Emily Tisch Sussman Celebrates Her New Podcast, 'She Pivots'

Emily Tisch Sussman celebrates “She Pivots: The Podcast’s” first season of showcasing women and their career moves after life intervened and changed the goals they thought they had for themselves.

When her own career altered course after having kids, Tisch Sussman began to find solace in the stories of other women who had similarly experienced a big life change before pivoting in their careers, and the idea for “She Pivots: The Podcast” was born.

The podcast, which premiered this past April, has featured the stories of women from all over the country who have made big changes, including Sophia Bush and Nia Linder Batts, who lost their Detroit business and shifted to investing in women owned companies, Robin McBride, who connected with her long lost sister and left a corporate job to start a vineyard with her sister, Paula Neira, a Navy veteran who came out as transgender and was dishonorably discharged, and Joan Boyce, who started a jewelry company in Westhampton and grew to be featured on Home Shopping Network.

In her own career as a political strategist, Tisch Sussman spent over a decade working in politics in Washington D.C. But after getting married, and quickly having her first baby, she realized her ability to focus solely on her work was gone.

Tisch Sussman noted at the time, her entire identity was her work.

“It was clear that my old definition of success, I couldn't achieve it,” Tisch Sussman said. “I couldn’t be a hardcore worker, it was not possible.”

Eventually, Tisch Sussman moved with her family to New York in 2019 and then to Water Mill during the pandemic. That move slowed her lifestyle and allowed her to better connect with relatives that lived in Sag Harbor.

As the end of the summer 2020 approached, she realized leaving the East End was not an option. “It felt like community,” she said.

But Tisch Sussman struggled with the political transition that came with President Biden’s election and she had to come to terms with the fact that she was now living in the Hamptons and not returning to the nation’s capital. For the first time in over a decade, political power was shifting but Tisch Sussman was not in Washington D.C. to be part of it.

“All of the sudden, I was stale,” she said.

So she put her political podcast, “Your Political Playlist,” which featured women experts and covered a variety of issues, on pause. That gave her some brain space for creativity and she was able to connect with Marie Claire magazine to produce “She Pivots: The Podcast.” Tisch Sussman called Marie Claire her “dream partner.”

“Every episode has the same structure of story — where somebody has some level of career, they have an intervening life event, like a personal life event, that changes their perspective,” Tisch Sussman explained. “They change their career as a result and they find success.”

While “Your Political Playlist” featured powerful female guests like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, with the new podcast, Tisch Sussman has zeroed in on telling the stories of women who made a change in their career, but also had a variety of other life events going on as well.

Paula Neira’s episode was centered on the challenges of transitioning with a military career, Michelle Park’s episode was about Park’s TikTok career and Robin McBride’s piece told the story of her discovery of a long lost sister and how she created a business with her.

“I really wanted everyone to see themselves in the show,” said Tisch Sussman.

Despite her own change in career, Tisch Sussman remains as passionate about her desire to change the world as she was right out of college. In light of the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, Tisch Sussman has slightly stepped back into politics, speaking at a rally for women’s rights at Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead on June 29.

“I have been very clear about my purposeful pivot out of politics. I mean, I even made a podcast about it. However, this is not a time for silence, apathy, or inaction,” she said. “Speaking to such a fired up group of women of all ages was incredibly inspiring — we can’t give up.”

“She Pivots: The Podcast” is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.