Born and raised in a small Iowa town, Emily started modeling with Elite and moved from Chicago to Milan, Paris, and finally London. She then based her modeling career out of New York for 10 years while she studied acting with Bill Esper and Wynn Handman. There she also worked acting and producing Off-Off Broadway theatre.

Shortly after 9/11, she moved with F. Scott Shea, whom she married the next year, to Los Angeles allowing her to work more in entertainment and less in fashion. Emily has done some television and theatre, though she prefers to focus mainly on independent films. Once she quit modeling, Emily and Scott had a son, Hatcher, in June of 2006 and their next child is in the works: a independent film based on "The Buffalo Soldier", a national best-seller, written by novelist Chris Bohjalian. The book is being adapted by "Tennessee" screenwriter Russell Schaumburg; the film is being produced by Stu Pollard of Pollard Films.

She is currently studying collage/montage art at Art Center for Design.

Emily and her family make their home in the Hollywood Hills, with their kat Prince William and genetically challenged dog, Stella Blue.