Who Was Sheinelle Jones’ Husband?

The same creativity that guided Jones‘ career had her thinking quickly when she first noticed her future husband. “I was a fake tour guide,” she recounted to Northwestern Magazine about leading the then-high school senior through the lakeside campus. Although she was on her way to class, “I told him I would take him around because he was cute.”

From that moment, they charted a decades-long journey together. After eight years of dating and two false starts (she previously thought he was proposing when he gifted her a Tiffany’s box with a bracelet inside and then again on a trip to Cancun), the couple found themselves back at the beginning.

“We were on a trip to Northwestern’s campus,” Jones recounted on Today in 2018. “It was raining outside, and he was like, ‘Let’s go over by our little spot on the lake.'” Although she was reluctant to get wet, he persuaded her to embrace the rain before dropping to one knee.

She and the Nigerian-born consultant—a managing partner at UAO Consulting and an enthusiastic triathlete—wed in her hometown of Philadelphia in September 2007 and later welcomed son Kayin in August 2009 and twins Clara and Uche in July 2012.

“With all three of my children, I try to show them that they’re ALL a team,” she’s shared with Today, “and they have to take care of each other.”