Words by: Anna Lupardo
Graphic by: Samuel George
Melissa Owens Miller, professionally known as EMME, is a former Syracuse University D1 rower from the class of 85’. EMME, by trade, is a transformation coach. For EMME, her area of specialty is body appreciation advocacy. EMME explained this is not to be confused with body neutrality or body positive advocacy, as indifference about your body is “a midway between denial and overexuberance.” It is the first step to understanding your temple’s needs and functions – a stepping stone to body appreciation. Before her professional life became what it is today, EMME was a young woman who took the confidence she gained in her communications classes at Syracuse on a one-way trip to Los Angeles.
At the start of her career, EMME hustled – starting from the bottom, working as a page for NBC. She eventually made her way into the world of modeling, writing several books, and creating clothing lines, even hosting her own TV shows! As EMME’s career flourished, she found herself shooting for magazines. She often dressed in not one but often two garments sewn together to accommodate her size 14 figure. “Here I am on top of my industry, hosting TV shows; I am flying everywhere in the world to do my work. Why am I, as a mere size 14-16, having such a hard time finding garments that fit and are beautifully made?” EMME said. It was then that EMME realized she needed to return to Syracuse University and pitch an idea to help change that.
With the help of Syracuse University’s Visual and Performing Arts Design Program and its extraordinary professors, EMME implemented an inclusive fashion initiative called Fashion Without Limits. FWL, now entering its 9th year, allows student fashion designers to create, design, and drape on various body forms and graduate with an inclusive fashion education! EMME hopes to spread the program to even more colleges in the future. In 2021, EMME launched her non-profit, the True Beauty Foundation (where Fashion Without Limits is one of their programs), to help improve mental wellness for youth, their families, and friends.
EMME has accomplished an exorbitant amount in her professional life, wearing many different hats along the way, leading her to the successful woman she is today. But when I asked EMME to tell me who she is beyond her professional life, she answered that she believed she was put on this Earth to ignite within everybody an appreciation for every(body). She spoke on how our lack of appreciation for our physical bodies can be reflected in how much stress we place on our earth. This disconnect within ourselves, she feels, is what is disconnecting us from our impact on the Earth.
EMME believes everyone’s body is a Bouquet of Beauty – “some are sunflowers, some are roses, some are irises, some are tiny little Bonnie Bells or very large banana trees.” She continued, “If we learn to appreciate our bodies more, we not only help ourselves, we help our Earth and future generations to come to honor and celebrate each other’s differences – and appreciate just being as they are.”