Emily Compagno

Compagno was born in east Oakland's Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Oakland California [1] and raised in El Cerrito, California,[2] the daughter of Katherine (née Bertsch) and John Compagno. Her father is of Italian descent.[3] She has two sisters.[4] Her great-grandfather, William Harry Bertsch earned a Silver Star during World War I.[5][6] The "Rose" in Emily's name honors William Bertsch's wife.[7]

She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington where she was awarded the U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' Cadet of the Quarter Award.[2][8] She graduated with a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2006.[2] After passing the California bar, she worked as a criminal defense attorney in San Francisco while also serving as captain of the Oakland Raider's cheerleading squad, the Raiderettes.[2][8] The NFL selected her as an Ambassador and she promoted the NFL brand in Beijing and Shanghai; and was one of five NFL cheerleaders selected to visit U.S. troops with the USO stationed in Iraq and Kuwait.[2] Compagno was a Senior Judge Judicial Extern for John T. Noonan at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[8] She then went on to work as a federal attorney at the Social Security Administration.[8] She has also held legal positions in Cape Town, South Africa, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[8]

In 2018, Compagno accepted a position at Fox News as a contributor and legal analyst. She currently serves as a semi-regular co-host of the weekday talk show The Five, and periodically appears on other Fox News programs in her contributor role, offering opinions on the news of the day.[8] On March 9, 2020, Compagno launched her own show on Fox Nation, Crimes That Changed America [9].