We were lucky to catch up with Emmie Levy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emmie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

One of the most unexpected parts of being an entrepreneur is that you can spend years working toward a goal, only to have the moments that change your life happen when you least expect them.

A few years ago, I was just a girl with a dream. I was building The Emmie Effect from the ground up, teaching confidence, kindness, and manifestation to young people while simultaneously trying to practice what I preached. I didn’t have all the answers. I just had a belief that if I kept showing up, worked hard, treated people well, and stayed grateful, incredible things could happen.

Then somehow, those dreams started becoming reality.

I had the opportunity to dance in the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Usher, something that felt so far out of reach that it almost sounded ridiculous when I first said it out loud. Standing on that field was one of those moments where you look around and think, when you truly believe in yourself, magic can happen.

But life wasn’t done surprising me.

As a lifelong Knicks fan, working for the New York Knicks was already a dream come true. Then this year, the Knicks did the impossible and ended a 53-year championship drought by winning the NBA Finals. The energy in New York was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. And somehow, I found myself not just watching history happen, but living inside of it—riding through the championship parade on a float with Knicks legend Allan Houston and his family, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of fans celebrating a moment generations had been waiting for.

I remember looking around and thinking about the younger version of myself. The girl who dreamed of being part of something bigger than herself. The girl who would have been thrilled just to attend a Knicks parade. To be there, in that moment, was something I’ll never take for granted. And then came one of the most random yet incredibly exciting entrepreneurial moments of all.

This past May, I was invited to attend both the Met Gala and the Girl Scout Gala. By coincidence, I ran into Ciara Miller at both events. We had genuine conversations, and I gave her a copy of The Emmie Effect card game. No agenda. No expectation. Just sharing something I created that I was proud of. Weeks later, I was watching the season finale of Summer House when suddenly my card game appeared on television.

I couldn’t believe it.

The funny thing is, none of these moments happened because I was chasing the spotlight. They happened because I kept showing up. I kept building. I kept putting myself in rooms that scared me. I kept believing that my dreams were possible before there was any evidence that they were. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that extraordinary opportunities often grow out of ordinary moments. A conversation. A connection. A chance encounter. A dream that sounds too big. The moral of the story isn’t that I danced in the Super Bowl, rode in a championship parade, attended incredible events, or saw my product appear on television.

It’s that every one of those moments started long before anyone else saw them. They started with belief. They started with kindness. They started with gratitude. And they started with a decision to keep going, even when the dream felt impossibly far away. That’s why I always say: be where your feet are. Believe in yourself before the world believes in you. Choose kindness always. And never underestimate what can happen when preparation, gratitude, and a little bit of courage meet opportunity. 💙🧡✨

Emmie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Here’s a version that feels authentic to you—grateful, accomplished, and rooted in The Emmie Effect rather than sounding like a résumé:

My name is Emmie Levy, and I am the founder of The Emmie Effect. I am a motivational speaker for children and young adults helping them build self-belief, practice kindness, and learn how to intentionally create the lives they want for themselves.

What’s funny is that The Emmie Effect was never part of some grand business plan. It was born from my own journey. Growing up, I struggled with confidence, comparison, and self-doubt just like so many young people do. Over time, I learned that confidence isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something you build. I also learned that many of the dreams I once thought were impossible became reality when I started believing they were possible, taking action, and refusing to give up when things got hard.

Today, I travel the country speaking to thousands of children, teens, young adults, camp communities, schools, and organizations through The Emmie Effect. My workshops combine storytelling, hands-on activities, reflection exercises, and meaningful conversations that help participants discover their strengths, develop confidence, and think differently about what they’re capable of achieving.

The three pillars of The Emmie Effect are Confidence, Kindness, and Manifestation. While confidence is often at the center of what I teach, I strongly believe that confidence without kindness isn’t nearly as powerful. My goal is to help young people believe in themselves while also encouraging them to uplift those around them. I want them to understand that success isn’t just about achieving goals—it’s about the person you become while pursuing them.

One thing that sets my work apart is that I don’t teach these concepts from a textbook. I teach them through lived experience. The same manifestation and confidence-building principles I share in my workshops are the ones I used in my own life. Those principles helped me manifest opportunities I once only dreamed about, including dancing in the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Usher, working for the New York Knicks, running the NYC Half Marathon and building a business that now reaches young people across the country.

What I’m most proud of, however, isn’t any single accomplishment. It’s the messages I receive from campers, students, parents, teachers, and counselors who tell me that something we discussed during a workshop changed the way they see themselves. It’s hearing a young person say they finally raised their hand in class, tried out for a team, made a new friend, spoke up for themselves, or believed in a dream they previously thought was impossible.

At the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: every young person deserves to feel confident in who they are and hopeful about where they’re going.

If there’s one thing I want people to know about me and my brand, it’s that The Emmie Effect is about more than motivation. It’s about giving young people practical tools, meaningful experiences, and a supportive environment where they can recognize their worth, strengthen their confidence, and learn that their dreams are far more possible than they think.

My favorite reminder—and the message I hope people leave with after experiencing The Emmie Effect—is this: Be Where Your Feet Are. Stay present. Stay grateful. Believe in yourself. And never underestimate what can happen when confidence, kindness, and perseverance come together.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This would work well as one of your two dropdown responses:

One piece of advice I would give to anyone building a business or personal brand is simple: be yourself.

In a world where it’s easy to compare yourself to others or feel pressure to follow every trend, authenticity will always stand out. The people who connect with your work are connecting with you, not a perfectly curated version of who you think you’re supposed to be.

I also think it’s important to stop being afraid of things flopping. If a post doesn’t get views, leave it up. If a project doesn’t get the response you hoped for, leave it out in the world. I’ve learned that timing matters. A video you post today might not resonate with many people, but a year from now it could resurface on someone’s feed and become exactly what they needed to hear that day. If I post a video about confidence or kindness and it helps even one person, that’s a win.

Another lesson I’ve learned is to say yes to opportunities. Some of the biggest moments of my life happened because I was willing to step into rooms that felt intimidating or take chances that weren’t guaranteed to work out. At the same time, know your worth. You can be grateful for opportunities while still valuing your time, your expertise, and what you bring to the table.

Most importantly, remember that success rarely happens overnight. Keep showing up, keep learning, keep being kind to people, and keep believing in yourself even before there’s evidence that everyone else should. You never know which conversation, opportunity, post, or moment is going to change everything. Follow along on all socials @theemmieeffect !

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots in my life happened after college.

I went to school to become a teacher and genuinely thought that was the path I was meant to take. I completed my degree in Childhood Education, spent years preparing for the classroom, and even completed my student teaching during COVID. Because of the pandemic, every student was wearing a mask, which created a unique and challenging environment for a future educator. I still went all in—I took the certification exams, completed the requirements, and became a New York State Certified Teacher.

But during that experience, I started to realize something important about myself.

While I loved working with children, I felt creatively restricted. I had ideas, energy, and lessons I wanted to share that didn’t always fit neatly within the walls of a traditional classroom. The more I reflected on it, the more I realized my passion wasn’t necessarily teaching a specific subject—it was helping young people build confidence, believe in themselves, and recognize their potential.

The scary part was that there wasn’t a clear roadmap for what came next.

I had done everything I was “supposed” to do. I had the degree. I had the certification. I had a career path waiting for me. Walking away from that certainty felt terrifying because there wasn’t a safety net. There was no guarantee that what I wanted to build would work.

Instead of taking the traditional teaching job, I decided to bet on myself.

I took my personality, my experiences, and my passion for empowering young people and turned them into a business. That business became The Emmie Effect, a confidence and manifestation workshop experience that now reaches children, teens, young adults, schools, camps, and organizations across the country.

Looking back, that pivot changed everything.

It led me to opportunities I never could have imagined—from speaking to thousands of young people nationwide, to dancing in the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Usher, to working for the New York Knicks, and building a career that allows me to inspire others while being fully myself.

The biggest lesson I learned is that sometimes the dream you worked so hard for isn’t the final destination—it’s simply preparing you for the dream you’re actually meant to pursue. My education degree didn’t go to waste. In many ways, I still teach every single day. I just found a classroom much bigger than the one I originally imagined.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theemmieeffect.com
• Instagram: @theemmieeffect
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmielevy/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmieEffect
• Other: TikTok: @theemmieeffect