Hi, I’m Ema a psychologist, professional trainer, animal lover, vegetarian, Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan practitioner and an optimist by nature.
I was born and raised in Funchal, the capital of beautiful Madeira Island, where at a young age, I became a scout girl. Scouting gave me the opportunity to learn the importance of being trustworthy, helpful, kind, among so many other things.
I have always enjoyed sports, and for more than 10 years I was a volleyball player. Over those years I learned many important skills, such as: team work, persistence and the importance of having someone that won't give up on you and will push you to the limit (my volleyball coach, Duarte).
For 7 years I did ballroom dances and learned the importance of movement and emotions.
I am also passionate about, traveling, learning, creativity, psychology, adult education, teaching, design, human computer interaction, good sense of humor and arts in general, because life without art would be boring.
I’ve been “in jail” during my internship in Braga State Prison and that was a very interesting experience to me. There, I did learn about the importance of listening.
In 2011, I've decided to go back to India, but this time as an international volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, to build decent, affordable shelter alongside members of the community, in New Delhi. This was a multicultural team of volunteers where we managed to coordinate and negotiate our team work with our host as well as with the future house owners. Through out this experience I have also learned about substandard housing and community development challenges.
Being a volunteer for Habitat was not just about building a house, but also being aware that a house does forever change those people’s lives. I learned as well that along with that house comes respect, inner strength, stability and independence for the house owners.
A couple of years ago I found out that I love creating stuff and decided to open an Etsy shop “Ema’s Corner”. My goal was to add a modern touch and bold design to a traditional fabric and create unique housewares and women accessories and I learned that it's not because you love it, that others will.
I’ve been working with education and adult training for many years now and probably the most important aspect that I’ve learned is that there’re so many stories behind one single face.
Since last February I went back to work with adult education in the validation and recognition process at the same vocational school where I had worked before for 6 years, also in the validation and recognition process.
I can describe myself as having Black blood, a Brazilian spirit and a Portuguese soul, besides having a great sense of humor. I believe “life” has a way to fix things, and I’m excited for the journey that lies ahead.
My advice, if any, would be take your work seriously, but not yourself and always remember to bring yourself to the table...