We recently had the chance to connect with Emma Hoeflinger and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Emma, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Who are you learning from right now?
Any heavy hitter high fantasy author. Since 2020 i’ve been back on my insane reading intake. I can read and retain books on a crazy fast level so I’ve been able to have my mind blown and opened by so many great authors. Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen has to be one of the greatest book series I’ve ever read. He’s said the series is 3 million words on compassion and even that is an understatement.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Howdy! My names Emma Hoeflinger and I’m the lead singer and guitar player of Oginalii. In my core I’m a songwriter, and lyricism has always been my journal, my therapist, and how I work out the stuff that’s clouding my truths.
It’s been a rowdy past few years for us as a band and we’ve been in a hibernation of sorts but we’re just about to the point that our next full length record is where the vision and the songs are ready to record. Honestly though, 4 years ago I started losing all my hair, and little did I know Alopecia Areata made its presence known. Within a year and a half my whole head of hair along with every strand on my body was gone (yup nose hairs too). I sank into a pretty dark place and writing felt like the last thing I could do. As something that normally is so personal and restorative for me, being vulnerable was the last thing I could handle. Looking in the mirror wasn’t fun for me but because of all of that, I smashed the mirror and screamed all of it into these songs. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. Stay tuned next year.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I grew up as a missionary kid in Norway at the age of 5 till I was 8. We were there during the Bosnian and Croatian Wars and because of that my parents were often in refugee camps donating time, food, clothes, etc. One of the times they brought all of us kids with them I distinctly remember meeting this girl that was around my age and we ended up hanging out all day. I didn’t know her name, no idea if she even still had her family, but we somehow communicated with one another and enjoying each others presence. I think that sort of genuine human need for connection will always stick with me, and the excitement of that renewed spirit to experience everything I can in this life. Even though, we didn’t even understand each other but yet we enjoyed every second we had. I think all of that speaks for itself and what I value in this world. Perspective is always what I seek.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I tattooed my head once I knew I was heading towards Alopecia Universalis and though many saw it as me being a little too feral with that choice, to me it was putting something beautiful where I used to see uglyness. It was me taking back the control I didn’t have with my own body. I started to see the strong human I was and how much that can permeate outwards to the people around me as well. Pain is an ever evolving knife that shows its face every so often and for me that face was always my own. I had to choose for myself when the cycle ended.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Whose ideas do you rely on most that aren’t your own?
Aldous Huxley. He’s a very important author for me, as he was such an influence on the way I was trying to make sense of my own reality as a kid. Then as an adult I discovered so much more of what he has to offer as an author. I see him as a scientific artist and that is something I try to mirror in my own life and artistic perspective. I mean for an author to revisit and critique his own works 26 years later is a genuine human that is always seeking the ultimate truths. The human experience and how that changes as we age is something very important to me and always evolving.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What light inside you have you been dimming?
My drive and my creative voice. It genuinely has taken me quite some time to feel like I was worth committing to again. When you feel like you’ve lost your identity, the confidence that I had, was in a sense blocked from reconnecting to the places that used to feel good, feel like I was truly myself. I still have those bad days and will still have them, but I know even in that darkness I am my own light. I hear my own voice again, and I’m choosing to trust it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oginalii.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oginalii
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/oginalii
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/oginalii
Image Credits
Matt Blum, H.N. James, Christian Barker
