“I've always known I was going to be a writer. I didn't know what that was going to look like,” muses Emily Laurent Henderson, She is a Greenlandic Inuk writer, journalist and cultural worker based in Toronto. She has worked with arts advocacy organizations over the course of her career but considers herself first and foremost a writer. At one point, she pursued music and dabbled in visual arts. Her father is a sculptor and jewelry designer and the arts have always been part of her life.

Henderson’s been writing since she was young and started to pursue it as a career in her last year at UBC.  At The Ethnographer, the Anthropological Students Association’s academic publication, Henderson was working in editorial and writing. She went on to apply as the editor at Inuit Art Quarterly, and she worked there as a student, interviewing artists and working with experienced writers. Now, she works with the Indigenous Curatorial Collective, serving Indigenous communities, artists and arts workers nationally while separately freelance writing.

“I always found that writing was the strongest way that I could express myself and get my point across.”

Personally, Henderson engages in creative writing and poetry while professionally she writes about arts and culture, interviewing and critiquing. “It was really something I fell into. I'm writing specifically about artists, and art history, Indigenous art histories, contemporary Indigenous design, because that's something I think I was so surrounded by growing up and something that I'm really, really passionate about, in my own professional and personal life, they just sort of merge together really beautifully,” she offers.

After completing her high school education in Southern BC, Henderson went to UBC. She took five and a half years to complete her undergraduate degree, taking time off for personal reasons and changing her mind about what she wanted to do. At first, she thought she would be a musician given she had done classical voice training growing up. She struggled in her first year of university and almost left but went into anthropology instead. The transferable skills were valuable and her school experience shaped her.

Her advice to young people is, “Don't be afraid to branch out and try things, even if they don't necessarily seem super relevant to what it is you want to do, or what it is you're planning to do.”

Henderson enjoyed musical theatre, being on the executive for the UBC Anthropological Students Society, being with the Indigenous Leadership Collective, podcasting, ballroom dancing, and networking. She worked at the Museum of Anthropology as a museum assistant and in litigation at Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Another opportunity Henderson had was participating in a Concordia University program called Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership, led by Inuk Art History professor Dr. Heather Igloliorte where she received mentorship, travelled to Venice, and wrote for Inuit Art Quarterly.

When it comes to students thinking of leaving their home community, Henderson suggests researching community spaces ahead of time. Moving from a small community to a big city was a big shock, not knowing how to ride transit or how to navigate the city. Away from her family and friends, she struggled. When she moved to Toronto, she researched ahead and that made a big difference. She sits on the board of the Toronto Inuit Association and has a strong cultural community she is part of.

Thinking of obstacles she faced, Henderson struggled in her education with outdated attitudes from peers and professors. At times, she worried about not fitting in in Coast Salish territories and some of the content she encountered in anthropology was uncomfortable. Working in some of the spaces was challenging, handling volatile material and being in difficult situations as a student. The learning experiences were difficult because they were especially personal.

Looking back on the experience Henderson reflects, “There's sort of an expectation of Indigenous students and Indigenous employees to kind of go above and beyond, as far as what knowledge we provide, and what emotional labor we provide. And one thing I say all the time, and I want young people to be really, really well and aware of is that it's not your job, to decolonize somebody's institution for them.” She recalls being asked to speak on things far outside her expertise, facing racism and being viewed from a pan-Indigenous perspective. She shares with young people, “It's not your job to be the spokesperson, to be the only Indigenous voice, the only Indigenous lens. We are a myriad of voices. You can only be expected to tell your own story. It's not fair to put an expectation on you to tell a story for a whole people.”

If Henderson could share a message with her younger self it would be, “Don't be afraid to seek out mentors.” She found mentorship in her early career and post-secondary to be transformative. She also would encourage herself not to force herself to follow any specific timeline for schooling and career. Exploring different workplaces and teams let her see possibilities. Between arts advocacy, freelance writing, and arts leadership, she’s building a career path that makes her happy and that she wouldn’t have known about as a younger person. She suggests young people seek out professionals doing what they want to do and find out how they got there. Mostly, she recommends being open to and seeking out possibilities.  

As someone who thrives in community, the early days of pandemic were hard for her, but Henderson maintained connection with online meet ups. She wrote through the isolation and developed innovative programming. She spent time in nature and stayed in touch with her feelings with tears as needed.

For inspiration, Henderson looks to her network of arts professionals nationally, to her best friend locally and the people in her life who she brainstorms with. She’s inspired by her ancestors and future generations. “It all comes down to people and culture and preparing for the future in a really good way, and in a way that considers what's next,” she beams.

In closing Henderson shares what she tells herself, “An extraordinary life requires extraordinary processes and it requires us to have extraordinary faith.” Looking back on all she has accomplished seven years out of high school, she’s amazed. Trusting the process in uncertain times has led to remarkable experiences, finding her strength, her voice and ability to maintain perspective. Lessons in resilience, holding ground, celebration, joy, community and relationship found her despite many challenges.

She always knew she was going to be a writer, but she didn’t know what that was going to look like. Emily Henderson started writing as a little girl and hasn’t stopped, writing into being the life she wants to live. Raised with the arts, she’s flourishing as part of the arts community and finding her place line by line.

Thank you to Alison Tedford Seaweed for writing this article!