Emerald Wright Coolie

Since completing my year of service at GO, I continued my passion for inspiring kids and volunteered at the New York International Children’s Film Festival, while also working at Trader Joes to make ends meet. After volunteering I applied for an internship at the Film Festival that I worked at, while simultaneously working at Trader Joes until I was offered a full time position at the Festival as a Programming Assistant, which launched me into my career working in the Children’s Media Industry. After my time at the Festival, I started as a Creative Assistant at Silvergate Media (newly acquired by SONY) and worked my way to my current position as Director of Development. 

Being born into a family of educators and going through the school system myself, it was always important to me to dedicate a piece of myself to Education, which is why my year of service was so impactful to me personally. Working at Great Oaks was a wonderful opportunity to bond with a group of students in a small setting and encourage them to grow over the course of the year. Hoping that the time you spent with them made a sliver of an impact on their bright futures. That was first, and most important. Layered on top of that piece was a great introduction to the educational system, and a crash course on professionalism and accountability, those lessons still inform my work ethic today.