Serena Ortiz is Brody Malone’s high school sweetheart and now wife. She’s from Canton, Georgia, and attended Cherokee High School. She graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2022, where, as per her Instagram profile, she was also a part of the Phi Mu sorority.

Serena Ortiz won the CSUBiotech Eden Graduate Student Award in 2023, beating out competitors from all 23 CSU campuses. She works as a public relations specialist at Yamaha Boats.

Where is Serena Ortiz from?

Ortiz is from Georgia, and both she and Malone share the same home state. Their love story is right out of a movie because they first met in high school. Fast forward to May 2025, they tied the knot, and are now happily married.

How did Brody Malone and Serena Ortiz meet?

The couple met in the summer of 2017, introduced through a mutual gymnastics friend. They officially started dating in the fall of 2017. Ortiz had said that she made the first move, as per AOL.com. “One of my teammates at my club gym in high school introduced us,” Malone told The Knot. “After a year of getting to know him, he came up to me one day and said, ‘Hey, I know a girl I think you would really like. I’m gonna invite her to come to the gym.'”

Ortiz shared, “As soon as I met him, I thought, ‘I really like this guy.’ For me, you could say it was love at first sight.” She got his number from their mutual friend and sent the first message.

Engagement and wedding details

They got engaged on New Year’s Eve 2023 in Sarasota, Florida, during a sunrise proposal. They married on May 31, 2025, in Rockmart, Georgia, Brody’s hometown. The Olympic bronze medalist proposed to her, got engaged, and then the wedding planning started in full swing.

“I’ll find my favorite things, and then pick three to five options,” Ortiz told the Knotabout wedding planner with Malone. “I give them to him and ask for his favorite, which I’ve found is a lot less overwhelming.” The couple got married in a beautiful scenic property at Rosemary Beach in Florida. Ortiz posted beautiful pictures of her wedding on Instagram for all her fans.