Sharon Emery

Sharon Emery is a communicator who struggles to speak. She forged a career in journalism, public relations, and teaching, speaking with her “accent,” her stutter. Luckily, it taught her a lot about life.

Emery wrote her memoir to help guide her children on their own life journeys, stressing the amazing resilience of human beings. Exhibit A: herself.

She wanted them to know of the losses and limits she faced but couldn't change – no matter how hard she tried.

And she did try. First with her incurable severe stutter, then with the death of her daughter, Jessica, who had disabilities, and the too-early deaths of her own younger siblings. Meanwhile, her “broken” voice meant her long career in communications was regularly a battle.

In the foreword, former NFL player Steve Gleason – a friend of Emery's son, Ben Schneider, front man for the band Lord Huron – provides a compelling introduction to what we can gain from what we lose. Gleason played six seasons with the New Orleans Saints and famously blocked a punt in the first home game after Hurricane Katrina, which became a symbol of rebirth for the city. He has lived with ALS for more than ten years and, through the Team Gleason foundation, is a leading advocate for people with the debilitating disease that has no cure.

Her memoir recounts Emery's challenges and achievements, tracing her efforts to give them meaning and find where they fit in her life. It's a process she considers vital to surviving what happens to you – telling the story.

Her memoir is a reaffirming example of how it can be done.

Lori Nelson Spielman, New York Times bestselling author of "The Life List," calls Emery's book “a gift to the world.”

Emery grew up in the Detroit area and now lives near Lansing with her husband John Schneider, former daily columnist for the Lansing State Journal.