Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Britt.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in NY. I am Italian on both sides with a big family. I loved growing up with such a close family and truly had a wonderful childhood. I was however born with a heart condition and had to have several surgeries between the ages of 2 months and 4 years old. I grew up with a lot of physical limitations because of that and struggled to find where I fit in or what I could excel at. Eventually I found that I am creative and I enjoyed the drawing, art classes, and photography. I took upper level art classes in high school and joined the photography club where I learned to develop my own black and white film as well as the basics of photography. Although I studied elementary and special education in college, my parents fostered my love for creativity and bought me a DSL camera for my college graduation and I began to take photos for family and friends editing them on my computer and created my own little “business” called Emily Anne Photography. I began writing as outlet for myself to process what I had been through and eventually created a blog about my heart condition and living life with it. Around that time I also started creating videos with friends, editing them and putting them on YouTube. In 2016 I moved to North Carolina and connected with the North Carolina chapter of of the American Heart Association and became a social media ambassador for them. During 2020 I was able to help make videos about brining awareness to the dangerous of Covid-19 on at risk populations such as those of us with heart conditions. There are I learned to make videos on various social media platforms and in 2024 started making content more consistently on my social medias that is just a glimpse of life with my husband and my dogs and the funny things that occur in our day to day lives.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I struggled with my health as a young child and and then struggled to fit in growing when my all of my friends and even my siblings were able to play sports and didn’t have the physical limitations that I did. Although I always have enjoyed spending my time in creative spaces, I didn’t ever pursue any professionally enough that I could make enough money to live off of, It was and continues to be a great hobby that I enjoy. Now I am able to devote more time as to it and social media platforms make it fun and easy to be creative. And even if no one watches, or reads it, I enjoyed doing it and I laughed at myself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I spent almost 15 years in special education and have worked both in New York and North Carolina. I’ve worked with students of all ages and ranges of needs from completely non-verbal to high functioning autism and in settings such as intensive behavioral schools to co-teaching and inclusion classrooms in public schools. I myself received support and accommodations when I was in school and with my physical limitations I often was treated “different” than my classmates. My personal experiences allowed me to relate to the students that I worked with and taught and gave me a passion to helping students who need a little more help than others to achieve their goals. I feel strongly that everyone should be treated with equality.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The most credit goes to my parents and my siblings. Being born with a heart condition, my parents could have treated me as fragile and set low expectations for me but they never did. Even though I didn’t play sports, they expected me to be a good sport when necessary. I spent hours and hours at my sister’s and brother’s sporting events with them and I became their biggest fan and loudest cheerleader. I was expected to get good grades and to be a person with character and integrity in school. Although they advocated for me always, ensuring got whatever support and accommodations I need, they never let me take advantage of my condition. My parents and fostered by creativity by buying me sketch pads, pencils, paints, art supplies, cameras and allowing me to do small projects for them and for our family and friends. I was able to take and edit our family Christmas card photo one year as well as photographed my brother’s senior photos from high school. Many of my photos, both film and digital still hang in their home today. When I started making videos on YouTube and later other social media platforms, they read and watched and liked and commented on every single one and shared them with our extended family and their friends. My sister has, many times, edited my writing and giving me constructive feedback on other creative projects I have done.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thegirlwithhalfaheart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyannebritt/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emily.dambrosio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emilyannephoto4
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@emilyannebritt
