NAME: Emma Brain
AGE: 49 going on 30
INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @emmabrainofficial
JOB TITLE: Freelance media professional
Emma has worked in the media and entertainment industry for 30 years as a radio / tv presenter, events host, emcee, news reader, panel moderator and interviewer. She is also a professional voiceover artist, part-time actress and adjudicator for Guinness World Records.
In recent times, she has also taken all her experience to help coach others in improving their communication and speaking skills.
Emma describes is as being a wild ride so far and she's privileged to have met some incredible people and done some amazing things along the way, and she hopes it’s not going to stop anytime soon.
Today Emma shares with us her biggest life lessons:
#LIFELESSON – 1
‘If you really want it, take the job and everything else will fall into place’. An important lesson given to me by Michael Rooker, who’s appeared in movies such as Days of Thunder, Guardians of the Galaxy and tv show The Walking Dead. I hosted the celebrity line-up panel at a Comic Con, and we were chatting in the green room discussing acting and I told him how I’d turned down a potential role in a possible Netflix show, due to work clashes. ‘You might be one of the dumbest people I’ve ever met’, he said jokingly (I hope!)
That’s when he told me that in future, just say ‘YES!’ to every opportunity that’s going to further your career, bring you joy, or you just want to do it. What do you have to lose? Nothing. You can move other things around or cancel them completely, because at the end of the day, life’s just too short to not be doing the things that you want to do. Since then, have I been in something on Netflix? YUP, also Disney Hotstars. Advice comes from the most unexpected places sometimes but take it.
#LIFELESSON – 2
People will always try and judge you and bring you down. I was bullied mercilessly for more than a decade through primary and secondary school – verbally and physically. It was horrible. I hated school. Do bullies ever go away? Not really, but you must change how you react to and deal with them. You see, most bullies are insecure and jealous. I guess I grew up having a thick skin, which has served me well working in the industry I do, because it can be the absolute worst with jealously, envy and those who don’t like nor understand your uniqueness and constantly want to put you in a box that you just don’t fit into. Being weird and different is good. How boring it would be if we were all the same?
To quote Dr Seuss ‘Why fit in, when you were born to stand out?’. I find so many people are afraid to be themselves, to really see what they’re capable of, due to pressures either from parents, other people and so on. I think a lot of people don’t know who they really are, so why not go and find out? The results could be amazing.
#LIFELESSON – 3
Aging is a privilege. Something that I’ve been considering a lot lately. When we’re younger, we don’t even consider the changes we go through as we mature. It’s also strange that many younger people call others ‘old’ as an insult. However, isn’t it amazing to be able to grow older? Imagine all the babies, toddlers, teenagers that never make it to adulthood? Or those who are taken in the prime of their life?
So really, we should embrace every opportunity, every experience, every emotion and memory. In a world that wants to stop aging, especially for women, every grey hair or wrinkle is just another sign of our experience and wisdom. Men are allowed to ‘age like fine wine’, yet women ‘age like milk’. Why are we not allowed to show that we’ve lived and are continuing to live and thrive and that every stage of live is a blessing.
It's crazy to me that it’s taken nearly 50 years to come to this realisation, but here we are. Things that seemed important when I was younger, just aren’t anymore and priorities and mindsets shift dramatically and to be honest I’m loving this new phase. So, don’t be afraid of what comes next.
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