Top humanities grad leads hectic double life

Braden

Some people search all their lives to find a life passion. Not Emily Braden. At age 23, she has two grand passions—Spanish and music—and she’s devoted her life to both.

"I’m so in love with music and I’m just as passionate about Spanish," she says. "Sometimes it can be exhausting, but having the two is what makes me feel alive."

By day, Braden is a serious scholar of Spanish and Latin American literature. She graduates from UVic this month with a BA in Latin American
studies—and a medal as the top student in the faculty of humanities.

By night, Braden is an accomplished jazz and blues singer, indulging a natural talent that became apparent while growing up in Boise, Idaho. She later moved to Oregon to study arts at Mount Hood Community College and sing with Genesis, a local jazz group that tours the Northwest.

She soon met renowned Victoria jazz musician Louise Rose, who offered to mentor her if she moved to B.C. "Louise has played piano for Aretha Franklin and sang back-up for Ray Charles," says Braden. "She’s incredible and so wise."

Braden arrived in Victoria in 2002 and, while taking music lessons from Rose, began her studies at UVic. She started out in linguistics but was immediately drawn to Spanish. "Music and language are very similar," she explains. "Both are driven by a desire to have a connection between people."

The past three years have been a blur of guitar and voice lessons, rehearsals and guest performances, yet Braden maintained her academic focus, achieving an impressive grade point average of 8.64.

"I like contrast," she says. "I love having a nightlife, and then this separate university life. I’m as attracted to the spontaneity and emotion of making music as I am to the analysis and contemplation that academic work requires."

Her studies were supported in part by the Pablo Cabañas Memorial Scholarship and a President’s Scholarship for part-time undergraduate students.
Braden’s music career will have to wait a little longer while she completes a master’s in Latin American studies at UVic. "It was a difficult decision, but there’s something in me that says don’t leave Spanish yet. My goal is to be completely fluent."

Braden has faith that there’ll always be room for both passions in her world. "All those clichés are so true about doing what you love and things will work out," she grins. "I really believe that."