Emily is a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and moved to Grand Junction in 2006. She was a reporter intern for the Waterloo Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, in 2005 and a reporter intern for the Peoria Journal Star in Peoria, Ill., in 2006 before coming to the Grand Junction Free Press in Sept. 2006. She worked there until December 2008 and started at the Sentinel the next year. She has been covering education in the Grand Valley for more than five years.