In December 2024, we lost our Emily—fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, wickedly smart, and unapologetically sassy. She was a bright light in the world for so many. In her memory, we’re raising funds to dedicate a bookshelf at the newly renovated Downtown Hartford Public Library in her honor.

Hartford was Emily's home from 2008 to 2012, when she put her heart into teaching her beloved 2nd and 3rd graders at Noah Webster Elementary. She later earned her PhD in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University in 2018, where she became a passionate advocate for destigmatizing mental health struggles and championed the right for everyone to have spaces that are safe, loving, and unwavering in their support.

You can read about some of her efforts in an AP piece from 2024 that she was so proud of: https://apnews.com/article/treatmentresistant-depression-dbs-deep-brain-stimulation-26383d6e5f9eb797485b7bc277cac59c?fbclid=IwY2xjawKQbo9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFRUW9OU1ZOS0FRNmV1d2YzAR68JOWwxZUAL7IbTO252HzPUsXdnlW8klcChmQBb0VFdNToj8DZeEK2YcsRaQ_aem_YPop4Ou-zq_i9rsjJkjWww

Throughout her life, libraries were safe, vibrant, warm places for Emily—and that’s why we believe there’s no better place for her memory to live on.

Any amount helps, and anything collected over the goal amount for her memorial bookshelf will be donated to the children's section of the HPL directly. Thank you, loves, for keeping her light with us. (Now go put on some Beyoncé.)