Meet Sophie Emma Wells

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophie Emma Wells.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sophie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always had a fear of boxes. Whenever I see those cardboard containers, goosebumps always prickle up on my skin.

We say that we don’t sort others into boxes, but we do. We constantly categorize and label, bubbling in answers that shape identities–a single space, a single bubble, a single box.

However, if we’re constantly being boxed in, how will we ever blossom in the big world around us?

That’s why whenever I’m labeled, I push the boundaries. I never accept limits.

When I first joined my robotics team, I was immediately labeled: the only girl and the only Hispanic. I never challenged this perception. I submissively did the unskilled jobs– cleaning up the tray and putting everything away. I was held back from doing what I was there for and what I was capable of contributing.

Yet, once you open the lid of the box and the sunshine pours in, you know that leaving the box allows you to stretch towards the light.

I knew I could do more than basic tasks, so every night I quizzed myself on VEX parts so I could contribute as much as the others and talk knowledgeably with my peers.

But I could do more.

I took the initiative and became Social Media Advisor for the team. I created a promotional plan and increased our outreach by 20 times. I posted interesting content on our Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Despite breaking free of the engineering box that was constraining me, my school, my teachers, and my peers were constraining me. We are taught to focus our high school career on one college, one job, one life. I once had a conversation with my principal about my future, and he said I could also focus my time and energy into either engineering or film. Being an award-winning filmmaker, working on an amazon prime film set, being in the arts for more than ten years, I could not let that go. I loved both equally and decided to pursue both. I graduated with a distinction from both my engineering and film school and now in college, I am producing virtual short films while participating in engineering projects.

I have creative strengths as well as engineering skills. I broke free from my box within my engineering school and my school in general and showed everyone that I couldn’t be defined by one single bubble. I have left-brain practicality and right-brain creativity– one box is not big enough to hold me.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s fair to say that everyone has had their share of obstacles. Mine are very similar to most of my peers my age — stress, fatigue, depression. However, when COVID-19 struck, all my demons I had pushed down during school arose.

Around May 2020, I grew into a very depressive state. After all the highs of my neighbors throwing a street graduation for me, my school throwing a drive through graduation, and my family throwing a virtual graduation, things seemed so… bleak. I didn’t want to start my freshman year in my dream school online. My dorms got canceled. My addiction to virtual reality increased, I didn’t want to live my reality. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted COVID gone, but I couldn’t do a single thing to change the world. That exact thought, the idea of helplessness, increased my depression.

Many months of lounging and doing nothing, I decided I would not let this evil voice in my head take over my life. I decided to write a simple song, a song to make me do something, anything, to prove to this voice in my head that it had not won.

I published it in July, and my confidence soared. I proved to the voice in my head that I could do something. While the voice is still there, telling me I can’t be the best, I don’t let it rule over my life. I may not have gotten into that acapella club or that improv club, but failure is your biggest success. Once you fail, try again, and if you’re passionate enough about your dream, you will achieve it. And my original song will release on Spotify on October 31st!

Due to COVID-19, I have become super resilient. I managed to seize a spot in an off campus apartment. I walk every day to take my online classes outside because even though my freshman experience isn’t “normal” I will try to make it as close to “normal” as possible. A friend once told me, you play the cards you are dealt, and I have played the best cards I could possibly play in this situation. And you can too.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
As a kid, I always stretched rules. I was too young to remember this, however, my dad constantly tells me this story to lighten up my mood.

My kitchen is connect to my living room by a doorframe, however, the kitchen table cannot see the tv, unless you physically move the chair. The naughty chair was in the kitchen.

When I was roughly three years old, I disobeyed my parents. My dad sat me in the naughty chair and played my favorite tv show, Spongebob, in the other room. He said I could not leave the naughty chair, and he sat down in the living room.

A couple of minutes later, my dad turned around and saw that I had moved the naughty chair (I was still sitting on it) in the doorframe and was happily watching Spongebob.

My dad moved the naughty chair back to the original place and told me I could not move the chair nor leave it, and he sat down in the living room.

A couple of minutes later, my dad turned around and saw that I had my head peeked around the doorframe and was happily watching Spongebob. He walked into the kitchen and saw the naughty chair in the same place, but I had my foot touching the very bottom edge of the seat, enough to be able to watch Spongebob.

My dad chuckled, knowing that for the rest of my life, I would never let people confine me.

Contact Info:

• Website: bit.ly/sophieemmawells
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophieewells/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophieemmawells/
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/sophieemmawells

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