Feel-Good Friday: Emmy Eaton Infuses Joy and Curiosity Into ‘7 Questions With Emily’

For my readers who have followed this column for a while, you know I love to highlight the terrific stories that come out of East Idaho. Nate Eaton is a journalist and owner of East Idaho News in Idaho Falls, where he covers all the news of the area, as well as spotlighting the people in his community who do good. What I recently discovered is that Eaton’s daughter Emmy is a journalist who has surpassed many of us with her “7 Questions With Emily” interview show. We live with a barrage of corporate news that is agenda-driven, cynical, and curated, with journalists who appear to be lacking in any curiosity about the people or the world around them. With her boundless curiosity, Emmy Eaton gives me hope for the future and hope for the world of journalism. 

This tween girl is the subject of this week’s Feel-Good Friday.

In 2020, Eaton introduced Emmy’s interview show to the world. 

I was floating down the Henrys Fork in Island Park with my wife and kids three months ago when we decided to make a short video for my Facebook page showing off beautiful Idaho.

We posted it, and someone in the comments wrote that I should have my daughter, Emmy, interview me. I mentioned this to Em, and she loved the idea. In fact, she came up with a proposal to have her own segment on my page called “7 Questions with Emmy.” Why seven, you ask? Well, she had just turned 7 years old and thought it sounded good.

So we recorded a video in the playroom. A few days later, she asked her mom if she would be interviewed. Then, her little brother, Everett, agreed to answer seven questions the following week while they played on the swingset.

Emmy fell in love with interviewing and decided to expand her conversations outside the family. She asked Ken Despot, the owner of Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, to answer some questions and has since interviewed people all over the community.

Idaho Falls Police Lt. Jessica Marley was kind enough to answer Emmy’s questions and take her on a ridealong in her police car. Em spent some time making pizza with the founder of Pizza Pie Cafe, saw the trap door in the stage at the Yellowstone Playhouse while interviewing the owner and was invited to Frank VanderSloot’s house to ask the Melaleuca CEO seven questions.

At the age of seven, Emmy was doing more work than some J-school graduates! What cemented national recognition was an interview with NBC Dateline’s Keith Morrison. 

WATCH:

Since then, Emmy has interviewed actor Dean Cain, been on actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore’s program, interviewed singers Walker Hayes and Donnie Osmond, and news folks like NBC TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, and Fox News anchors Dana Perino and Brett Baier, to name a few. Whether it’s a known name or just your average Joe or Jill, Emmy interviews people all over the nation and the world because she finds the world fascinating and wants to know more about it and the people who inhabit it.

Emmy just turned 11 and is about to start middle school. Most kids her age have moved on to sports or are wrapped up in other pursuits. But the encroaching teenage years have not blunted Emmy’s sense of wonder about people and the world around her, and that’s why her interview game continues to stay strong. 

I arranged an interview with Emmy and got to speak with her journalist-to-journalist about the people she has interviewed, who she would like to interview, and what keeps her excited and curious about the world. I am sure Emmy came by this honestly, with both her dad and her mom being journalists. The Eatons are a fun family who seem to cultivate discovery and adventure into everything. The family that travels, plays, and does news together, stays together.

We take lots of trips together, especially during the Summer. We went to Mexico earlier this Summer, but a lot of trips. We love to like, go to arcades and play games. We usually go out on Saturdays to eat, and that’s always fun. But we play games a lot. We have game nights. Honestly, we do a lot of things.

Emmy’s ultimate coup would be snagging an interview with mega singer Taylor Swift or actor Zac Efron. 

Taylor Swift, she has sent me a package before, but I haven’t done an interview or Zac Efron. I’m a big “High School Musical” fan.

I have no doubt Emmy will sit down with both of them at some point to get their answers to her 7 Questions. Emmy also has a terrific spirit of collaboration and offered to give me help connecting with any subjects of interest that she has interviewed.

Here’s a snippet of our conversation. If you follow me on X, you can find the full interview. 

Emmy is one of a kind. Let’s hope she continues to spread her ebullience, enthusiasm, and passion to the rest of us, and especially to her generation.