ERIK & EMILY ORTON

Erik Orton is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer. He and his wife, Emily, are parents to four adult children, and one precocious teen with Down syndrome. They raised their family in upper Manhattan for 23 years where Erik worked on such shows as Wicked, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. He helped write and produce Savior of the World which has been running at the Conference Center Theatre in SLC since 2000. When their kids were 6-16 years old, Erik and Emily  bootstrapped life aboard a fixer upper sailboat in the Caribbean. They sailed as a family from St. Martin back to New York City. Their memoir about the experience (Seven at Sea) is a New York Times Top 10 Travel book. After life on the boat, they continued to travel the world with their children through Europe, the South Pacific, Africa, and across North and South America in planes, trains, boats and vans. 

Emily Orton is an educator, author, speaker, adventurer. Co-founder, CMO, and Curriculum Designer for The Awesome Factory coaching and adventure company. Co-host of the podcast, What Could Go Right? You can also find her contributions in “Dare, Dream, Do” by Whitney Johnson as well as other books, periodicals, podcasts, and TV shows including BYUTV’s Hello Sunday and Come Follow Up. Whether Emily is speaking at corporate events, Time Out For Women (2019-2023), or BYU Women’s Conference, she champions our power to choose.