Meet The Board: Emma Campbell
Emma Campbell received her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish as well as Secondary Education from The University of Iowa, and she has a Master’s in Urban Education from National Louis University. Emma taught English for two years in a small village in Northern Spain called Logroño and returned to Chicago's southwest side to teach Spanish to heritage speakers for eight years. She recently pivoted to the world of Marketing Operations, where she works on the offers team for the McDonald’s app. Emma is excited to see where those two extremes unite in the future. Still, in the meantime, she enjoys walking to the park with her rescue dog Winnie, watching objectively bad television, and reading as much as possible.
How did you get involved with Prismatic?
I currently work in marketing operations. I started around this time last year and have been at this job for about exactly a year. Before that, I taught high school Spanish for eight years with CPS.
When I started this new corporate world job, I felt like I was struggling with an identity crisis. I knew, like staying in the classroom, wasn't quite right, but maybe I went too far off the other end, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I contacted some people at my company because they promote volunteer hours and volunteerism. I asked, “What's a good place to start?”
So, someone who was adjacent to my team and was on the board for Prismatic informed me of what Prismatic was doing. She said, “I think this would be perfect for you because you were a teacher, and this has meaning to you.”
Prismatic is my way of still feeling connected to that world. This is exciting because when I was teaching, I didn't have time, that extra time in my brain or my life physically, to do additional volunteering.
Why is Prismatic’s mission critical to you?
Honestly, what caught my attention the most was reading more about the mission behind Prismatic. They were doing something I always tried to achieve as a teacher. After my first two or three years, I realized that Spanish was almost secondary to what was happening. If Spanish was going to happen, all these other things had to happen first.
When COVID happened, people at my school were like, “Oh my god, we have to think about mental health.” That was a huge wake-up call to raise awareness about mental health and emotional well-being.
During those two years of COVID-19, I was still in the classroom. I began dedicating more space to that, but I wasn’t keeping any record of it, and I didn't know if creating the space for it was doing anything. The mission feels personal to me. This could change things for a lot of students, a lot of teachers, and so on.
What excites you most about working with Prismatic?
I'm excited to be a part of something whose mission could be powerful and grow beyond Chicago.
But I'm most excited or interested in connecting with the students when and where those opportunities exist. Part of me also sees myself in an educational role. I don't know if that's in the classroom; however, we’re creating programs with potential mentorship with the board members and associate board members' opportunities for students. We’re currently figuring that out, so it's exciting and scary.
Ideally, our efforts will attract more people to the board and keep growing our mission and message. We have much to look forward to, and I can’t wait.
Why is it essential to teach EQ skills to Young Adults?
I heard one of my old colleagues talking with her class one day about her husband; before, working from home was a thing we all knew and experienced. She told them her husband works from home, and his boss is not even in Chicago. But he has to finish his tasks, and no one is standing over his shoulder telling him, “Make sure you do this,” “Make sure you reach this deadline.”
It's just like having that little voice in your head, and it has to come from within you that you want to be proud of the work that you're producing. Of course, in the school system, we're luring them with you getting an A, a sticker, and other rewards, but it’s not like that out in the world. So, I think having that inner drive and motivation is a big part.
What is your favorite self-care or community care practice, and why?
I love to write, and I find it cathartic. I used to be more active on my blog, which brought me much joy to share what life phase I was going through, be it travel, teaching, or a difficult time. Lately, I've found that I need to grab my journal and let it out when things feel heavy.
Ready to make a meaningful impact? Discover how you can contribute with Prismatic’s Turning Point Fund.