Emebet Belete grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 1988 she graduated from the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts.
Since then, she has worked as a studio artist and an art educator. She has exhibited on four continents, and been written up in a number of publications, including Revue Noire (Paris) and Profile Kingston. Among her achievements was editing and publishing the first catalogue of women artists’ work in Ethiopia (FOWA: the Friendship of Woman Artists), an organization that she lead in its first few years.
After emigrating to Canada she completed fine arts and education degrees at Queen’s University.
She returned to Belleville in 2013, where she can be found creating art, and running educational workshops.