Emma E. Houston is a Senior Advisor at the Gardner Institute, currently serving as Special Assistant to the Vice President of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Utah and leads strategies for staff and faculty engagement and program development.
Emma works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems within community and corporate sectors to increase awareness around equity, diversity, and inclusion. Her work is designed to create inclusive spaces that celebrate, acknowledge, embrace, and understand the overachieving umbrella of EDI. Emma helps organizations to define, implement, and advance EDI by infusing strategies into all segments of policies, practices and procedures to create focused, intentional, and sustainable change across the organizational structure.
A well-known and longtime community member and advocate, Emma is the former Diversity & Inclusion Director for Salt Lake County Government, serves as the appointed chair of the Utah MLK Jr., Human Rights Commission, and on the Utah COVID-19 Task Force.
Emma has conducted EDI training sessions and conversations with Utah Highway Patrol, LUCID, Malouf, Alzheimer’s Association, Multiple Sclerosis and The Utah Department of Corrections.
Emma was named one of the 30 Women to Watch for her work with diversity and inclusion by Utah Business Magazine and was also named Who’s Who of Black Utah by IMPACT Magazine. Emma is the owner and CEO of Brighter Day Productions, LLC and holds a BS in Business Management and an MBA in Business Administration.