Emily was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, where she grew up with her parents Gary and Cindy and siblings Sally and Russell. She started her spiritual and sports journey at St. Joseph Catholic School, also playing travel ball. 
     She continued to play soccer, basketball, and softball at Reitz High School, where she graduated in 2001. She joined OCU to pursue her teaching degree where she began working with individuals with special needs, competing as one of the founding members of the women’s soccer team and also joined the softball team. 
     Upon graduating, she traveled to Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), to teach First Grade in the fall of 2006. While there, Emily was involved in the school and church community as part of the church choir, coaching soccer, and was a founding member of the CNMI Women’s National Soccer Team. 
     In the summer of 2008, she returned to OCU to pursue her Master’s Degree and acted as Interim Coach for the women’s 
soccer team for one season. 
     She returned to Saipan in the fall of 2009 to teach Special Education for one year and married Kurt Maxberry. Emily was a behavior therapist for four years before she started to grow her family. She pursued a certification from Ball State University in Applied Behavior Analysis and then taught special education kindergarten for the North Gibson School Corporation for two years. 
     For six years, she has taught special education at IDEA Ewing Halsell, earning the Teacher of the Year in 2019, and now teaches for Legacy Traditional School and serves at her local church as a “buddy” for children with special needs and is an assistant Den Leader for her children who are in Cub Scouts. 
     Kurt and Emily live in San Antonio, Texas, with their three children, nine-year old Wyatt, seven-year old Valoree, and seven-year old Wesley, and have an open adoption relationship with their fourth child, nine-year old Brooks.