FINDING HER VOICE
HOW EMMA IS USING HER POSITIVITY AND SUCCESS TO HELP OTHERS
How Emma’s inspiring others
Vivacious and engaging singer-songwriter Emma Cooper-Williams is hoping to enrich the lives of other thanks to her selfless work.
Not only an accomplished musician, the Auckland teen has taken on a range of leadership positions and is hoping to inspire the next generation to follow in her footsteps and “turn obstacles into opportunities”.
Emma was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy and as a baby underwent two brain surgeries after suffering a haemorrhage. More recently, she’s become a wheelchair-user because of Complex Regional Pain syndrome. But she defies her disabilities to thrive as a successful young woman who is determined to make a difference.
Bullied at school, Emma found her formative years difficult as she struggled fit in.
“I felt different and I maybe took a little longer to develop socially,” she recalls.
“I remember one particular incident when I scraped the whole of one side of my body after an older boy pushed me to the concrete at intermediate school. I was very upset when he denied pushing me and just said I had fallen over, which I often did because of my cerebral palsy.”
Liberation eventually came for Emma came through her passion for music. A member of the primary school choir, she sang solos and later played the guitar, banjo, drums and keyboard.
“Music made me feel part of something in the way I didn’t feel a part of something at primary school,” explains the 19-year-old.
“It was a way of expressing myself without being hurt. Back then, I was very shy but through music, I wasn’t afraid to stand up and perform solo.”
Further developing her musical gifts through StarJam – which helps thousands of children with a disability engage in music and performance arts − Emma grew into a talented singer-songwriter, determined to convey a positive message through her music.
“I felt I had a story,” explains the University of Auckland student. “All my songs are super positive. I don’t choose the word hopeful but positive, because I think life is about living in the here and now, and feeling good.”
At 15, her musical ability was recognised when her song
Put Our Swords Down won the Peace Song competition, which she later performed to a large audience in Japan and also in Auckland.
Her diagnosis with the debilitating Complex Regional Pain syndrome almost four years ago has been far from easy for the North Shore-based teen. The chronic condition, which spread from her right leg to all four limbs, is only managed by taking medication and last year Emma became a wheelchairuser to reduce her pain levels and improve her quality of life. Yet she stubbornly refuses to let the condition hold her back and last year became a StarJam tutor.
“The role helped me develop how I relate to others through music,” she explains. “I encouraged the boys to find their passion and talent. Working as a tutor is about enabling others to discover their own potential.”
Possessing a seemingly never-ending supply of energy, Emma is also currently one of the chairs of the Cerebral Palsy Society Youth Alliance Board, where she hopes to expand the rights of people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
She also serves as the undergraduate rep on the University of Auckland Disability Programme Advisory Committee, and has just finished working for Parafed Auckland as the Kids Club coordinator − helping kids with a disability sample sport
– and a three-year stint as ambassador for Schools’
Peace Week.
So why the passion and interest in such a wide range of leadership roles?
“We often think about leadership as falling in line,” she says. “But for me, leadership is something different. It is about bringing people together and creating social change. Leadership should not be comfortable. I’m outgoing, I’m not one to say nothing at a meeting or otherwise why be there?
“I thrive on being busy. Although I’m all for reframing busy to productive, because words influence how we feel, and I want to be in a frame of mind which drives me, rather than overwhelms me.”
After releasing her EP A Reminder in February, Emma is now focusing on her Bachelor of Arts in History and Social Science for public health “because I want to make a change in the health system”.
Her tireless work hasn’t gone unnoticed either and she was nominated in the Youth Spirit category at the annual Attitude Awards last November. So it’s with accomplishments aplenty that Emma has some advice for her schoolyard bullies.
“I’d say to them to focus on being a person they would be proud to be friends with,” she says. “Take a leadership role and opt for empathy, putting others before yourself.”