Teen expert lets adults in on secret

Not bad for a teenager who's already achieved goals many adults can only dream of. Eva-Maria is an author, speaker and certified life coach about a topic on which she is an expert: Teenagers, in particular, being one.

"Teenagers are people too," was Eva-Maria's topic when she spoke at a Her Business Network meeting at Marlborough Vintners Hotel last night. She also hosted a workshop this morning.

Presenting a quote from Socrates that stated teenagers were considered "tyrannical" to their teachers and had bad manners even in the ancient times, Eva-Maria offered a window into the world of the teenager, often considered a mystery by adults around them.

She also let the adults in the room into a teenage secret: Why the dishes are not done when asked, a domestic source of much conflict.

"Teenagers have all this energy. We can do so many things just ask us, just ask. But I will tell you why we don't do the dishes ... It's because at that point in time it's not important for us to have clean dishes in the house we will just do them later," she said to laughter in the audience.

Eva-Maria's speech touched on the cause of conflict between generations and focused on the teenage perspective. Elements like trust and understanding as simple as being calming when a teenager does not want to go to school because of a huge pimple could make a huge difference in a relationship with a caregiver, she said.

Having clear, solid role models were also important to teenagers, she said. "Teenagers are the apprentices of the future."

Eva-Maria has already written one book on the subject, called You Shut Up and her second book on the same theme is due out mid 2009. Ten per cent of all her book sales go to youth cancer organisation CanTeen.

Born in Russia, Eva-Maria moved to New Zealand when she was 6. Perfecting her Kiwi accent she attended Athena Montessori College in Wellington where she completed NCEA Level 1 and 2 when she was only Year 11. She finished NCEA a year and a half earlier than most students.

At school Eva-Maria also began mentoring other students. At 15 she began training as a life coach and in 2008 became an internationally certified coach. She already has a handful of coaching clients.

Between book tours, holding workshops for teenagers and adults and individual coaching, Eva-Maria is also assistant editor at youth magazine Tearaway and this year will study psychology at Victoria University.

Besides her aim of helping one million teenage-adult relationships this year, she also hoped to one day make it to Africa to "build some houses".  

- The Marlborough Express