Senior Accessibility Analyst
Emily grew up in South Carolina. She was homeschooled through elementary and middle school, living a healthy good childhood.
Entering high school, Emily enrolled at a smaller public school her two older brothers had attended. She loved the school environment, classes, friends, and experience. In November of that year, she started having trouble seeing the board in her classes. Making an appointment with the local eye doctor, she had several appointments and tests only to find out that glasses could not fix her vision. Going to an eye specialist and having multiple more tests done, she received a diagnosis of a softball sized brain tumor that 1 in 1,000,000 people have.
The third surgery to remove the tumor changed Emily’s life forever. This time the possibility that had existed for the previous two surgeries happened, this time Emily came out of the operation unable to see.
Emily received services from the state vocational rehabilitation programs to help her through high school. Realizing more help was needed before being able to pursue college and a career, Emily went to Colorado to attend the Colorado Center for the Blind. After completing the training provided, she remained in Colorado and received her Bachelor’s in Communications at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Certified with a degree in communications and life experience, Emily has traveled to multiple states and spoken to varying audience sizes, ages, abilities, and differences. From the small groups to the larger gatherings, she has spoken to thousands of people sharing the powerful message of hope. It is a message that she lives daily and a message she strives to put in the hearts of each individual in the audience.