Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emilia “EMMA LEE M.C.” Ottoo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Emilia “EMMA LEE M.C.”, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My immediate answer is I’m a suicide survivor and deep into mental health advocacy. As Malcolm X said, “I live like a [man] who’s died already.” Then as an active creative artist and performing athlete since childhood, it’s been an evolutionary necessity that I’ve died/ego deaths several times…as many times as it takes to stay true, have better experiences and advance. Truer and fuller answers include my rich African/indigenous ancestry, the evidence of success from my inner work and self-direction, being raised as an only child in New York City, being shaped by Hip-Hop culture which embodies resilience multidimensionally, my curious intellectual appetite, the wisdom of discernment and last but not least – my sense of humor!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
It’s a very exciting, scary, trying and triumphant point in my journey because I’m creating things which for the most part haven’t existed and going forward in designing my life. My debut creative nonfiction book titled “Y’all (Not) Gon’ Make Me Lose My Mind: Notes from a Hip Hop Unicorn & Suicide Survivor” was commercially published in 2024 by Wahida Clark’s Innovative Publishing and is now an award-winning book and growing ecosystem. Other than its original hardcover and e-Book we produced a creative audiobook version with my theatrical narration against original music and sound design. Its companion youth workbook is soon to be in print and I launched a free YouTube digital series based on the book’s themes and subtopics…more on that in a bit!
My debut music album “Chocolate Bars” was released by Ill Adrenaline Records also in 2024 and as recently as this year has garnered three awards, ongoing recognition by respected Hip-Hop entities and legends, and notable love from worldwide listeners still discovering it. We’re approaching “the last 100” vinyl in existence for the album and I’m continuing creative ideation for it. I’m also continuing a career in media technology and production currently on the corporate level with Fox Archives, and pro wrestling training with WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz at a no-frills facility known famously as Gleason’s Gym.
I’m most excited at the moment for each episode of my YouTube digital series based on the book titled “31 Days of Hip-Hop Mental Health.” It’s a free, weekly, nervous system-first guided experience: part audio essay, part cultural archive, part digital mixtape – rooted in Hip Hop’s tradition of sampling, remixing, and world building. Where I thought I would be simply further illustrating the book, just bringing it to visual and sensory life, it’s actually creating a new framework for mental health communication through a Hip-Hop lens. It’s also stretching me in ways I couldn’t have imagined as a producer, screenwriter and curator, and the feedback has been beautiful.
The numbers may seem small in terms of trending virality but they’re actually telling powerful stories, just like all the included voices of each episode. I’m so grateful for each and every engagement because this mission was audience/community first. I’ve continued developing it and striving to improve with each episode, also creating custom branding, live premiere rituals, unique outreach campaigns and a franchise bible centering the quality control, vision and potential of the series. I’m not easily impressed but this project has humbled me and I’m excited for its continued impact and growth.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Curiosity. I’m someone who wants to know the “what/how” behind a lot of things. Intellectually, mechanically, sensually, historically. Even down to “talking to strangers.” You’d be amazed what the right questions can unlock. This is also usually a key to greater independence, access, skillsets and relationships. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’ve cut off our inquisitive nature and thus our open channel for inspiration, enjoyment and advancement. Self-awareness is a major key for that, but also, there’s so many ways to train your brain and shift into a better positive point of attraction. On the “talking to strangers” point, or communication in general, try the 7-layers “rule.” Engage someone in conversation but don’t talk about yourself until you’ve asked them at least 7 questions. Bonus if they connect and build on each other.
2. Public speaking. No matter how remote, technologically advanced or artificially engineered our world becomes, being able to speak for yourself and/or vocally represent ideas is a huge skill. More than that it’s a vital expression of self and highly influences your written word, inner monologue, and inner world. It’s not even the mastery of it that’s important, it’s the point of facing fears, courage in the unfamiliar, and working with (not against) your own body/instrument.
3. Creative intelligence. There are many in this world who are analytical – they can look at what’s already been created and evaluate it, deconstruct it, comment on it, direct it, manage it, replicate it. I too am an analytical person and highly enjoy logic and reason, so I have no qualms about that. With that said, there are those in this world who are creative and retain (or restore) their endowed gift of creativity in high dosage. They can create things, birth things, establish, launch, connect things. They understand the rigor and process associated with construction of the new and better. This is what shapes, makes and moves history. This is what drives problem solving, innovation and culture. This is what truly changes a life, starting with your own. It comes with intelligence because discernment and awareness are really for the preservation of creativity, especially within limitations.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I have something called a “mental health toolbox” that everyone has. We probably came into this world with a few tools already in there however we have the free will to keep adding, removing, replacing, and upgrading every single tool in this box for the rest of our lives. I reach into this thing every day. Every day? Every day! So I have a veritable list of things to go through, and I apply situational awareness to address whatever the urgency, trigger or setback is in the moment.
One thing that’s vital for me is my entire approach to sudden feelings and emotions. I no longer “am” an emotion. I like the philosophy/understanding (which to my knowledge is of Irish culture) that it’s not “I am sad,” it’s “the sadness is on me.” “The fatigue is on me, the confusion is on me.” These things are not of my identity. They’re separate, circumstantial, variable things and energies which I have the opportunity to look at, address, resolve, or completely detach from at will.
In more acute moments, I go to physical resolutions, like parasympathetic strategies. “Box breathing” is one of my favorite ones. I especially like to do it before sleeping, which I know many people get all snuggled into bed and start thinking the heaviest, worst, self-damning thoughts! It’s really important to breathe through that and let the body know “we are safe.” To that point we also have to do our best to alchemize those kinds of thoughts and emotions in the moment, right when they pop up. This is a mental rep and skill we have to keep doing. We have to stand up to the thoughts when they happen and continue creating replacement thoughts to get that inner bully out of there. Also, sipping ice water, practicing daily mobility, range of motion, things like Qi Jong, essentrics, proprioception, yoga, joint mobility, joint strength – these things help train the body to deal with overwhelm in the physical and somatic sense. Simply changing your physical position can sometimes make a world of difference.
Positive distractions also help if you can toggle away from the trigger. Emotional support sitcoms, stuffies, non-toxic content, new ideas or points of research for creative projects or regular-life visions. Things that are NOT emotionally charged, divisive or abrasive to the spirit. Of course, laughter is top tier. Keep a folder of funnies stashed somewhere or ask yourself, is there anything I can laugh at in this moment? You’d be surprised.
Lastly on a mental and psychological level, I do my best to put whatever is overwhelming in proper context. I acknowledge what something is, what something seems and how something feels but I’m also sure to acknowledge my own freedom of choice and freedom of attitude within that. I can state the emotion and any disruption or threat I can sense, but also that the negatives don’t have the right to pulverize me and I don’t agree with them.
On the major key of keeping perspective, remembering there’s more to life than what’s in front of us, and that you’ve survived everything up to this point – I remember a bold, street-wise quote by Dame Dash. A young, quite successful entrepreneur was describing a stressful time to him as she prepared to launch her clothing line. He said very lovingly, nonchalantly, and matter of factly, “Stress? Stress is a gun to your head.” And I never forgot that. If you’ve ever experienced a trauma in life, you know truly what “real” stress is, indeed.
In our modern information-driven world especially in corporate and commercial spaces, there’s a lot of extraction, passive-aggression and fabricated urgency. It’s important to remember and note-to-self what are fabrications or false measurements of the moment. At many times I hear this phrase, and hopefully the situation is not life-or-death, and I go “no, this is not a gun to my head.” And I come back down/step back from the ledge, and handle it much like picking up a dumbbell. Always remember we should look down on our problems not up, and do our best to train ourselves to never see anything as a problem – only an opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emiliaottoo.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/EMILIAISEMMALEE
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emiliaisemmalee
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilia-ottoo-2a3a2842/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/emiliaisemma
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EMMALEEMC
Image Credits
Robert Adam Mayer
Wahida Clark’s Innovative Publishing
Nuance Art LLC
Ill Adrenaline Records
Monifa Perry
Bee Graphics
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