Snack time 🥨 with EmmaE
Hey hey friends, happy Sunday! I am beyond excited for today’s interview, which is with the ever-approachable, passionate, kind, and communicative @EmmaE. You may know Emma from Teen Chatrooms, where she moderates, the Depression subcommunity that she leads, or maybe you’re on one of the many teams she oversees!
So take some mangos and chocolate-covered pretzels, (Emma's treat 😛) and get comfy. I’m so excited to share this interview with you, I hope you enjoy our time with Emma as much as I did <3
Hi Emma, thanks for doing this interview! I’d love to start with a little introduction, what can you tell us about yourself, your roles on 7Cups, or what makes you a leader in our community?
Hey Elliot, thank you so much for having me! This is one of my favourite interview series on cups so I’m super excited to take part in it :p I’ve been on 7 cups since the end of 2020 and I’ve tried to take part in things all over the community! My biggest involvements are my roles as a listener chatroom mentor leader with a focus on the listener discussion teams and community mentor leader for depression support!
You’re involved in leadership for both the chatroom and forum spaces. When listeners first join 7Cups, they tend to stick to DMs for a while. What were your initial experiences like when you decided to branch out? What influenced your decision to spend time in these spaces?
Yes definitely, I remember how afraid I was to leave DMs when I first started! I talked to some really amazing people that encouraged me to participate in the Teen Listeners room and everything grew from there. The people I originally met (unfortunately many of which aren’t here anymore) were so incredible and kind! They completely took me in and made me fall in love with the environment on cups and in TL, and I hope newbies coming into TL now feel the same way. As for the forums, I was afraid of those for a while :p They’re super intimidating and confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, I absolutely loved it! I thought it was so nice that we had a place where teens and adults can all interact in one place. I spent a lot of my time in depression support and saw so much support, but also a lot of fun games and icebreakers - I love the variety the forums offer.
What do you think are the key aspects of creating and building community and team communication?
This is a really great question! There are so many key aspects of creating and building community and team communication and they’re all very important. First, I think an important part of building community is support. Regardless of who one is or where they’re from, being able to support one another is what helps keep a community strong. One of my favourite parts of our community on 7 cups is how diverse we are since we’re from all around the world! Team communication is also vital for a team to work together successfully. I think having (and being) a reliable, approachable leader is one of the most important things a team could have. Having a place for a team to be able to communicate with one another is what helps the team be able to work together and get things done as well as possible.
As a leader, you sometimes have to say difficult things gently. How do you provide that constructive feedback? What was learning how to do this like?
Constructive feedback is so important for each and every one of us to grow, and I find feedback is better given and taken when given gently. One of my favourite strategies when giving constructive feedback is called a feedback sandwich. This consists of starting off with a positive thing, then explaining what could be improved, and then finishing with another positive. For example, I love how… I think it would be amazing if … It was great how …, etc. Highlightings someone’s strengths can help them feel more confident in their role(s) and even give them the will to want to improve. As I learned about types of feedback, after getting many different responses when giving feedback, I’ve found this method of constructive feedback really successful!
Outside of our community, what goals do you have? What are you working for in life?
One of my shorter-term goals is to fix my sleep schedule :p But my overall goal in life is to become a lawyer! I’ve experimented with a lot of different courses to see what I’m interested in, but I’ve been very interested in law since I did my first “real” debate when I was 12. Ever since, law has been the number one thing I’ve wanted to study, so I’m hoping to continue on that pathway.
We don’t exist in a vacuum, everything you learn and apply on 7Cups affects your offline life too. What differences have you noticed in your day-to-day life because of 7Cups?
It definitely does! Since I joined 7Cups, I’ve found that my life has really improved. It’s helped me manage my time better since cups is a large time commitment for me, and it’s also helped my relationships with others. Learning about active listening on 7Cups has allowed me to be a better listener for my friends so I’m able to support them better, and it’s also made me more patient. Cups helped me realize even more that people have a lot going on behind closed doors than we may think from first glance.
Thank you for spending this time with us today! An easier question to wrap up, can you give us some song suggestions? :)
Thank you so much for this incredible interview and these thought-out questions!! I have so many song suggestions :p I looove slower, sadder music because I feel I can really hear more of a singer's ability and skill with those types of songs. It’s so hard to pick songs, but some of my favourite artists that come first to mind are Adele, Sleeping at Last, and Taylor Swift! To anyone reading this, please feel free to give some song suggestions below. I love hearing new music!
Learn more about this series here
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