their passion.
- 23:13You just never know, one, where it can take you and two, whose life you can influence.
- 23:19Exactly.
- 23:20Yeah.
- 23:21So fast forward, you're performing more professionally now or doing a lot more.
- 23:27I have a lot of youth stuff.
- 23:29I mean, you're doing so many things.
- 23:31Thank you.
- 23:32It's like I've expanded, yes, but I'm I'm actually coming back to the real me, the authentic
- 23:44me.
- 23:45And I say that because when I was five years old, my mom asked me what I wanted to be when
- 23:49I grew up.
- 23:50I wanted to be a rock star, a mum, a counselor, a teacher and a fashion designer.
- 24:02OK, right.
- 24:03Got most of those down.
- 24:06Right.
- 24:07So what I'm doing now is yes, I'm still playing music and still recording and still writing.
- 24:13And I'm in the middle of creating this new project, Soundtrack in Progress, which is
- 24:19two albums and a stage production meets rock opera meets TEDx talk.
- 24:26But more importantly, I'm really marrying my music and my coaching together to or teaching
- 24:37together to be a youth empowerment through sound writing coach and to deliver keynote
- 24:43presentations that combine music and keynote speaking to just remind people of their empowerment,
- 24:53remind them of their resilience, remind them of their courage, remind them of their magic
- 24:58and their power.
- 24:59You know, as Marianne Williamson says, our greatest fear is not that we're inadequate.
- 25:04Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
- 25:07Sometimes we just need a theme song that reminds us of their greatness.
- 25:11Right.
- 25:12I need a theme song.
- 25:13Can you write me a theme song?
- 25:16I need a song for Why Not Today.
- 25:17My goal is for yourself and I'm here to help you write it.
- 25:22OK.
- 25:23Right.
- 25:24And then because because it would be inauthentic for me to write it for you.
- 25:27It needs to come from you.
- 25:29And especially when it comes to young people, especially young people who are, you know,
- 25:36still recovering from it.
- 25:37Of course, we're all recovering from that.
- 25:40Teenagers are taking, you know, it's a lot more complicated than so much anxiety with
- 25:44teenagers, especially after being homeschooled for two years and the poor kids in college.
- 25:51And I talk to parents and their kids are like having all these anxiety and stress.
- 25:56Like, I mean, what's one of my friends?
- 25:59Yeah.
- 26:00Son is 21 and afraid his hair is going to fall out.
- 26:03Right.
- 26:04Right.
- 26:05Who thinks that?
- 26:06Yeah.
- 26:07Yeah, it's crazy.
- 26:08So, so, you know, helping them to recognize that, you know, they've made it.
- 26:16They've survived 100 percent of their bad days so far.
- 26:20But they have the answers in them.
- 26:22We just need to let them give them permission to step into their power, step into their
- 26:27theme song and write their truth unapologetically.
- 26:30Yeah.
- 26:31Oh, I love that.
- 26:32And I, you know, I've geared this more to an older age group because I am, but I'm thinking,
- 26:38yeah, we need to give that young, the younger generation the courage to do the job they
- 26:44want to go to college or not go to college to do what they want to do.
- 26:49And it's their life.
- 26:50I mean, every parent, every older person, every generation, I believe, wants to make
- 26:56sure that the next generation is better.
- 26:59Right.
- 27:01Not better.
- 27:02Yeah, exactly.
- 27:03And so that's what I'm here to help with.
- 27:06Yeah.
- 27:07And one of the things I'm passionate with my Mary Kay is teaching young girls how to
- 27:10take care of their skin.
- 27:11And they say a woman's self-esteem is highest at age 10.
- 27:15Really?
- 27:16Yeah.
- 27:17Is that scary?
- 27:18Yeah.
- 27:19So we can give them courage to do the things to feel better, to be more confident.
- 27:23And then, you know, you got the whole social media world bombarding people.
- 27:28Wild.
- 27:29Yeah.
- 27:30Social media.
- 27:31Such a fun thing.
- 27:32We've talked about that for a while.
- 27:34All right.
- 27:35So encouragement for somebody to say why not today?
- 27:39What would you encourage somebody?
- 27:40How would you encourage somebody?
- 27:45Why not today?
- 27:49You have no idea.
- 27:51A. You have no idea how powerful you are.
- 27:55B. You have no idea what could happen tomorrow.
- 28:05We know that.
- 28:07C. You have no idea the impact that your actions has on other people, events, and the world.
- 28:20So why not today?
- 28:21Because, I mean, it sounds cliched, but tomorrow is not a given.
- 28:31And I'm a huge believer that when you hear that whisper in your ear, in your soul, in
- 28:39your gut, that is the universe's way of telling you, get out of your own way.
- 28:47Listen to that voice.
- 28:48I always tell people, listen to the first voice, not the second.
- 28:52Not social media voices, not your friends' voices, not your parents' voices.
- 28:57You have all of the answers in you.
- 29:00You just need to be brave enough to let yourself listen.
- 29:02And I'm actually, simultaneously reading, listening to two books, one's about long thinking
- 29:07and the other's about busyness.
- 29:08And this is, we don't carve out time in our life to think anymore.
- 29:12Or just be.
- 29:14Or be, yeah.
- 29:15We're just running so fast in this world.
- 29:19So much wisdom.
- 29:20I'm going to have to pull lots of these nuggets and quotes out of here and share them.
- 29:26So I always try to connect this back to my dad.
- 29:29And when I share that question with people, it's like, I didn't know your dad.
- 29:33And so I always listen to the interview and connect back.
- 29:37And so as I listen to you and thinking you're into community and giving back and a light,
- 29:42but the thing I think that finally hit me the last point is that you care about empowering
- 29:48people, the younger people, and giving people a voice.
- 29:52And I think my dad was a master of that.
- 29:54He was always peace.
- 29:55I had friends come over to go out and do whatever.
- 30:00And he'd see somebody coming to the house and he's like, oh, Emma, could you rake these
- 30:04leaves and do all, and they did.
- 30:06I'm like, you guys are crazy.
- 30:08Like I don't want to do it.
- 30:09But he asked people questions and he got to know people.
- 30:12I have friends that said when my dad passed away that they had more deep conversations
- 30:18or talked to my father more than they ever did their own father, which is really sad.
- 30:24But he was hard on kids.
- 30:26And especially we were the family that just invited anybody wherever they were.
- 30:30And there were people that some young kids have gone through some hard stuff, but he
- 30:35didn't let them off the hook.
- 30:36And he made them think and he asked questions.
- 30:39Yeah.
- 30:40I imagine you are very good at that with your teaching.
- 30:42One of the things I heard a saying years ago in Barcelona, of all places, you are loved,
- 30:53you are loved, and all the answers you have are within you.
- 30:57Sometimes we just need a little bit of guidance to help us recognize what those answers are.
- 31:02Yeah.
- 31:03So I knew when I met you and fell in love with you that you'd be my friend.
- 31:08And I'm even more convinced that what you shared, we definitely have similar spirits
- 31:13in life and we could talk forever and we definitely need to connect more.
- 31:17I'm miss seeing you.
- 31:20And so if somebody wants to find you, I'm going to get your info to share in the show
- 31:23notes, but where's the best place to find Emma G?
- 31:26If you Google Emma G, my face will show up.
- 31:29But if you want more specifics, action points, yeah, Emma G Music on all social media, except
- 31:38for TikTok, I'm Emma G Speaks.
- 31:41And then if you want to go to EmmaGMusic.com, that would be my website.
- 31:46Okay, yay.
- 31:47Well thank you so much.
- 31:49I'm so glad we can have this conversation and follow her, see what she's up to.
- 31:54She's got a lot of great things going on.
- 31:58And we do release a new podcast every other Saturday.
- 32:02This is like 18th or 19th episode.
- 32:05We are, I keep saying we're working on a website, we're getting closer.
- 32:08I do have Why Not Today cups, Why Not Today t-shirts, vinyls.
- 32:11We are spreading the word to give people courage to say why not today.
- 32:16So thanks again, Emma G and the rest of you.
- 32:19Thanks for listening and why not today?
- 32:22Bye.
- 32:23See ya.
- 32:24Bye.