Emily Newman first enrolled in higher education in 2005 at the University of Hawaii. However, the school’s requirement to select a major didn’t accommodate the diversity of her interests, ranging from sustainability and horticulture to psychology and creative writing, so she left in 2008.
During the next ten years Emily worked in a variety of fields, including farming, coaching gymnastics, and event production. For the past six years she has worked as a stagehand for musical, corporate, and theatrical events in San Francisco and in her home town of Irvine, California. She has also traveled in South and Central America.