Emily Baker

An Influencer from Idaho to D.C.

BY APRIL NEALE

Emily R. Baker is a fifth-generation Idahoan, as comfortable in the halls of Congress as she is baling hay on her grandparent’s farm, who now calls Boise home. Introduced to her husband by former Governor of Mississippi and GOP power-broker, Haley Barbour, and appointed by President George W. Bush to the Senior Executive Service at 28 years old, Baker is a pretty important woman anywhere. And as founder of Portman Square Group, not only does her impressive C.V. give pause, but her latest accomplishment of giving first-generation kids a leg-up in the scholarship race makes her a true Wonder Woman here in Idaho and beyond.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY BAKER, PORTMAN SQUARE GROUP

Emily is passionate about her work, but her foundation’s scholarship recipients—Thalya and Halima—fire her up. “For me, education creates generational change. I grew up in a house where it was rarely discussed, so my path to college was a fairly solitary journey I stumbled through without much guidance,” she said. “I set out to not only help first-generation students but to assist those with lower GPAs, specifically a 3.6 GPA or lower. I wanted to acknowledge the additional pressures a first-gen student faces. Many have no one to help them with their studies at home. They may hold down jobs to help support themselves and their families, and they can lack tutoring and test prep help, or just not have people around them that value education and their success. If you grow up and no one tells you that working just a bit harder to get A’s as a first- or second-year student can impact thousands of dollars of financial aid or that taking the ACTs or SATs one more time can change what schools will accept you or pay for you to attend, how would you know? Some find these things out later and by then, it’s often too late.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY BAKER, PORTMAN SQUARE GROUP

Baker’s tenacity propelled her early after graduating from Nampa High School, attending the University of Idaho and Boise State University. Beginning with an internship with Idaho Governor Phil Batt, this rocketed her to a successful career in Washington D.C.. She said: “I found that working during university was one of the best things I could do because I was learning first-hand the very things I was hoping to learn in my studies. This also gave me that entry into this world and fantastic on-the-job learning with a group of people that have remained friends to this day. And in a place like Idaho and actually politics in general - if you work hard you tend to get drafted into new opportunities.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY BAKER, PORTMAN SQUARE GROUP

All of these well-placed internships paid off. President George W. Bush appointed Baker as the administrator for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Northeast and Caribbean region, managing a nearly $2B annual budget, major federal construction projects, and government procurements. Before that, Baker served in the Administration as Deputy Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs with the U.S. Department of Commerce. It was Barbour who not only hired her for her first job in D.C., but introduced Baker to her future husband, Mike, who Emily insists is the far cooler one of their duo. Now Baker is the founder of a strategic communications firm that works with Fortune 500, government, and nonprofit organizations.

And with all of her experience in national and statewide political campaigns and international travel, the current state of the GOP still occupies her mind. “Back when I was in

Back when I was in D.C., it was collegial; Democrats and Republicans could have policy differences but could agree on principles. An unwillingness to compromise is one of our biggest failings.

“Back when I was in D.C., it D.C., it was collegial; Democrats and Republicans could was collegial; Democrats and have policy differences but Republicans could have policy could agree on principles. An unwillingness to compromise is differences but could agree on one of our biggest failings,” she principles. An unwillingness to compromise is one of said. “Special interest groups go after lawmakers purely because they’re willing to talk to the our biggest failings.” other side or look at new ideas that aren’t just holding the party line. Idahoans are powerfully independent, so that feels completely un-Idahoan, to allow a special interest group to tell our lawmakers how they should vote, instead of listening to their constituents and serving Idaho.”