Emily Vakos: What You Didn’t Know About Anthony Rizzo’s Wife

Emily Vakos is best known as the wife of Anthony Rizzo, the first baseman who helped the Chicago Cubs win the World Series in 2016. But her story did not begin with baseball fame. She studied nutrition, she interned with the Cubs herself, and she built her own working life before and after the wedding.

She also keeps a notably private life for the partner of a famous athlete. She rarely gives interviews, her social media presence is low key, and much of what fans know comes from a handful of well reported moments. This article gathers those moments, from a spring training meeting in Arizona to the birth of the couple’s first child in the summer of 2025.

Who Is Emily Vakos?

Emily Vakos is an American nutrition graduate and, by later reporting, a real estate professional in Chicago. She is known to the wider public through her marriage to Anthony Rizzo, one of the most popular baseball players of his generation.

Rizzo’s career gives useful context. He played for the San Diego Padres, the Chicago Cubs, and the New York Yankees. With the Cubs in 2016, he was a central figure in the team that ended a championship wait of 108 years. He won four Gold Glove Awards and the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors players for character and community work. In September 2025, he retired as a member of the Cubs and joined the club as an ambassador.

Emily’s own path is quieter but real. She did not come to the Cubs as a fan looking for a famous partner. She came as a student intern in the team’s nutrition department, doing a job linked directly to her degree. That meeting, in the working environment of spring training, is the true start of their story.

Her birth details are widely repeated but should be treated with a little care. Most profiles report that she was born on January 9, 1994. Some say Dallas, Texas, while others give different places of birth or upbringing. The date is consistent across most reporting, but a single primary source for her early life has not been published, so this article presents those details as reported rather than absolute.

Education and Early Career in Nutrition

Emily Vakos studied at Arizona State University and graduated in 2016 with a degree in nutrition and food management. That fact is one of the most consistent points across reporting about her, from Chicago newspaper coverage to national magazine profiles.

During and around her studies, she took internships connected to food and health. Profiles report placements that included a food bank alliance in Arizona and a school district nutrition program in Scottsdale. Those details come from biography profiles rather than from Emily herself, so they are best read as reported, but they fit a clear pattern: she was training for practical, community facing nutrition work, not for a life in the spotlight.

The most important internship, for her future, was with the Chicago Cubs. In the spring of 2016, the Cubs held spring training in Arizona, close to her university world. Emily interned for the team’s nutrition staff. Professional sports teams employ nutrition staff to plan meals, support recovery, and help players manage the long demands of a season. It was serious, professional work, and it put her in the same building as the players without making her part of the entertainment around them.

After her marriage, profiles also report a move into real estate, with work as a broker associated with a well known Chicago brokerage, @properties. She has not promoted that work publicly in a celebrity style, which is in keeping with the private way she has handled her career throughout.

How She Met Anthony Rizzo

The couple met in 2016 during Cubs spring training in Arizona. She was the nutrition intern. He was the star first baseman preparing for the season that would end with a World Series title. Chicago Tribune coverage of Rizzo’s life confirms both the year and the setting: they met during spring training, and she interned for the Cubs nutrition team.

The human detail that fans love comes from an interview Emily gave in 2017, reported by People magazine when the couple announced their first child years later. She said that when Rizzo first asked her out, she gave him a false number. In her own reported words, he was relentless, and she finally agreed to a date after her internship had ended. She summed it up by saying that the rest is history.

By July 2016, the relationship was public enough for the couple to be photographed together around the All Star break in San Diego. Later that year came the moment every Cubs fan remembers: Game 7 of the World Series in November 2016, when Rizzo caught the final out and tucked the ball into his back pocket. Emily had entered his life in the same unforgettable year.

Engagement, Wedding, and a Dog Named Kevin

Rizzo proposed in 2017, during an off day, aboard a boat on Lake Michigan. Chicago reporting confirms the boat proposal and the year. It was a private, personal setting rather than a stadium stunt, which suited them both.

They married on December 29, 2018, in South Florida. The date and the South Florida setting are widely and consistently reported, including by People magazine. Reports of the celebration say that country singer Brett Eldredge performed for their first dance. That detail comes from coverage of the wedding and the couple’s later announcements, and it gives a small picture of a joyful, music filled day shared with family and friends.

In early 2020, the couple introduced a new family member: Kevin, a dachshund. Kevin quickly became a fan favorite. Rizzo featured him on custom cleats, and the dog appeared in family posts for years. Kevin would later play the starring role in the biggest announcement of their marriage.

Charity Work and Life Beyond the Ballpark

To understand Emily’s public role, it helps to understand the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. Rizzo started the foundation in 2012. Its roots are personal: in 2008, as a young minor league player, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He recovered and went on to his major league career, and the foundation supports cancer research and helps families facing cancer.

Emily has been a visible part of that work. The couple have appeared together at foundation events, including its annual Walk Off for Cancer 5K in Florida, which they took part in together in December 2023. Profiles also link her to foundation support for children’s hospitals in Chicago, although specific donation figures reported online belong to the foundation’s wider history and should not be credited to her alone without a direct source.

Profiles also report that she completed the New York City Marathon in 2023 in support of the foundation. That detail appears in several biography summaries, though not in a major race report naming her, so it is presented here as reported. It fits, however, with her background in health and fitness and with the couple’s hands on approach to their charity work.

A Baby Boy and a New Chapter in 2025

In January 2025, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child. Rizzo shared the news on Instagram with a photo of Kevin wearing a bandana that read Big Brother. Behind the dog were ultrasound images, baby shoes, and a onesie marked Baby Rizzo with a due date of June 2025. Teammates and former teammates filled the replies with congratulations.

Reporting at the time said the baby was a boy, due in mid June 2025. Emily later shared a light moment from a scan, noting that the baby seemed to smile at the sound of Anthony’s voice. Their son was born in late June 2025, during a summer when Rizzo, then a free agent, was at home rather than with a team.

That timing shaped the final chapter of his playing career. In September 2025, Rizzo explained that becoming a father made the decision to retire much easier. The right playing opportunity had not arrived, the baby had come, and the summer at home felt natural. Days later, he was seen at Yankee Stadium with Emily and their young son, enjoying a game as a fan on the night before his retirement as a Cub was announced. It was a fitting image: the baseball life and the family life, side by side, at the moment one gave way to the other.

FAQs

Who is Emily Vakos?

Emily Vakos is a nutrition graduate of Arizona State University and the wife of former baseball star Anthony Rizzo. They met in 2016, married in 2018, and welcomed their first child, a son, in June 2025.

How did Emily Vakos meet Anthony Rizzo?

They met during Chicago Cubs spring training in Arizona in 2016. She was interning for the team’s nutrition department while finishing her studies at Arizona State University.

What does Emily Vakos do for a living?

She trained and worked in nutrition, and later profiles report work as a real estate broker in Chicago. She is also active in events for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, which supports families facing cancer.

Do Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo have children?

Yes. They announced the pregnancy in January 2025, using their dog Kevin in the announcement, and their son was born in late June 2025.

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Final Thoughts

Emily Vakos is a good example of a famous athlete’s partner who has kept her own shape to her life. She arrived in the Cubs world as a working intern with a degree nearly in hand, not as a celebrity. She married Rizzo in 2018, supported the foundation work that grew out of his own cancer experience, and kept her private life private.

The details fans did not know are mostly small and human ones: the false phone number she first gave him, the boat proposal on Lake Michigan, the dachshund who announced the baby, and the quiet summer of 2025 when a newborn helped a baseball star decide that it was time to come home.

As Rizzo begins his ambassador role with the Cubs and the couple raises their son, Emily’s public role will likely stay the same: present at the moments that matter, and happily out of the spotlight the rest of the time.

Featured photo: Anthony Rizzo – photo by Ian D’Andrea from Philadelphia, PA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons