Who Is Craig Melvin’s Wife? All About Sports Reporter Lindsay Czarniak

Craig Melvin and his wife, Lindsay Czarniak, met while working at the NBC affiliate WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., in 2008.

The pair, now broadcasters for different networks, got married in 2011 and are parents to two children, son Delano and daughter Sybil.

“We make it work and it’s been very, very helpful to have someone who understands crazy hours,” Czarniak told PEOPLE of their busy lives.

Life might get even busier for Melvin now that he’s been named Hoda Kotb’s permanent replacement on the Today show. Melvin will co-anchor alongside Savannah Guthrie beginning on Jan. 13.

“Huge news. Just huge. I’m so incredibly proud of you @craigmelvinNBC. What a journey this has been,” Czarniak wrote on her Instagram Stories following the big announcement in November 2024.

So who is Craig Melvin’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Lindsay Czarniak and her relationship with the Today co-anchor.

They started off as friends and colleagues

According to The Washington Post, Czarniak, a sports journalist for WRC at the time, was away on assignment covering the 2008 Olympics in Beijing when Melvin joined the network as a news anchor. Upon return, she introduced herself to her new colleague during a commercial break.

After becoming friends and casually hanging out for a few months, Melvin asked her out for drinks. Czarniak was reluctant to get into a relationship with a colleague but agreed to meet up.

“That night when we met, there was something that clicked. And it wasn’t necessarily that I knew, ‘I have to be with this guy.’ But it was like, ‘I don’t want to be with anyone else that I’d hung out with,’ ” she told the newspaper. “It felt like being with the person that really gets you and that you’ve known for a really, really long time.”

After keeping their relationship under wraps for a few months, the couple got engaged during a trip to Miami, Florida, in 2011.

She married Melvin in 2011

On Oct. 15, 2011, Melvin and Czarniak wed at the Church of the Holy City in Washington, D.C. According to The Washington Post, many of the couple’s colleagues from WRC, where they met, were in attendance.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds traveled via vintage Bentley to the Hay-Adams Hotel for the reception. Adorned with orange roses, they celebrated with approximately 200 guests and were serenaded with music by Lee Anne Myslewski.

She is a mother to two children

Czarniak and Melvin welcomed their son Delano “Del” in March 2014 and daughter Sybil “Sibby” in November 2016.

Delano actually helped inspire his sister’s name. The pair came up with the name “Sibby,” short for sibling, for Delano to refer to his sister while Czarniak was pregnant. The parents ended up falling in love with the name and kept the moniker for their little girl.

The couple frequently posts about their children, including when they took them to the 2023 Super Bowl.

“The lasting image, for me, will be the confetti raining down and just watching my son be so happy and also my daughter just getting into it, because they’re only at that age once, and so to have this kind of experience with them, it’s just awesome,” Czarniak told PEOPLE.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband and children

Even though Czarniak travels across the world to cover sports, her home base is in the suburbs of Connecticut, where she spends downtime with her family.

The pair gave PEOPLE an inside look at their spacious abode, which includes an office with floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, encouraged by their designer, Michelle Hogue.

“I said, ‘Where I’m from you put wallpaper on the walls,'” Melvin shared. “Then she did it, and we were like, ‘Wow, okay.’ ”

Other unique features of the home include a hand-painted mural of a cherry blossom tree by Czarniak in Sybil’s room — a nod to Washington, D.C., where the couple first met — and a fully decked-out basement featuring a wine cellar, media room and home gym.

“These days, it’s the only place in the house where you can occasionally find 45 seconds of almost quiet,” he joked.

She is a sports reporter for FOX Sports

Czarniak is a FOX NFL and FOX NASCAR reporter for FOX Sports. According to her bio, she has been with the network since 2019.

“I really just love the opportunity to share what’s going on, and talk about a game, and cover a game, but also let people understand the context behind it,” she told PEOPLE.

Previously, she worked at ESPN from 2011 to 2017, anchoring SportsCenter, SportsNation and NASCAR Now. During her time there, she became the first woman to host the network’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500 on ABC.

She has her husband stored in her phone under a different name

While appearing on an episode of Today alongside her husband in 2021, Czarniak revealed that Melvin is listed in her phone under a different name: “Jake Milstein.”

When Melvin first signed on with WRC in Washington, D.C., he received a company cell phone that had previously been used by a producer there, Jake Milstein.

“So when (Craig) called me, it came up in my phone, which was also a station phone, as Jake Milstein,” she shared. “So when he calls me, it pops up as Jake Milstein, and it’s become a thing where I see it, and it’s him.”

Melvin has remained under the alias in her phone for over a decade.

“You know how TV is, it’s like sports, it’s become a superstition, completely,” she said.

She has acted in films

Czarniak enjoys being on camera both as a journalist and an actress. Minoring in studio art during her time at James Madison University, Czarniak told Washington Life Magazine, “I love theater and one of my favorite things is going to movies and concerts. I could spend all day at a movie theater, especially if scary movies are playing.”

She followed her passion and appeared in the 2000 action film Aquarius, and a decade later, starred in the horror film Ghosts Don’t Exist, playing the role of a news reporter. The latter also featured previous Washington Commanders tight end Chris Cooley and won the DC Filmmaker Award at the 2010 DC Independent Film Festival.

She is a minority interest owner in a thoroughbred racehorse

In March 2023, as part of a new business venture, Czarniak joined the cast of the second season of America’s Best Racing’s A Stake in Stardom, becoming a minority interest racehorse owner in partnership with West Point Thoroughbreds and Final Furlong Racing Stable.

The show gives newly minted thoroughbred owners an opportunity to experience the sport and lifestyle of thoroughbred racing up close by attending major racing events, such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Czarniak and NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport invested in a 4-year-old thoroughbred racehorse named Parnac, who has three wins from seven career races.