Emma Rosa Dias

Early life

Emma-Rosa Dias was born in Belfast. Her mother is of Northern Irish descent and her father is Angolan.

Emma's mother managed a well known local record shop called Blinkers in the Student's Union of Queen's University Belfast between 1978-1986. Growing up around this, Emma-Rosa was immersed in a musical environment, and encountered various subcultures from mods and punks to new romantics that would frequent Blinkers. Emma-Rosa’s musical background also extended to her uncle, who was a sound engineer for many bands that played in Northern Ireland, including Pink Floyd, The Clash and Van Morrison.

While attending Botanic Primary School in Belfast, Emma-Rosa became interested in performing arts, and was encouraged to develop her talent by joining a Belfast theatre group. Emma-Rosa later went on to win The Lyric Theatre's youth drama award two years running. Emma-Rosa also attained an Honours in Grade 1 to 4 ballet from the Royal Academy of Dancing.

Early career

Emma-Rosa moved to Koln, Germany in 1990 with her mother, residing there until 1998. During this time, Emma-Rosa became fluent in German, and her media career began in the German music industry in 1992. Starting in the House and Techno music scene when the dance/rave culture was thriving, Emma-Rosa managed the European bookings for DJ’s such as Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier and Richie Hawtin; she also secured European bookings for several homegrown DJ friends such as David Holmes (musician). This experience led to a P.R. role, working for Planet House Records before it was purchased by Warner Brothers Music. She also co-managed the German tour for American alternative hip hop band Arrested Development.

Emma-Rosa’s first TV media venture came when she was recruited to work for Germany’s landmark children’s TV series Die Sendung mit der Maus, for WDR Television, where she managed guest bands who were performing on the show.

While in Germany, Emma also gained commercial experience, managing clothing label launch events at Interjeans for designer labels Boxfresh, Stussy and Vans.

Shipwrecked and television career

Emma-Rosa next move was starring as a cast member in the second season of Channel 4’s long running British reality television show Shipwrecked, produced by RDF Media (Zodiak Media) in 2000.

Her television career began to snowball further when she secured a job presenting BBC factual entertainment series Dinner Next Door, produced by BAFTA award winning Alison Miller. Emma-Rosa heralds Alison as a mentor and teacher in her television career.

While working in Sydney, Australia, Emma-Rosa had an unusual and memorable introduction to actor Hugh Jackman. Impressed by her talent, Jackman sponsored Emma-Rosa to take a three-month intensive television production course at Actors Centre Australia in Sydney.

Returning from her travels, Emma-Rosa began freelancing as a television presenter for BBC and UTV,, and also began a production career behind the camera at Street Monkey TV, Belfast. Her behind the scenes work developed her experience of commercial production, eventually leading to roles as an In-House TV producer and Assistant Creative Director at Ardmore Advertising. Emma-Rosa produced commercials for many companies including Subway, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Stena Line and Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Emma-Rosa fronted the ‘Backin’ Belfast’ campaign, which won the Tourism Think Tank Awards in Berlin, 2013, and Digital Communications Award, beating competition from over 600 contenders.

Afro-Mic Productions

Drawing on over 16 years experience of producing, presenting and directing, Emma-Rosa founded her own company, Afro-Mic Productions, in September 2013.

Their first project was ‘Belfast is Happy’, a unique version of the Pharrell Williams music video Happy, which was shot featuring members of the public in Belfast dancing in the street. The video garnered worldwide attention, racking up 100,000 hits in the first 2 days on YouTube and was endorsed by Pharrell’s production company i Am Other, as well as The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Using her passion for music and subcultures, Emma-Rosa Dias produced, directed and presented a series of documentaries on Mod subculture, including 'Faces In The Crowd',For The Love of Mod: London, and For The Love Of Mod: Tokyo. Starting off as a series of self-funded online YouTube short documentary interviews, the series has been viewed and downloaded in over 100 countries and has gained international acclaim , with reviews praising the authentic portrayals of the Mod scene.

As well as producing The Devil for Channel 4’s Random Acts strand and Big Toe Needs A Hand for Channel 4's All 4, Afro-Mic have also produced successful ad campaigns for well-known companies like Moy Park and Hughes Insurance. They have just filmed their first short drama film, Cry Rosa, as part of the RTÉ Storyland commissioning strand - this is based on a true story, centered around Emma-Rosa's own experiences. This will be available to a worldwide audience on RTÉ Player late 2017. Afro-Mic is currently working with Stellify Productions to film a pilot for A Taste of Home, a fun new cookery show based in Northern Ireland.

Growing quickly in stature, Afro-Mic Productions aim is to concentrate on producing high quality films and documentaries with a unique, personal touch.