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She’s set to marry Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. But who is the pilot and Emmy Award-winning journalist Lauren Sánchez – and the way did she go from native information to the sting of area?
Born in New Mexico in 1969, Sánchez studied at El Camino College and later the University of Southern California. According to her alma mater’s website, on the time she was often known as Wendy Sánchez.
She launched her broadcasting profession at KTVK-TV in Phoenix, and went on to seem on the “Extra” information journal present, co-hosted “Good Day LA,” and served as the unique host of the dancing competitors collection “So You Think You Can Dance.”
At 40, Sánchez turned a licenced helicopter pilot – a pursuit impressed by her father, a flight teacher. In 2016, she based Black Ops Aviation – the primary female-owned aerial movie manufacturing firm. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the corporate consulted on Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.”
“I had my job, I had a career, and then I found a calling,” she instructed the publication. “I loved entertainment and I loved filming, and so I got to combine all of it.”
The 55-year-old additionally serves because the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, and is devoted to “fighting climate change and the protection of nature, as well as early childhood education, programming, and housing support,” in response to the fund’s website.
In 2025, Sánchez was one of many six female passengers who have been launched to the sting of area by Bezos’ Blue Origin NS-31 rocket for a quick, 10-minute journey.
She “brought the mission together,” in response to Blue Origin, and personally chosen her fellow area vacationers, who included journalist Gayle King, singer Katy Perry and analysis scientist and rape survivor Amanda Nguyen. Sánchez additionally labored with luxurious vogue home Monse to design new flight fits for the mission.
She stated the view from area was not what she anticipated.
“Earth looked so – it was so quiet,” she said. “And you look at it, and you’re like, ‘We’re all in this together.’”
Sánchez additionally authored a youngsters’s e-book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space,” revealed in English and Spanish in 2024. The e-book tells a narrative of a fly named Flynn who travels to area and returns with a newfound dedication to the planet – a story Sánchez described to People as “a metaphor for curiosity and the pursuit of dreams.”
She has three youngsters: a son, Nikko, with former NFL participant Tony Gonzalez; and son Evan and daughter Ella with ex-husband Patrick Whitesell, an leisure government. In a 2023 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sánchez stated she maintains a detailed relationship with Gonzalez and his spouse, describing them as her “best friends.”
Sánchez and Bezos, 61, went public with their relationship in 2019 after Bezos introduced his divorce from his spouse of 25 years, MacKenzie Scott. The pair obtained engaged in May 2023.
In January, Sánchez accompanied Bezos at US President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. During the ceremony, the couple have been seated subsequent to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.