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Wycliffe “Wyc” Grousbeck has been married to Emilia Fazzalari, a Michigan native, since January 2017. The Boston Celtics lead owner and governor and his wife are two of the five founders behind award-winning Cincoro Tequila and Fazzalari serves as the company’s CEO. They are also involved in several philanthropic ventures and split their time between New York and Boston.
Here’s what you need to know about Wyc Grousbeck’s wife, Emilia Fazzalari:
1. Emilia Fazzalari Is the Daughter of Italian Immigrants & She Grew Up in Michigan
Fazzalari grew up in Michigan and her parents are Italian immigrants, she told Nasdaq. She said they are entrepreneurs like her and that it’s “in my DNA.” After graduating from school, she moved to New York City.
The Celtics owner’s wife said her Italian heritage is very important to her and she loves spending time cooking for her family and friends. “We love to spend an afternoon making pasta sauce from scratch and preparing a feast we know everyone will enjoy throughout the evening,” Fazzalari told Gotham Magazine. “The holidays are the best time to light a fire, throw on some great music, and fill the night with fun conversations and laughter with our closest friends and family.”
Fazzalari has two children of her own and she’s the stepmother of Grousbeck’s two children. During a typical day, she said she’s “up early, get a quick workout in, make breakfast for the kids and then I am laser-focused on Cincoro,” she shared in an interview with Nasdaq. “Zoom calls mostly, with my leadership team, agencies, distributors and accounts. I also make a point of checking in with all employees when I can.”
Fazzalari said she’ll usually make time at lunch and dinner to cook for her blended family, explaining, “Clearly a lot revolves around food, what can I say, I am 100% Italian!” The family has a townhome in Beacon Hill, Boston, which was featured in New England Home magazine. According to the publication, the Grousbecks enjoy hosting get-togethers at their home, which was designed with an open layout that would be more comfortable for the tall players and coaches who are invited over.
“This home is so special to us,” Fazzalari shared. “Above all, it’s livable. Every time I walk into the apartment, I smile.” Her favorite room is the dining room, she revealed and said the family eats there every day.
At the time of her interview with Gotham Magazine in 2021, Fazzalari said her son was away in college and her daughter would soon be heading off to college as well. “The perfect holiday soiree for us is really when the house is full of our kids, their cousins and their friends who might stop by for dinner or just to visit,” she shared.
2. Emilia Fazzalari & Wyc Grousbeck Got Married in January 2017 After Eloping to Las Vegas
Fazzalari and Grousbeck tied the knot in January 2017 in Las Vegas at the Bellagio Chapel after getting engaged in December 2016, the Boston Herald reported. The Celtics governor shared that the couple had been planning an April wedding but found that it was getting to be too much and decided to just get married in Sin City instead.
In fact, Fazzalari spilled on their decision to elope in an interview with Haute Living in 2020. She said the two were engaged and had already been working on the Cincoro Tequila business together with their other three partners before they got married. “We ended up eloping,” she spilled. “We ran off to Vegas and eloped.” Grousbeck chimed in that it had been his wife’s idea and they already had a date set for their special day.
“The wedding plans were getting out of hand,” Fazzalari said. She explained that she texted the other three founders of Cincoro — Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss — to tell them her plans. “[I] said, ‘I’m heading to Vegas, Wyc and I are getting hitched. Why don’t you come out and join us?’” she told the publication.
“I think Wes was in Dubai and MJ was in [Brazil],” she shared, and they couldn’t come given the short notice. “But Jeanie said, ‘Yes I’m coming!’ So Jeanie ended up being our witness and signing our marriage license,” the couple laughed. “The owner of the Lakers signed our marriage document.” Grousbeck joked that “There’s a Lakers/Celtics document on file in Clark County, Nevada.” The Celtics owner said it was a “great time” and their marriage has been “great.”
During the same interview, the couple spoke about their relationship and Fazzalari said, “I couldn’t do what I do without Wyc, honestly.” As for the businessman, he told her, “The day I met you, you changed my life forever for the better and I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
3. Emilia Fazzalari Graduated From the University of Michigan & Worked for Over 20 Years in Financial Services
Fazzalari grew up in Michigan and she attended the University of Michigan, where she obtained a bachelor of arts with a degree in economics and a concentration in psychology, her LinkedIn shows. She told Nasdaq that once she graduated, she left the state. “I made my way to New York City with just a few weeks’ rent in my pocket,” the budding entrepreneur said.
The Cincoro CEO began working in financial services in 1987 with a position at Moody’s Investors Service. Afterward, she began working for Bloomberg L.P., her LinkedIn states. She stayed with the company for over 20 years, working several jobs and making her way up the ladder.
According to her profile, some of her roles included being head of marketing for Bloomberg Television, leading the Commodities Product Development Department, leading the Product Strategy Department and running the Trading System Department, which involved overseeing 200 employees around the world. She also wrote that she “started and managed the Media Syndication Department overseeing the distribution of Bloomberg content to newspapers, radio stations and television stations for US, Canada and Latin America.”
“While my previous jobs could be summarized as intense, they underscored the importance of a laser focus on execution and the need to promote teamwork,” she shared with Entrepreneur. “I reflect on both as I constantly strive to do better and really aspire to lead.”
4. Emilia Fazzalari Is One of the Five Co-Founders of Cincoro Tequila & Is the Company’s CEO
Fazzalari is now perhaps best known not only for being Grousbeck’s wife but also as a co-founder and the CEO of Cincoro, which launched across the U.S. in the fall of 2019. Grousbeck and Fazzalari co-founded the company with Buss, Edens and Jordan after first discussing the idea over a dinner in New York City in 2016.
“We were in New York City for NBA Owners meetings in the summer of 2016 and got together for dinner,” the CEO shared with Entrepreneur. “Michael really taught us how to appreciate sipping high-end tequila. Right then, we realized that we loved tequila and we should make our own — hopefully the best anyone had ever tasted. That was the birth of Cincoro.”
She said the group realized there was an opening in the market to create a world-class tequila and began to set the plan in motion to create their own. “We let our hair down and became true friends that night,” she told Forbes in 2019. A Forbes article from September 2022 reported that the company had sold 1.5 million bottles to date and won 23 awards in accredited spirits competitions.
Cincoro is available for purchase in the U.S., Canada and the Dominican Republic but Fazzalari said their goal was to eventually go global. “I think with this ownership group we have a really amazing opportunity to do that in a big way,” she shared. “Innovation is in our DNA. We launched our fifth expression and have more in the queue that will come out in the future.” There are currently five expressions of Cincoro Tequila: Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, Extra Añejo, and the latest, Gold, which is a blend of the other four.
5. Emilia Fazzalari Is Involved With Several Charitable Organizations
In addition to her work as the Cincoro CEO, Fazzalari is also involved in a lot of charity work alongside Grousbeck, such as the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, the Boston Children’s Hospital, Camp Jabberwocky and Mass Eye and Ear.
In 2021, Princeton reported that the couple made a generous donation of a new dormitory to support the school’s undergrad expansion. Grousbeck, an alum of the prestigious university, said in a statement that “Princeton has meant a lot to me, and I know the University is poised to make a meaningful difference in the world going forward.”
“Wyc feels that his experiences at Princeton helped him in so many ways, and I am very happy that we are now able to give back to the University,” Fazzalari said. “I’ve met a number of his Princeton teammates, and I see their remarkable bond, and I have visited campus and the boathouse with him. I can’t wait to come celebrate the opening of Grousbeck Hall in 2022.”
Along with her husband, Fazzalari established the Giving|Grousbeck Fazzalari Foundation to oversee their philanthropic efforts. Her LinkedIn states that she is a member of the president’s advisory board for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a trust board member of the Boston Children’s Hospital and a founding partner of The Wonderfund.
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