Elise Menaker has become one of the most recognizable voices in Chicago Cubs coverage, and her rise from college softball standout to Marquee Sports Network host has readers curious about more than just her play-by-play skills. People want to know who she is off camera too, including whether she’s married, how old she is, and what she’s built for herself financially and professionally.
This guide pulls together everything that is publicly documented about Elise Menaker, from her Wilmette upbringing to her Emmy-winning broadcasting work, while being upfront about the details her team and family have chosen to keep private.
Elise Menaker Wikipedia
Elise Menaker does not currently have a standalone Wikipedia page, which is fairly common for regional and network sports broadcasters who haven’t yet crossed into national television. Because of that gap, a lot of the biographical details circulating online come from a patchwork of interviews, university athletics archives, and network press releases rather than one authoritative source. Below is a quick snapshot pulled from verified public records:
| Category | Details |
| Full Name | Elise Lauren Menaker |
| Profession | Sports host, reporter, analyst |
| Known For | Marquee Sports Network (Chicago Cubs), Big Ten Network |
| Hometown | Wilmette, Illinois |
| Education | Cornell University (B.A. Communication); Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism (M.S. Journalism) |
| Former Athlete | College and professional softball player |
| Notable Honor | Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame inductee |
Who Is Elise Menaker?
Elise Menaker is an American sports broadcaster, host, reporter, and analyst best known for covering the Chicago Cubs on Marquee Sports Network and for her work as a sideline reporter and studio host on the Big Ten Network. Before she ever picked up a microphone professionally, she was a standout softball player at Cornell University, a background that gives her on-air analysis a level of athletic credibility that pure broadcasters often lack.
She grew up in Wilmette, a North Shore suburb of Chicago, and has said in interviews that riding the L-train to Wrigley Field with her family as a kid planted the seed for her eventual baseball career. That local connection has come full circle: she now covers the same team she grew up watching, and in 2022 she made history as the first woman to serve as a television analyst for a Chicago Cubs game.
Is Elise Menaker Married? Husband, Dating History, and Children
As of 2026, Elise Menaker has not publicly confirmed that she is married. She keeps her romantic life largely separate from her professional persona, and no husband, fiancé, or current partner has been named or verified through her official social media accounts, network bios, or credible interviews.
A handful of low-authority “biography” sites have claimed to know details about a husband, but none cite a verifiable source, and several contradict one another on basic facts like her birth year, which is a strong signal that those figures are estimates rather than confirmed information. The most honest answer, based on what’s actually documented, is this:
- No husband or spouse has been publicly identified.
- There is no public record of an engagement.
- There are no confirmed children.
- Elise has occasionally referenced her dating life in passing on social media over the years, but she has never named a long-term partner publicly.
If Elise Menaker does get married or chooses to share relationship news in the future, it will most likely surface through her own Instagram or X (formerly Twitter) account, since that’s where she typically shares personal milestones like her Cornell Hall of Fame induction.
Family Background
Elise is the daughter of Ed (Edward) and Pam Menaker. She grew up with two siblings, a brother named Mark and a sister named Michelle, in a household that revolved heavily around sports and Chicago sports culture specifically. Her father is often credited as the person who introduced her to baseball through regular family trips to Wrigley Field, while her mother reportedly encouraged her to pursue internships during college, a decision that directly shaped her path into sports journalism.
Family still plays a visible role in her life today. She’s shared posts featuring her parents and siblings on Instagram, and her Cornell Hall of Fame induction in 2022 was framed publicly as a family milestone as much as an athletic one.
How Old Is Elise Menaker? Age and Birthday
Elise Menaker was born on October 26, making her birthday fall under the Scorpio zodiac sign. Her exact birth year has not been confirmed through an official or primary source, and this is one area where online biographies genuinely disagree. Some sites place her birth year around 1980, which would make her mid-40s in 2026, while others estimate 1987, placing her closer to 39.
Given the graduation timeline that is consistently reported, a 2006 to 2010 run at Cornell University followed by professional softball in Sweden and a 2011 master’s degree from Northwestern, the later birth-year estimate lines up more logically with her documented career path. Until Elise confirms her exact birth year publicly, readers should treat any specific age listed online as an estimate rather than a verified fact.
Elise Menaker’s Height, Weight, and Body Measurements
Elise Menaker’s playing profile from her Cornell softball days lists her height at 5 feet 7 inches, which is the figure most consistently cited across her college athletics records. A few unrelated bio aggregator sites list a shorter height, but those figures aren’t tied to any official athletic or network source, so the Cornell athletics listing is the more reliable reference point.
Weight, dress size, and other detailed body measurements are not publicly disclosed anywhere, and Elise has not shared that information through interviews or social media. As a working broadcaster and former college athlete, her public image is built around her reporting and analysis rather than personal statistics, and there’s no verified data to report beyond her documented playing height.
What Is Elise Menaker’s Educational Background?
Education has played a major role in shaping Elise Menaker’s broadcasting career, and it’s one of the best-documented parts of her biography.
- New Trier High School, Winnetka, Illinois: She earned four varsity softball letters and served as co-captain during her junior and senior years. She was named team MVP her senior season with a .356 batting average and earned spots on the Pioneer Press All-Area Team and All-Conference Team in 2004 and 2006.
- Cornell University: She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, playing softball throughout her time there and finishing with a career .363 batting average, a number strong enough to later earn her induction into the Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame.
- Second City Conservatory: She completed additional training in improv and sketch writing, a somewhat unusual but valuable skill set for a live sports broadcaster who needs to think on her feet.
- Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism: She earned a Master of Science in Journalism in 2011, one of the most respected journalism programs in the country and a common launching pad for national sports media careers.
She is also reported to have bilingual proficiency in English along with professional working proficiency in French, an asset that isn’t always highlighted in typical sports broadcaster bios.
Elise Menaker’s Career
Elise Menaker’s path into sports broadcasting wasn’t a straight line. She originally considered a career in fashion journalism and once envisioned herself working as a fashion editor for a magazine like Vogue. An internship at ABC7 Chicago during college changed her direction entirely, exposing her to the pace and unpredictability of sports journalism and steering her away from print media at a time when the industry’s future felt uncertain.
Early Sports Reporting
After graduating from Cornell in 2010, Elise played professional softball for several months with the Skövde Saints in Sweden before shifting her focus fully to broadcasting. Her early professional experience included internships at Intersport and ABC/WLS-TV, plus reporting roles with Time Out Chicago and Medill News Service while completing her graduate degree.
In 2011, she took a job as a general assignment reporter at KMIZ-TV in Missouri, where she wrote, shot, edited, and produced stories across the station’s morning, evening, and nightly newscasts. During this stretch, she covered several major weather events, including a historic blizzard, a summer heatwave, and the devastating Joplin tornado. She also covered Mark Buehrle’s perfect game for the Chicago White Sox in 2009 during an earlier internship, an early sign of the baseball beat she’d eventually make her specialty.
From 2013 to 2015, she worked as an anchor and reporter at WAND-TV/NewsCenter17 in Decatur, Illinois, where her feature “After the Storm” earned first place in the Hard News Feature category at a regional journalism competition.
Big Ten Network and Marquee Sports Network
Between 2015 and 2017, Elise served as a sports anchor and reporter at Today’s TMJ4 in Milwaukee, covering the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee Brewers. In August 2017, she returned to her Chicago roots by joining the Big Ten Network as a football sideline reporter, softball game analyst, and studio host, a role she continues to hold. She also worked as a color analyst for Big Ten Women’s Tennis Championship coverage and briefly served as a sideline reporter for MLB Network in 2018, including coverage of a Royals vs. Brewers game.
Elise joined Marquee Sports Network in February 2020, ahead of the network’s official launch as the new home of Chicago Cubs broadcasts. In June 2021, the network announced she would take on a lead color analyst role for the Iowa Cubs, the team’s Triple-A affiliate, before expanding into her current position as a studio host and reporter for the Chicago Cubs’ major league broadcasts.
Pioneering Broadcasts and Emmy Win
Elise Menaker has built a reputation for breaking barriers in Cubs broadcasting. In 2022, she became the first woman to serve as a television analyst for a Chicago Cubs game. The following year, in 2023, she became the first woman to call a Cubs radio broadcast as an analyst. That same year, she took part in one of the earliest all-women broadcast teams in MLB history, joining Melanie Newman and Alanna Rizzo to call a Cubs vs. White Sox game streamed on YouTube.
Her contributions haven’t gone unrecognized. In 2023, her show “Road to Wrigley” won a Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy Award, cementing her status as one of the more accomplished voices in regional sports broadcasting. She has continued to build on that momentum, appearing as part of additional all-female broadcast teams alongside names like Beth Mowins and Taylor McGregor, and hosting Cubs pre-game and post-game coverage, podcasts, and studio segments through the 2026 season.
What Is Elise Menaker’s Net Worth and Salary?
Elise Menaker’s exact net worth and salary have not been publicly disclosed by her, Marquee Sports Network, or the Big Ten Network. Several bio websites list figures ranging anywhere from roughly $100,000 to $1 million, and salary estimates hovering around $90,000 a year, but none of these numbers are sourced to anything official. They appear to be generic industry averages applied to her job title rather than verified figures tied specifically to her contracts.
What can be said with more confidence is that regional sports network hosts and analysts with her level of experience, national broadcasting credentials, and multi-network workload (Marquee Sports Network plus Big Ten Network) typically earn solidly within the mid five-figure to low six-figure range, though exact compensation depends heavily on contract terms that broadcasters and networks rarely make public.
Income Sources
Based on her documented career, Elise Menaker’s income is most likely built from a combination of the following:
- Her salaried role as a host and reporter for Marquee Sports Network.
- Her ongoing position as a host, analyst, and sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network.
- Possible appearance fees or freelance broadcasting work tied to special MLB or collegiate events.
- Any sponsorships, endorsements, or brand partnerships connected to her social media presence.
Elise Menaker Social Media Presence
Elise Menaker is active on both X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram under the handle @EliseMenaker, where she shares Cubs roster updates, probable pitching matchups, behind-the-scenes broadcasting content, and personal milestones like her Cornell Hall of Fame induction. Her X account, joined in October 2010, has built a following of over 15,000 people who follow her for real-time Cubs news and commentary.
She’s also present on LinkedIn, where she maintains professional connections tied to her broadcasting career and occasionally shares updates about her work at Marquee Sports Network. Her social bios typically highlight her Cornell softball background, her Medill journalism training, and her professional softball stint in Sweden, tying her personal brand closely to both her athletic and journalistic credentials.
Fast Facts About Elise Menaker
- Full name: Elise Lauren Menaker
- Birthday: October 26 (exact birth year unconfirmed)
- Hometown: Wilmette, Illinois
- Height: 5 feet 7 inches (per Cornell athletics records)
- Education: Cornell University (B.A. Communication); Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism (M.S. Journalism)
- Former sport: College and professional softball (Cornell University; Skövde Saints, Sweden)
- Current employers: Marquee Sports Network, Big Ten Network
- Notable honor: Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame inductee
- Awards: Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy Award (2023) for “Road to Wrigley”
- Marital status: No husband or spouse publicly confirmed as of 2026
- Languages: English (native), French (professional working proficiency)
Conclusion
Elise Menaker has built her career on a rare combination of athletic credibility and journalistic training, turning a childhood spent watching the Cubs at Wrigley Field into a groundbreaking broadcasting career with the very team she grew up rooting for. While her personal life, including her exact age and relationship status, remains largely private, her professional accomplishments speak clearly for themselves: an Emmy award, multiple broadcasting firsts for women in Cubs history, and a steady presence across two major sports networks.
As she continues to grow her role at Marquee Sports Network and Big Ten Network, it’s likely more details about her personal milestones will surface over time, but for now, her career achievements remain the clearest and most well-documented part of her public story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Elise Menaker married?
No confirmed information indicates that Elise Menaker is married. She has not publicly named a husband or fiancé as of 2026.
How old is Elise Menaker?
Her exact birth year is not publicly confirmed, though she was born on October 26. Estimates place her late 30s to mid-40s depending on the source.
What college did Elise Menaker attend?
She attended Cornell University, where she earned a B.A. in Communication and played softball, later earning a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
What is Elise Menaker’s net worth?
Her exact net worth hasn’t been publicly disclosed. Online estimates vary widely, from roughly $100,000 to $1 million, but none are independently verified.
Where does Elise Menaker work now?
She currently works for Marquee Sports Network as a Chicago Cubs host and reporter, and for the Big Ten Network as a sideline reporter, analyst, and studio host.
Did Elise Menaker play professional softball?
Yes. After graduating from Cornell, she played professional softball for the Skövde Saints in Sweden before transitioning fully into broadcasting.
Has Elise Menaker won any awards?
Yes. In 2023, her show “Road to Wrigley” won a Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy Award.
Was Elise Menaker the first woman to do TV analysis for the Cubs?
Yes. In 2022, she became the first woman to serve as a television analyst for a Chicago Cubs game, and in 2023 she became the first woman to call a Cubs radio broadcast as analyst.
Does Elise Menaker have children?
There is no public record of Elise Menaker having children as of 2026.
Where is Elise Menaker from?
She was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb on Chicago’s North Shore.
Daniel Carter is an entertainment writer covering celebrity news, lifestyle trends, and public achievements. He focuses on creating accurate, engaging, and well researched content that delivers reliable information and reader value.