Councilor Emma Zacharias grew up under the Empire, so she heard about many distressing things - from the slaughtering of the Jedi to the destruction of Alderaan - and she decided that she had to find some peace from it all. That led her to become one of the founders of the Solace Colony idea, along with other Councilors like Harold Firegg, Werro Prell, and Charles Deakins.