Growing up in theatre Emma spent her first act in Dunedin as an active member of both Opera Otago and Dunedin Operatic, with highlights being performing in the 1994 Consortium of Les Miserables and 1995 Merry Widow with Dame Malvina Major.

Here Emma attended Otago University as a voice student of Honor McKellar.
The second act saw her relocate to Nelson to attend performing arts school as it became apparent that musical theatre was her number one passion. Here highlights included gaining a Diploma in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) and playing Columbia in The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the Nelson Arts Festival in 1998.
The third act saw Emma move to Auckland and train as a Primary kaiako specialising in Music Education followed by gaining a Masters in Dance Education at The University of Auckland. Emma spent 15 years as a full-time educator before leaving fulltime teaching in 2017 to set up her own performing arts company StageAntics which offers training in all areas of theatre in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Under this umbrella Emma also created corporate entertainment group QueenSt with a kaupapa of providing quality performance as well as giving back to the community with each event having a giveback portion.