Emily Vakos is an American nutrition and food-management graduate, real-estate professional, marathon runner, and philanthropist who became widely known through her marriage to former Major League Baseball star Anthony Rizzo. Yet her public identity extends beyond being an MLB player’s wife. Her background includes an Arizona State University education, work connected to nutrition and school food services, an internship with the Chicago Cubs’ nutrition department, real-estate experience, and charitable work supporting families affected by pediatric cancer.
Vakos met Rizzo in 2016 while she was completing her studies and interning with the Cubs’ nutrition department in Arizona. The relationship eventually led to a 2017 engagement and a December 2018 wedding in South Florida.
One of the clearest examples of Vakos’s own accomplishments came in 2023, when she completed the TCS New York City Marathon in 3 hours, 47 minutes, and 54 seconds while running in support of the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. The official New York Road Runners results identify her publicly as Emily Rizzo and record that finish time.
In 2025, Vakos and Rizzo also entered a new chapter of their family life when they welcomed their first child. Because Vakos generally maintains a private public profile, many details about her personal life remain undisclosed—and that makes separating verified information from repeated online claims especially important.
Who Is Emily Vakos?
Emily Vakos is best known publicly as the wife of former MLB first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but her background began in nutrition and food management rather than professional sports.
She studied at Arizona State University, where the university’s 2016 commencement record lists Emily Anne Vakos under Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management). That institutional record provides stronger evidence for her educational background than the many biography websites that simply repeat one another.
Her professional path also brought her into the world of baseball. During her final year at Arizona State, Vakos interned with the Chicago Cubs’ nutrition department. It was during this period, while the Cubs were in Arizona for spring training, that she met Anthony Rizzo.
That meeting eventually became one of the most recognizable relationship stories connected to a Chicago Cubs player. Rizzo proposed in 2017, and the couple married in South Florida in December 2018.
Vakos has also developed a public connection to charitable work. In 2023, she ran the New York City Marathon for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, linking her personal athletic achievement to the foundation’s work with families facing pediatric cancer.
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Emily Vakos Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Emily Anne Vakos |
| Known as | Emily Vakos; Emily Rizzo in some public contexts |
| Nationality | American |
| Birth year | 1994 |
| Birthplace | Dallas, Texas, according to widely reported biographies |
| Exact birthday | Publicly disputed; January 6 and January 9 have both been reported |
| Profession | Nutrition/food-management professional and real-estate professional |
| Education | Arizona State University |
| Degree | Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management) |
| Husband | Anthony Rizzo |
| Marriage | December 29, 2018 |
| Children | One son, born in 2025 |
| Known for | Her marriage to Anthony Rizzo, nutrition background, Cubs internship, real-estate career, marathon participation and charitable work |
| Major athletic achievement | 2023 TCS New York City Marathon — 3:47:54 |
| Charitable association | Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation |
| Pet | Dachshund named Kevin |
| Net worth | No authoritative personal figure publicly established |
Note on age and birthday: Several secondary websites give different dates for Vakos’s birth. Because no sufficiently authoritative source was found to settle the disagreement, an exact birthday should not be treated as an established fact.
Early Life and Background of Emily Vakos
Public information about Vakos’s childhood is limited. Unlike many entertainment personalities, she has not built a public career around sharing details of her upbringing.
Widely circulated biographies identify Dallas, Texas, as her birthplace and list her parents as Mark Vakos and Stephanie Sudwischer. However, detailed information about her parents’ occupations, her childhood home, and her early family life has not been established through strong primary sources.
That lack of information is worth respecting. A biography does not become more trustworthy by filling private portions of someone’s life with assumptions.
What is much clearer is the direction of Vakos’s interests as she entered adulthood. Her education and early projects show a sustained interest in food, nutrition, health and healthy living.
While at Arizona State University, she reportedly created a food blog called The Food-1-1, where she shared recipes, nutrition-related material, health-study commentary and college projects. The blog is significant because it provides an early glimpse of an interest that later connected naturally with her academic training and nutrition work.
Education of Emily Vakos
Arizona State University
The strongest publicly available educational evidence comes directly from Arizona State University.
The university’s 2016 commencement publication lists Emily Anne Vakos among students in Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management).
This establishes a key fact about her professional foundation: her association with nutrition was not simply a label attached to her after she became known as Anthony Rizzo’s wife. She formally studied the field at university.
Secondary reporting based on her LinkedIn profile has also identified her as a Certified School Nutrition Specialist. People reported that Vakos graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 with a degree in nutrition and food management and listed her as a certified school nutrition specialist.
Why Her Degree Matters
Vakos’s education helps explain several otherwise disconnected parts of her career.
Her path can be understood as:
Nutrition education → practical food and health experience → sports nutrition internship → professional experience → later work in real estate.
That sequence gives her biography more depth than simply saying she attended college and later married an MLB player.
Career of Emily Vakos
Emily Vakos’s professional background is relatively diverse. Her public career information points to several areas, including nutrition, school-related food services, food blogging, community work and real estate.
Early Nutrition and Food Experience
Vakos’s interest in nutrition was already evident during her university years.
Her Food-1-1 blog focused on food and healthy living, while her university studies centered on nutrition and food management. Her early experience also reportedly included work or internships related to food and school nutrition.
The important point is that nutrition appears throughout the early stages of her professional development, rather than being a short-lived interest.
Chicago Cubs Nutrition Internship
Her internship with the Chicago Cubs is arguably the most important turning point in her public biography.
Vakos was completing her studies at Arizona State University when she interned with the Cubs’ nutrition department in 2016. The internship gave her practical exposure to nutrition within a professional sports environment. It also placed her in the same environment as Anthony Rizzo.
This was therefore significant in two ways.
Professionally, it connected her academic background to a real-world sports setting.
Personally, it became the starting point for her relationship with Rizzo.
That combination is why the Cubs internship appears in virtually every serious profile of Vakos—but it should be presented as a career milestone first, rather than merely as the place where she met her future husband.
Real Estate Career
Vakos has also been publicly listed as a real-estate professional.
A Realtor.com profile identifies an Emily Vakos as a real-estate agent serving the Chicago area. The profile does not currently provide active listings or enough information to establish her present-day employment status with certainty.
Earlier reporting also associated Vakos with @properties, a Chicago real-estate company, based on information attributed to her LinkedIn profile.
Because employment information can change, it is more accurate to say that Vakos has worked in real estate than to state an unverified current employer as a permanent fact.
Food-1-1 Blog
Another interesting part of her early career story is her food blog, The Food-1-1.
The blog reportedly contained:
- Healthy recipes
- Nutrition ideas
- Health-study discussions
- College projects
- Food-related writing
It was created while she was in college and later became inactive.
Although the project did not become a major media business, it shows that Vakos was exploring food and wellness communication before her relationship with Rizzo became a major public-interest story.
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo: How They Met
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo met in 2016, when Rizzo was playing for the Chicago Cubs and Vakos was interning with the team’s nutrition department during spring training in Arizona.
Their meeting is particularly notable because it connected two very different professional worlds.
Rizzo was an established MLB player, while Vakos was still completing her education and gaining practical experience in nutrition.
The relationship initially remained relatively private. Over time, however, the couple became more visible as their relationship developed.
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo Relationship Timeline
| Year | Milestone |
| 2016 | Vakos and Rizzo met during Cubs spring training in Arizona. |
| 2016 | Vakos was completing her education and interning with the Cubs’ nutrition department. |
| 2017 | Rizzo proposed to Vakos during a Lake Michigan outing. |
| 2018 | The couple married in South Florida. |
| 2023 | Vakos completed the New York City Marathon for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. |
| January 2025 | The couple announced they were expecting their first child. |
| 2025 | They welcomed their first child, a son. |
Anthony Rizzo’s Proposal to Emily Vakos
Rizzo’s proposal became one of the most memorable publicly reported moments in the couple’s relationship.
In 2017, he arranged a surprise proposal during a cruise on Lake Michigan, with fireworks forming part of the setup. Vakos reportedly initially believed the situation was a prank or photo opportunity rather than a genuine proposal.
The surprise ended with an engagement, marking the next major stage in their relationship.
The proposal is also a useful example of why their relationship attracted public interest: it combined Rizzo’s public baseball profile with a deliberately private and personal moment.
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo’s Wedding
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo married on December 29, 2018, in South Florida.
Their wedding included people from Rizzo’s baseball world, including several former Chicago Cubs teammates. Country singer Brett Eldredge also performed for the couple’s first dance.
The wedding was a natural continuation of a relationship that had begun when Vakos was working in the Cubs’ nutrition environment.
Rather than being a Hollywood-style celebrity relationship, the couple’s public story has largely followed the milestones of a long-term partnership: meeting, engagement, marriage, charitable work and eventually parenthood.
Family Life of Emily Vakos
Who Is Emily Vakos’s Husband?
Emily Vakos is married to Anthony Rizzo, the former Major League Baseball first baseman who became particularly associated with the Chicago Cubs and later played for the New York Yankees.
Their marriage began in December 2018.
Rizzo’s professional career has made the couple a recognizable sports-family pairing, but Vakos has generally maintained a lower public profile than her husband.
Does Emily Vakos Have Children?
Yes.
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo announced in January 2025 that they were expecting their first child. Their announcement included their dog Kevin and baby-related items, including a projected June 2025 due date.
Later in 2025, the couple was publicly seen with their baby boy, confirming that they had become parents.
Because the family’s privacy has been respected in mainstream coverage, the exact details surrounding their son’s birth should not be overstated beyond what has been publicly confirmed.
Emily Vakos’s Son
The couple’s first child is a son.
Some later reports have referred to him as Anthony Jr., although the family’s public sharing of details has been limited. The safest established fact is that Emily and Anthony welcomed their first son in 2025.
Their Dog Kevin
Before becoming parents, Emily and Anthony were also publicly known as dog owners.
Their dachshund, Kevin, has appeared in their public family moments and was included in the couple’s 2025 pregnancy announcement.
Emily Vakos’s Philanthropy
One of the most meaningful parts of Emily Vakos’s public life is her connection to the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation.
The foundation supports families affected by pediatric cancer, including families facing financial pressure and other difficulties caused by a child’s illness.
Emily’s involvement is not simply ceremonial. She has participated in fundraising activities and has publicly discussed the purpose behind the foundation’s work. MLB’s Yankees Magazine reported that she and Rizzo’s sister-in-law ran the New York City Marathon on behalf of the foundation.
The foundation has also provided substantial financial support to families. MLB reported that the organization provided about 500 family grants in 2023 worth an estimated $1.5 million. That figure belongs to the foundation’s work, not to Emily personally.
Emily Vakos and the 2023 New York City Marathon
The 2023 TCS New York City Marathon stands out as one of Emily Vakos’s clearest independently measurable public achievements.
She ran under the name Emily Rizzo and finished in:
3:47:54
The official New York Road Runners results list her among notable runners and identify her as the wife of MLB All-Star Anthony Rizzo, running in support of the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation.
Her participation had a larger purpose than simply completing a marathon.
MLB reported that the foundation partnered with Children’s Hospital at Montefiore for the marathon and that the fundraising effort generated more than $164,000 to support children and families during treatment. Emily’s own comments made clear that she viewed the race as a way to support families dealing with pediatric cancer rather than simply as a personal athletic challenge.
This gives the marathon a deeper place in her biography.
It demonstrates:
- Physical discipline
- Commitment to a charitable cause
- Participation in the family’s philanthropic mission
- A measurable personal achievement
For a biography of Emily Vakos, the marathon deserves more attention than a passing sentence.
What Is the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation?
The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation is closely associated with Rizzo’s personal experience with cancer and his later charitable work.
Its focus includes helping children with cancer and their families, particularly when medical treatment creates financial or practical difficulties.
MLB’s reporting describes grants designed around the specific circumstances of individual families. The foundation has also organized events such as the Walk-Off for Cancer 5K.
Emily’s involvement provides an important dimension to her public profile because she participates in the foundation’s activities alongside Rizzo and other members of his family.
She should not, however, be described as the founder unless a foundation source specifically establishes that role.
A more accurate description is that she is an active family participant and supporter of the foundation’s charitable mission.
Emily Vakos Professional Identity Beyond Anthony Rizzo
A common weakness in online profiles of Emily Vakos is that they define her almost entirely through her husband.
That approach misses several important facts.
Before she became widely recognized as Anthony Rizzo’s wife, Vakos had already established a clear educational direction in nutrition and food management.
Her academic record is independently documented by Arizona State University. Emily Vakos Cubs internship connected that education with professional sports. Her early food blog showed an interest in communicating nutrition-related ideas. And later public records have associated her with real estate.
This makes her career story more interesting than a simple celebrity-family profile.
Her professional path has moved across different fields, but the early stages share a common thread: food, health, organization and service.
Net Worth of Emily Vakos
What Is Emily Vakos’s Net Worth?
Emily Vakos’s personal net worth has not been reliably disclosed by an authoritative public source.
Several online biography websites publish estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to around $1 million, but these figures generally do not provide enough evidence to establish how they were calculated.
That means such estimates should not be presented as facts.
Her public professional background includes nutrition-related work and real estate, but there is no verified public accounting of:
- Her annual income
- Personal investments
- Property holdings
- Savings
- Business ownership
- Tax records
- Personal assets
Therefore, the most responsible answer is:
Emily Vakos’s exact personal net worth is not publicly known.
It is also important not to substitute Anthony Rizzo’s wealth for Emily’s personal net worth. The two are separate financial questions.
Social Media and Public Profile of Emily Vakos
Emily Vakos has maintained a considerably lower public profile than Anthony Rizzo.
Her husband has historically used social media to share relationship and family moments, including the couple’s pregnancy announcement in 2025.
Older reporting indicated that Emily’s own Instagram presence was private, which is consistent with the relatively limited amount of personal information she has publicly shared.
For readers looking for an “official Emily Vakos Instagram,” caution is necessary. Numerous celebrity-biography websites list social accounts without proving that they belong to the person in question.
An account should not be labeled official unless it can be independently verified.
Major Achievements of Emily Vakos
Although Emily Vakos does not have a conventional celebrity award résumé, several accomplishments stand out.
1. Arizona State University Graduation
She completed a degree in Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management) in 2016.
2. Professional Sports Nutrition Experience
Her internship with the Chicago Cubs placed her nutrition education in a professional sports environment.
3. Real Estate Career
She has been publicly listed as a real-estate professional, including a Chicago-area Realtor.com profile.
4. 2023 NYC Marathon
She completed the TCS New York City Marathon in 3:47:54.
5. Pediatric Cancer Fundraising
She used the marathon and other public foundation activities to support families dealing with pediatric cancer.
6. Long-Term Family and Foundation Involvement
Her public life has increasingly included family and charitable activities alongside Rizzo.
Interesting Facts About Emily Vakos
1. Her Academic Record Is Publicly Documented
Arizona State University’s own commencement publication lists Emily Anne Vakos under Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management), providing a stronger source than many online biography pages.
2. She Met Anthony Rizzo Through Her Professional Work
Their relationship began because their professional paths crossed. Vakos was working in the Cubs’ nutrition environment while Rizzo was a player for the organization.
3. She Was Interested in Food Blogging
Her Food-1-1 project was created while she was in college and focused on nutrition, recipes and health-related topics.
4. Her Marathon Time Is Officially Documented
Her 2023 marathon finish was not simply reported by a celebrity website. New York Road Runners officially recorded 3:47:54.
5. Her Marathon Had a Charitable Purpose
The race supported the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation rather than being only a personal fitness challenge.
6. She Has a Nutrition Degree, Not Merely a General College Background
Her ASU degree specifically falls under Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management).
7. She Has Worked in More Than One Professional Field
Her public professional record connects her with nutrition and real estate.
8. Her Exact Birthday Is Not Completely Settled
Different secondary sources give different dates. A responsible biography should not pretend this discrepancy does not exist.
9. Her Personal Net Worth Is Not Reliably Known
Online estimates should not be treated as verified financial facts.
10. She Became a Mother in 2025
Emily and Anthony welcomed their first child in 2025 after announcing their pregnancy earlier that year.
Challenges and Public Controversies
There is no major verified public controversy involving Emily Vakos that warrants a prominent controversy section in a responsible biography.
The bigger challenge for researchers is actually informational accuracy.
Because Vakos is a private person who became publicly known through her marriage to a professional athlete, numerous websites have attempted to fill gaps in her biography with details that are not adequately sourced.
Commonly repeated but insufficiently established claims concern:
- Exact birthday
- Exact personal net worth
- Current employer
- Current residence
- Siblings
- Height and weight
- Religion
- Ethnicity
These details should not automatically be treated as factual simply because several biography websites repeat them.
Repetition is not independent verification.
That distinction is particularly important for a biography intended to remain useful over the long term.
Emily Vakos Legacy and Public Influence
It would be premature to describe Emily Vakos as a major public figure in her own right on the scale of her husband. Her public profile is comparatively private.
However, her story has several elements that make it distinctive.
First, she has a documented educational background in nutrition and food management.
Second, her career intersected with professional baseball through her Cubs nutrition internship.
Third, she has developed a professional identity in real estate.
Fourth, she has participated directly in charitable work connected to pediatric cancer.
And fifth, her 2023 marathon provides a measurable personal achievement that exists independently of her husband’s baseball statistics.
Her broader influence is therefore best understood through professional versatility, family involvement and philanthropy, rather than celebrity status alone.
Her public story also demonstrates how a person can become widely recognized through a famous relationship without that relationship being the only meaningful part of their biography.
Emily Vakos: A Career and Life Timeline
| Year | Event |
| 2012 | Began studies at Arizona State University, according to publicly reported professional information. |
| 2014 | Early health/food-related professional experience has been associated with Herbalife in public professional profiles. |
| 2015 | Reported school nutrition-related experience with Scottsdale Unified School District. |
| 2016 | Graduated from Arizona State University in Nutrition (Food and Nutrition Management). |
| 2016 | Interned with the Chicago Cubs’ nutrition department and met Anthony Rizzo. |
| 2017 | Became engaged to Rizzo after his surprise Lake Michigan proposal. |
| 2018 | Married Anthony Rizzo in South Florida on December 29. |
| 2023 | Completed the TCS New York City Marathon in 3:47:54 for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. |
| January 2025 | Announced pregnancy with first child. |
| 2025 | Welcomed first child, a son. |
| 2025 onward | Continued to appear publicly with Rizzo and their child while maintaining a relatively private personal profile. |
Conclusion
Emily Vakos’s public story is more substantial than the simple label of “Anthony Rizzo’s wife” suggests.
Her documented journey begins with an academic focus on nutrition and food management at Arizona State University, continues through a Chicago Cubs nutrition internship, and later extends into real estate and charitable work.
Her relationship with Anthony Rizzo brought her into the public eye, but several of her own accomplishments stand independently. Emily 3:47:54 finish at the 2023 New York City Marathon, completed in support of pediatric-cancer families, is one of the clearest examples.
Her family life has also entered a new phase since she and Rizzo welcomed their first child in 2025.
At the same time, Emily Vakos remains a relatively private person. That makes accuracy particularly important. Where authoritative evidence exists—such as her Arizona State University degree or official marathon result—it provides a clear foundation. Where information remains uncertain, such as her exact birthday or personal net worth, the responsible approach is to acknowledge the uncertainty rather than turn online estimates into facts.
Ultimately, Emily Vakos is best understood as a nutrition-trained professional, real-estate professional, marathon runner, philanthropist, wife and mother whose public life has developed alongside, but not entirely because of, Anthony Rizzo’s baseball career.
Frequently Asked Questions About Emily Vakos
Emily Vakos is an American nutrition and food-management graduate and real-estate professional who is widely known as the wife of former MLB player Anthony Rizzo. She also has a background in sports nutrition and charitable work.
Emily Vakos was born in 1994, according to widely reported biographical information. Her exact birth date is not fully verified, with different secondary sources reporting different January dates.
Vakos has a professional background in nutrition and real estate. She has also been associated with school nutrition and food-related projects. A Chicago-area Realtor.com profile lists an Emily Vakos as a real-estate agent serving Chicago.
They met in 2016 in Arizona, when Vakos was interning with the Chicago Cubs’ nutrition department while Rizzo was playing for the team.
Emily Vakos and Anthony Rizzo married on December 29, 2018, in South Florida.
Yes. Emily and Anthony Rizzo welcomed their first child, a son, in 2025 after announcing their pregnancy earlier that year.
Yes. She ran the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon in support of the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation and finished in 3:47:54.
She is publicly involved with the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, which supports families affected by pediatric cancer. She has participated in foundation activities and ran the 2023 NYC Marathon on its behalf.
