Proud Warnidhilyagwa woman and ARIA-nominated artist Emily Wurramara is no stranger to fame or success. As well as building her own musical career, she’s been performed with top local and global musicians. In this powerful conversation, she speaks to the First Nations Foundation’s Larisha Jerome about how she balances work and staying grounded. She also shares how she’s learnt to budget.

My name is Emily Wurramara, and I am a Warnidhilyagwa woman from Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory.

Larisha: Tell us a little bit about your life right now and what you’ve got on the go?

Emily: At the moment, I’ve just been doing some small gigs here and there. I’ve just finished working on my second album, so we’re getting pretty excited for that and I’ve just been really focused on being at home with my family. I’ve just moved into a new house, so a lot of unpacking, a lot of empty boxes everywhere, which is really interesting. And yes, just kind of just taking it easy to be honest, I felt like last year was pretty crazy, so just really taking care of myself this year.

Larisha: Yes, good, while keeping yourself grounded.

Emily: Yes, that, and just really embracing everything that comes kind of thing, you know, like just not going into things with expectancy or assumptions, just allowing things to just kind of happen and whatever happens, happens.

Larisha: Yes, love that mindset, love it and tell us about life as a musician. I know last year you’re on tour with Jack Johnson. You’ve been on tour with Cat Empire. John Butler Trio. Tell us a little bit about that and especially around, you know, the festivals and things that you’re involved with.

Emily: Touring with amazing artists, like, you know, I grew up listening to Jack and I grew up listening to a lot of the artists like Missy. I just think it’s a huge opportunity and not just for that, but to connect on a genuine level. You know, as an artist, it is about connections and it is about making genuine real connections in the industry. I think that when you meet a lot of these people, they kind of and hear their story, it’s really inspiring and it kind of really motivates you to do what makes you happy. Just being in that environment as well also helps you grow as an artist and as a person.

You find so many similarities between your lives, you are like, “oh, okay, you’re single, you’re a single mum and you’re doing this and you’re raising your bub and still have amazing hits out and touring like it is a difficult, difficult thing, touring life is pretty difficult”. But again, having that self-awareness of and being aware of yourself and your comfortability and what makes you feel safe is so important.

Larisha: How do you keep yourself safe from that as well and keeping yourself grounded, especially when you’re on tour? Cause well, firstly, you’re away from your family, you’re away from country, and then, you know, there’s so much community expectation of you as well when you’re going out representing who you are and where you’re from.

Emily: Oh, yes, look, it is something that I think I’ve come to learn to find methods while I’m touring to keep myself feeling good and feeling deadly and feeling refreshed and just held, you know, a lot of what comes into mind when it’s touring, it’s like, you’re going to the gigs and then there’s the after parties or like, whatever this, it looks joyous and it looks crazy, but I’m so happy to stay in and order room service and watch Wizard of Oz or like for any day, like that’s like my go-to.

I think that’s the thing. I am aware that I give so much on stage and are so vulnerable that I need to have time whether it be for 2 to 4 hours by myself, going for a walk or having a bath and putting in like oils or just like lighting up an incense.

It’s little rituals that you need to put in place, and there are so many that I do. But one of them definitely is getting out there and having a look around. I have really bad social anxiety, so sometimes I’ll just go to a park and sit down and watch the ducks, or just sit there and sit under a tree because, you know, it’s like sitting in at home where I live.

I sit under the tree and I feel that like connection and connecting to the earth and grounding yourself in that way and being amongst the environment. It is so important because it really helps with your mental health and how you travel on tour and also how you react to things when you’re on tour. So much can happen and it can be so sort of stressful, so it’s just finding those times of patience and times to remind yourself that, you know, it’s okay and that happens, but you move forward.

Larisha: How do you manage your finances as a musician? Money coming in and out, how do you keep on top of the cash flow and just living day-to-day?

Emily: To be honest, in the last year and a half, I’ve just really started implementing a very strict budget because my goal is to buy a house or land. I’m not quite sure which one yet, whatever happens, happens.

I also  have my manager, who looks after my financial stuff within my business, and then I have my accountant who also helps me with my business and my personal things. I only just got an accountant about six months ago. As a young Indigenous woman…. My parents will just buy whatever because that made them happy. They didn’t really teach me a lot about money saving, you know, so I had to learn the hard way of how to save money and how to budget and how to look after myself and make sure I have food left, like money left over for food and paid my rent.

Because I travel so much and tour so much, there are a lot of expenses that come out of my income: my band members, my tour manager, my booking agent, my manager. There are a lot of expenses that come out, per diem, Uber fees, like, you know, and then I get like a lump sum at the end of it, and then that gets transferred over to me and then I divvy out what that like I’ll use that and try and save and I budget what I have until the next month because I only get paid monthly. So, for example, for rent, I’ll pay a month’s rent in advance so that I’m always ahead and then that helps me save money throughout the month.

Then, there are just like little things that I do instead of like buying herbs, like I am growing my own herbs and spices and like, it’s really fun and my partner is Italian Aboriginal so that he’s like, very, I don’t know, he’s such a Nona in many ways. But he’s also a very deadly uncle in very many ways.

This is an edited transcript of RBW: A podcast telling powerful stories of First Nations women. To hear more, visit tomorrowmoney.co/rbw 

You can also catch Emily in a new Rich Blak Women Youtube series, which launches next week.