Student's public service videos lead to Emmy nomination

Emily Houck (right) stands in front of the New Hampshire state capitol with brother Dillon and Secretary of State David Scanlan.

What started as a video series to help Idaho voters four years ago has turned into a regional Emmy nod for one Grand Canyon University alumna.

Emily Houck, who graduated this spring with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship, and the IDEEUH Media company she co-founded with her brother, Dillon, were nominated by the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

IDEEUH Media earned the nomination under the public service announcement campaign category, as the Houcks produced a series of educational videos aimed at educating New Hampshire voters through the secretary of state’s cybersecurity and civic education campaign.

The Emmy winners will be announced June 7 in Boston.

Emily Houck, who graduated from GCU with her entrepreneurship degree in April, and her company with her brother, IDEEUH Media, have produced public service announcement videos for various state governments. (Photo by Ralph Freso)

“With our generation, when it comes to elections, we're not going to go and find some 20-page PDF and read through it,” Emily said. “It's just not how we operate. So having something where it's three-minute bursts, and you can look at the title, see exactly what information you need, and know where to click on that, and it's actually entertaining. That's what we were trying to aim to do.”

The Emmy-nominated series was funded through a New Hampshire Department of Homeland Security grant, but the Houcks started to cultivate their entrepreneurial roots as high schoolers, as their father worked as Idaho chief deputy secretary of state.

They produced eight series of 40 videos about Idaho’s elections that were used for poll worker training and public education, such as how to register to vote, documents needed to vote and addressing frequently asked questions.

“Once we finished those (videos), we found that other states had the same issue,” Emily said. “So then we were able to replicate that and obviously modify it to other state statutes and re-create it in other states with their branding and everything else.”

Emily Houck displays her IDEEUH Media business at a secretaries of state convention in Washington, D.C.

Chad Houck was proud that his children were impacting voting before they were even eligible to vote. He brought them to the 2022 National Association of Secretaries of State Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they presented their services to state officials, many of whom were aware of their videos in Idaho.

That was the first of seven conventions they’ve attended, “and we are well known there now,” Emily said. IDEEUH Media has worked with the secretaries of state from New Jersey, Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and New Hampshire, as well as several corporations and organizations.

“And because of the generational difference, these two were able to put together communication and messaging that would break through to the 18- to 25-year-olds,” Chad said. “For me as an insider, there was a barrier in grasping what that age group needed to understand. These guys were looking at it with a fresh set of eyes and were able to bridge that gap.

“And that's part of what led to the success.”

New Hampshire contacted IDEEUH Media about producing an educational series on AI awareness and how to identify it in a real world video.

Emily and Dillon spent a week in New Hampshire producing live video footage and videos for the state’s website and news outlets. At the same time, Emily and Dillon have attempted to expand the animated side and real world video to widen their services as well as their clientele.

“Dillon is specialized in the automotive space, completely separate from government, and he's found great success there,” Emily said. “There's a couple other ideas that we have separate, even of this, that would kind of integrate the video production experience we have, but into the medical space and anything like that.

“So any story that can be told, we can touch base on that because we have a perspective that's valuable. It doesn't just have to be elections. I don't think necessarily I'm speaking for myself. When we started, I didn't anticipate us necessarily still being around by the time I graduated college. I certainly didn't expect us to be nominated for an Emmy. I didn't even know that was a possibility.”

Emily Houck (right) with brother Dillon and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate at a National Association of Secretaries of State convention.

Chad, Emily and Dillon realize that a large client could enable them to expand what is essentially a family business into a media agency.

That would be quite an ascent, considering that Emily and Dillon started the business while in high school.

Emily initially enrolled at Central Washington University for track and soccer despite enjoying her Discover trip to GCU.

But she felt distant from God.

“I've been a Christian my entire life, and at one point I prayed. I needed guidance,” Emily said. “I didn't know what to do. I felt lost.”

Her mother, Amy, sent her photos of her college acceptance letters – with GCU at the top.

“I was praying and asking, ‘I need a purpose.’ ”

“… And you know the (GCU) slogan, ‘Find Your Purpose.’ The first thing I thought was, it can't be clearer than that. And that's how I ended up transferring here. I put my deposit a week later and switched over here. And I regret nothing, absolutely nothing.”

GCU senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at Mark.Gonzales@gcu.edu

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