Emma Levy Class of 2002

Up until March 2020, my career was going exactly according to plan. For the previous several years I had been a physiotherapist for the English Institute of Sport, working with elite, Olympic athletes across different sports. In addition, just six months prior, I had fulfilled one of my lifelong ambitions by starting up my own private physio practice, Elevate Physio & Performance, and it was thriving. But then, life threw some obstacles (or lemons, as we’ll see later) at me. First, Covid, which affected all of us meant that I had to close my private practice as it had not been in existence long enough to receive government support.

Then, in May 2020, the unimaginable happened and I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of just 36. I underwent a double mastectomy with reconstruction, three gruelling months of chemotherapy, 15 sessions of radiotherapy and a further six months of antibody infusions.

And with that life-changing event, came a bit of a reset in my professional life. That lifechanging event led me to rethink my professional life. The drive that I’d had for my private practice, before covid and then cancer, had not been rekindled. So, for now at least, I said goodbye to Elevate and focused on my work with the GB Olympic diving team, which I love.

The cancer diagnosis also challenged my personal ambitions. I set myself a goal in my very first session of chemotherapy of completing my first Olympic-distance Triathlon as soon as I was physically able to do so (which I did - 11 months following major surgery and only one month following completion of all active cancer treatment – one of the proudest moments of my life).

But, more than that, the number of hours in solitude during chemotherapy and post-surgery had lit another flame. I had become an ardent fan of podcasts, being consistently inspired by an array of different guests on various podcasts - I found them to be a great tool for self-development.

In addition, as I had such a wealth of support during my treatment, even in the midst of lockdown, from friends, charities and even strangers, I wanted to give something back to the cancer community, so I started a “Big C” running club for people who had been touched by cancer. I had been very private during my illness, but now that I was recovered, I found that I wanted to share my experiences in the hope that it could help others who were going through similar things. Through the running club I met some inspiring individuals, and I was relishing learning new things about myself and the other members of the club.

These two passions merged and one day I recognised that I wanted to put my experiences out there in the public sphere. I had always loved public speaking and before choosing physiotherapy to study at university, I had been weighing up between broadcasting and physio. In fact, whilst at NLCS, my ambition had been to one day be a Blue Peter presenter! I also clearly remember Mrs Kendler telling me that I should seek a career in radio. As usual, I didn’t listen to my teachers and I chose physiotherapy, which has been an extremely fulfilling career up to now.

I realised that I wanted to start my own podcast. During my treatment, I questioned whether it was my positive mindset or maybe something deeper, which enabled me to bounce back and to train and compete in the triathlon. And having worked with elite athletes for most of my career, it’s always intrigued me that a significant number of high performing individuals have encountered some form of adversity earlier in their lifetime. So the premise of the podcast would be to meet and interview a variety of high performing individuals, across the sporting, cultural and corporate world and beyond who have experienced adversity but who have come back stronger.

I had the seed of an idea, but like everything else in life, one of the most difficult parts of starting something new is the transition from ideation to actually making it happen. Luckily, I’ve always been a determined person with a great support network and once I have an idea, there is no going back. So, for the past eight months I have been planning the production of my new podcast ‘When Life Gives you Lemons’, which was launched in February 2023. So far, I have interviewed, amongst others, Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists, actors, authors, TV personalities and entrepreneurs, with more to come over the next few weeks and months.

The aim is to delve into their stories from trauma to growth and attempt to understand how some individuals are able to use adversity to their advantage. My hope is that by collaborating with these individuals and sharing and exploring their stories we can help others deal with adversity and inspire them to do great things.

So, please check out ‘When Life Gives you Lemons’ on all your usual podcast platforms and I would always welcome some feedback from ONLs so please do get in touch.