Emily Compagno is an American lawyer, TV correspondent, and a former National Football League (NFL) cheerleader, who rose to prominence through her work as a Fox News Channel contributor.
Early Life and Family
Emily Rose Compagno is of part-Italian-American descent, born on 9 November 1979 at a Naval Hospital in Oak Knoll, California, USA to parents John and Katherine Compagno. She and her older sisters Natalie Compagno and Julietta Compagno Skoog were raised in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County in California. Her sister Natalie is a lifestyle influencer and blogs about the fashion industry with her blog entitled “LA Lifestyle,” and is married to Greg who owns a travel bookstore in California.
Julietta has two daughters with husband Jon Skoog.
Emily is pretty close to her paternal grandparents, John and Josephine Bileci Compagno. Her maternal great grandfather was William Harry Bertsch whose wife’s name Rose and where Emily’s second name came from.
Education
She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Washington, and was awarded the Juris Doctorate degree in 2006 at the University of San Francisco.
Career
Legal Career
After completing an externship in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit with Judge Noonan, and passing the California Bar exams, Emily started practicing law as a criminal defense and civil litigation attorney in a law firm based in the southern part of San Francisco.
She handled mostly non-violent juvenile and financially-motivated white-collar cases.
From 2010 to 2014, Emily also worked as a federal managing attorney, and was later promoted as Acting Director for the Social Security Administration. As a government attorney in one of the top agencies in the US, she was able to deal with a wide variety of civil and administrative legal cases, such as fraud, regulatory labor issues including employment contracts.
Team Captain, Oakland Raiderettes Cheerleading Squad
With her regular job as a lawyer, Emily also decided to fulfill her childhood dream of being a professional dancer, and applied for a spot in the football cheerleading squad with the Oakland Raiderettes, and joined the squad in April of 2007.
From an interview with SFGate she said, “I’ve been dancing since I was 3, so it’s natural to want that part of my life, the love of performing satisfied.” She did not see it as a substitute career; it just so happened that she did not have time to pursue this dream when she was in law school. It was something that complements her and served as an outlet of her love of performing.
From a regular cheerleader, she was promoted to be the team captain of the Oakland Raiderettes – it was classified as part-time work, but in reality, she said that the work they do for the team equates to a full-time commitment, even if most of the girls have a day job, so in the end, most of her spare time was allocated to cheerleading tasks.
She was included to perform during the NFL’s military tour in Iraq and Kuwait, as well as one of only four cheerleaders chosen to promote during the NFL China launch in Beijing and Shanghai.
Emily never broadcasts her cheerleading position when she is working as an attorney, and at the same time, she does not openly tell everyone in the cheerleading world that she is a practicing lawyer.
Fox News Contributor
All through her work as a civil litigator and a part-time cheerleader, she never lost focus on her ultimate dream of becoming a legal analyst, and that became a reality when Fox News Network offered her the dream job. Many were surprised at the change of career, as few were aware of her legal background, and only knew her as the cheerleading team captain.
With her diversified legal experience from being a criminal defense lawyer in a private firm and working as a federal attorney handling social security disputes, she was the perfect choice for becoming an on-air legal analyst on a variety of local and national issues. She started as a guest commentator on shows, asking for opinions from a business and legal analyst.
Later on, her in-depth experience in the world of football helped in doing sports commentaries. She also covered various other sporting events, particularly the PAC-12, in which universities vie for championship titles in several games. Even some sports magazines have acquired her expertise as a contributor.
Emily can be seen regularly in various shows such as “The Five,” “Fox and Friends: Weekend,” “The Greg Gutfeld Show,” and “Crimes That Changed America” on Fox News, Fox Business, and Fox Sports networks.
Personal Life
Emily was married to Peter Riley on 13 September 2017, in a secret wedding ceremony at the Hotel Villa Cimbrone in Italy. They met in high school in California, but it took about two decades to reconnect, when they saw each other again in Seattle and started dating. Little else is known about her husband except for the pictures she’s shared of their wedding day and the wedding ring photo that her husband accidentally left, as she posted on her Instagram account. Emily is so adamant about keeping her private and public life separate.
She and her husband are currently living in Seattle, Washington State.
Interesting Facts and Awards
- She was given the US Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps’ Cadet of the Quarter Award during her college graduation ceremonies.
- When she was pursuing her Juris Doctorate degree at the University of San Francisco, she worked as the editor for the Intellectual Property Bulletin as well as served as President of the Federalist Society.
- She is a proud owner of a Doberman dog named Duchess.
- Emily has had a keen interest in auto racing since she was young, and was ecstatic when she had a chance to participate in car racing during one of her segments on Fox.
- Her volunteer work with orphans in the Southern African third world countries such as Malawi, Uganda and Zambia was an enriching experience that she would never forget.
- During one of the episodes of “Fox & Friends: Weekend” with hosts Ed Henry and Pete Hegset, Emily became a fake bait when she visited Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst in New Jersey, a military dog training center for the US Army. She said that even if she had the biggest scare of her life, she knew that those dogs had intensive training and wouldn’t harm her intentionally.
Social Media Accounts
She is active on her verified social media accounts – her Instagram and Twitter accounts are both @EmilyCompagno,with over 100,000 followers on each.
Appearance
Andrea is 5ft 6ins (1.70m) tall, weighs around 112lbs (51kgs), and due to her daily workout routines, she has a properly well-toned body. She is Caucasian, with black hair and hazel brown eyes.
Net worth
Sources estimated her net worth at around $1.5 million as of April 2020. Aside from her earnings from her private legal practice and as a Fox Network host and contributor, she had a successful cheerleading career, with multiple endorsements for four years along with her federal attorney salary.
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