Emily Bua is the CEO and Co-Owner of Flexfire LEDs, a US-based leader in manufacturing high-quality LED lighting solutions for professionals and end-users, trusted by homeowners, contractors, designers, and integrators alike. A creative and ambitious entrepreneur with a deep appetite for calculated risk, Emily acquired Flexfire LEDs in 2024 alongside her husband, Eric Bua, the company’s COO and Co-Owner, with a shared vision: to expand the brand and make professional, spec-quality lighting more accessible across the US and beyond.
The two approached the acquisition as a team: Eric drove the initial search and analysis, and Emily led the negotiations that sealed the deal — a process that drew on more than a decade of experience in marketing, strategic planning, business development, and project management. Since coming on board, Emily has focused on deepening Flexfire’s partnerships with contractors, distributors, designers, and integrators — strengthening the company’s B2B offerings and building programs that help partners win more projects and grow alongside the brand. Born and raised in Texas, she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Before stepping into the CEO role, she built a versatile career spanning marketing strategy, event planning, and organizational leadership, including coordinating large-scale programming for audiences of 800-plus and consulting work that sharpened her instinct for building strong, values-driven teams.
Under her leadership, Flexfire LEDs has continued to push the industry forward — more intentionally spotlighting and expanding the product offerings of its Leona® Smart Home System and earning national visibility, including a feature on All Access with Andy Garcia and a primetime commercial on Fox Business Network.
Emily’s boldest moves haven’t been confined to the boardroom. In 2022, she and Eric set aside the conventional playbook and traveled the country in an RV with their two young children, welcoming their third child along the way. That leap — choosing adventure and intentional living over the predictable path — reflects a guiding belief that meaningful rewards often require the courage to take big risks. She has also self-published a non-fiction book offering practical life guidance to young adults, a project that speaks to her wide-ranging creativity.
Today, Emily lives in Tennessee with Eric, their three children, and the family dog. When she’s not leading Flexfire LEDs, she’s traveling, exploring nature with friends and family, or riding her Vespa through Chattanooga.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
A typical day involves reviewing our business and financial milestones, connecting with team members where my input moves things forward, and protecting dedicated time for strategic thinking and development. I’ve found that intentionally stepping back from the day-to-day lets me lead more effectively — working on the business rather than in it. That’s only possible because of the strong team we’ve built, anchored by Eric’s leadership and our directors, Caye and Vanessa, who keep a productive environment running day to day. My most valuable contribution is setting clear, high-level direction and strategy that the team can then shape and execute.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I’m driven by inspiration, and I often find it in the most unexpected moments — while watching a show with Eric, on a walk, or on a bike ride. Bringing those ideas to life is where my team comes in: I tend to see the big picture and the direction, and I rely on the strong people around me to shape and execute it.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Eric and I always say that LED lighting is still in its infancy, and I love being in a space with so much future potential — especially as energy efficiency becomes a bigger priority. With AI and modern living driving electricity demand higher, people increasingly want lighting that’s efficient, long-lasting, and beautiful, without compromise. There will always be a need for light, and the technology behind it is only getting smarter.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I’ve recently built a somatic yoga practice into my routine — three to five times a week, whether for five minutes or thirty. It helps me connect more deeply with myself and shows up in my work as greater clarity, energy, and focus.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Honestly, I’d tell her to trust herself more. I believe we all have a strong inner knowing — and when we tune in to it, we find the clarity and direction we’re looking for. For me, there was plenty to work through to clear out the noise, and there still is.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you.
Toast with peanut butter, a fresh slice of tomato, and a sprinkle of sea salt is absolute gold — and I’ll stand by that no matter how many strange looks I get.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Always give yourself — and the people around you — room to grow. It’s less about hitting a specific goal or “arriving” and more about a continual practice of expansion.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
The best thing I can do is step away — move my body, or go for a ride. I love a good Vespa or bike ride. I’ll deliberately point my attention toward something completely unrelated. Giving myself that separation is often the hard part, because my instinct is to drill in harder. But that space is almost always where the clarity comes from.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Something I continually return to — both internally and with my team — is meeting hardship by asking what the situation has to offer us. When a challenge arises, instead of seeing it only as a setback, I look for what it’s doing for us and the opportunity inside it. I’ve come to treat each challenge as a map pointing toward something better.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
For years, I operated under the illusion that making other people happy would make me happy. It took a lot of unwinding before I realized how untrue, and how relentless, that pursuit really is. I did a lot of deep therapy work (like most millennials these days) and started turning inward, toward my own needs and desires rather than everyone else’s. It was painful and arduous, and I still have tendencies that pull me back into that mindset. But learning to honor myself has been a total game-changer. I genuinely wouldn’t be sitting in this role today if I hadn’t worked through it.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I literally thought last night that there should be salads on pizza slices — I love some good crunch with an NY-style pizza. And no, I’m not just talking about an arugula pizza. I’d suggest a local spot with a lot of character and unbeatable salad-and-pizza mashups.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I use Spark Mail to organize my inbox — it filters new senders and helps me prioritize, which keeps me sane every time I have to tackle email.
What is the best $100 you recently spent?
I recently started drinking hot tea, thanks to an amazing herbalist and company based in Tennessee called High Garden Tea. I ordered a tea kettle and several of their teas, and it’s been the medicine in my life I never knew I needed.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?
I go through seasons of consuming books and podcasts, and then quieter stretches where I’m not. Most recently, I’ve enjoyed Amy Poehler’s podcast “Good Hang.” I’m a big Parks and Rec fan, so hearing the cast and creators share their stories is always fun. I especially enjoyed the Michael Schur episode — I admire his approach to his shows and the way he empowers his team: creating a clear, defined vision and then giving them room to play within it. That’s a lot of how I aim to operate as a leader.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I’m currently working through all the Harry Potter movies — something I tend to do every year or two. There’s real nostalgia in them, having grown up reading the books as they were released. But they also help me tap back into my childlike imagination and creativity, which is a nice shift from business and parenting mode.
Key learnings:
- A leader’s role is to create a clear, defined vision and then give the team room to play within it — empowering people to take ownership and operate from curiosity.
- Hardship is best met by asking what the situation has to offer; every challenge can be treated as a map toward something better, not just a setback.
- Entrepreneurship takes a “semi-delusional” belief that things will work out — detaching from any single outcome and continuing to move forward through inevitable difficulty.
- Real success is being at home in your own life; outward achievement is just a band-aid without peace underneath it.
- Take everyone’s experience with a grain of salt — draw inspiration where you find it, but resist turning someone else’s recipe into the rulebook; people are just as likely to succeed going their own way.