Interview with Emily Austin
Emily Austin is a TV broadcaster and political commentator.
Tennis Trophies
Contents
Max Raskin: I see you have a lot of plaques and commendations right behind you — why do you have so much stuff up there?
Emily Austin: I've got one I didn't even hang yet! I just got this one in Jerusalem.
My room is my office, and I try to have everything that motivates me in my room. This is my award wall. These are my trophies.
MR: What are those trophies for?
EA: I was a star tennis player.
MR: Really?
EA: I was. I was number 13 in the US.
And then I have Trump's challenge coin, and I'm a commissioner for the Nassau County Bridge Authority and I have our newly renovated challenge coin. So I'm hoarding a bit.
MR: Of all those things, what are you the most proud of?
EA: I can't choose. One is from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for advocating for Israel. One from Chabad. I love Chabad, so this was such an honor for me. This is from county executive Bruce Blakeman. Here’s the thing: I don't affiliate with groups that I genuinely don't like. If there's an organization doing a fundraiser and they’ll give me money to come keynote, I won't do it if I don't like the brand. Everything on my wall is an endorsement of an organization I love acknowledging my work, which to me is a double honor.
And this tennis plaque is for being undefeated during four years in high school.
MR: Do you still play?
EA: It's funny because I come off as either this nerd or Barbie ditz girl, and when I tell people I'm killer at tennis, they don't believe me. It always turns into a challenge, and I'll always beat them. So, in short, I play for fun when people don't believe me that I play.
MR: What's your favorite racket?
EA: My entire life I played with a Babolat.
What happened was even though I'm very strong, I noticed when I hit the ball with great technique, I didn't feel the strength in the shot. My coach said it’s because my racket was super light. So I moved to the Wilson Blade and it's a bit harder on my wrist, but my shots are really powerful. I think Sabalenka plays with this one.
MR: You cover tennis, right?
EA: I actually met my two favorite players in the world — Djokovic and Nadal, and I worked with them for 10 days straight. I made it in my book.
MR: Did you ever read David Foster Wallace on tennis?
EA: No. What did he say?
MR: I’m not sure.
Have you heard of him?
EA: No.
MR: Better that way.
What is that like being really good at tennis? Did you practice an obsessive amount?
EA: Yes. I was a kid when I started, it wasn't my choice. My mom signed me up five days a week and then I competed every weekend. And I would say that lasted probably till I was 16 or so. But I had to take a step back because I had a thyroid surgery to take some tumors out.
MR: How did you notice them? Did you have symptoms?
EA: Actually, no. Honestly, I should be more vocal about it. I think women neglect their thyroids — I didn't even know a thyroid was an organ.
MR: You had nodules?
EA: Yes. All over. And the only reason I noticed is when I was watching a tennis game, you move your head back and forth and every time I turned one way I felt like a bit of a pulling in my neck. And then my dad pointed out I had a huge tumor.
Writers and Podcasters
MR: Someone told me your parents are Israeli?
EA: My parents were both born in Israel, but they are completely Americanized.
MR: Are you fluent in Hebrew?
EA: I am.
MR: Is your last name actually Austin?
EA: It is.
MR: How does that work?
EA: There's a story. My dad's family is from Bulgaria and during the Holocaust, they were actually protective of Jews. The family didn't want to associate with their Jewish last name, so they shortened it.
MR: Who’s the last person you beat who didn’t believe you were good at tennis?
EA: A music producer from LA. He was at Michael Rubin's White Party." He was like, "We have a game of doubles tomorrow." I was like, "I will come kill all of you." And we just go and it's fun.
MR: Are you competitive?
EA: Very. It's bad.
MR: If someone meets you on the street and asks what you do, what do you tell them?
EA: I start with, “I work on TV” and then they'll ask what specifically and I’ll give them my line, "Sports and politics. I know you think they don't mix, but they do more than you think." And then it just starts a conversation.
MR: Do you have any favorite sports writers?
EA: I like Mike Coppinger from ESPN. He covers boxing very well. I really like Legion Hoops.
MR: What about political writers or podcasters?
EA: I'll be honest, not a big podcast girl. When I need to know what's going on, I'll listen to Ben Shapiro.
I'm big on X. All my news is from X or Fox News. And then when I feel like I'm too deep in the echo chamber, I'll turn on CNN, MSNBC and realize it is two completely different narratives, so I’ll read.
But I definitely favor a Ben Shapiro-type opinion. And I love, love Charlie Kirk…I’m obsessed with him.
Trump and Bibi
MR: I saw you were just with President Trump. Can you tell me that story?
EA: I was invited to the White House by Vice President Vance with six others, and President Trump was present.
MR: Why did you get the invitation?
EA: I was very flattered — they said they invited a handful of folks that they thought made a big difference in the election. Trump said he recognized me from TV. J.D. said, "I recognize you from TV. If I had to guess it's probably Fox News." And they genuinely just wanted to thank us for what we did.
Essentially it was a round table talk of questions we had. I can say this on the record…the first thing I said when I had a chance to speak to Vice President Vance was about making sure we had nothing to do with Andrew Tate coming back to the US because he's not a person that's a friend and ally or somebody we should be helping.
MR: Did you always love politics?
EA: No. I hated politics. I still don't like it.
MR: Was that your first time at the White House?
EA: Yes.
MR: What was that like for you?
EA: It was really cool, because I watch a lot of Netflix shows whether it’s House of Cards or The Diplomat and you see how they portray the White House versus the reality. It’s a lot smaller in there. There are a lot of important people in the room and the president's just sitting at his desk. It felt almost like a movie scene, but it's my life. It was very surreal. I describe it as a kid in a candy shop. Emily in the White House.
MR: Have you ever met Bibi?
EA: I met him a few times, actually. I met him the night he killed Nasrallah.
He had just given a speech to the UN and a good friend of his had coordinated an intimate kiddush. Douglas Murray was there too.
He gave a nice speech and had a quick, quick dinner. He said, "My country's at war. Got to go." and left.
MR: What’s the difference between President Trump and Bibi?
EA: Bibi's a lot more reserved and we could say selective with his words. Trump? "Do you like this coin? Or do you like that coin? I don't know…Marco Rubio said he likes that one, but I think that I like this one better. Call Mike Waltz. Let's see what he says. Elon? Get over here. Emily, you like this one, right? You look like my daughter Ivanka. You really look like Ivanka."
And I'm like — this is real…love him.
People’s Beauty
MR: How do you decompress?
EA: I don't. I should. I actually never have a chance to decompress, because when I'm not doing the political stuff and I'm not doing the sports stuff, which I'm always doing, I have a skincare company. I'm so proud of my product. It's called People's Beauty. It's based in South Korea.
So my decompression time is at night, technically speaking, but when I'm going to sleep, my factory in South Korea is just waking up. So I'm on the phone until 1:00 in the morning sometimes. But the difference is that politics is very ugly. It's very sleazy and conniving. With the skincare company, I see the rewards, I make money from it. People love my product.
MR: Where do you sell?
EA: So PeoplesBeauty.com is our main point of sale. That's where we get all of our sales from.
MR: How do you market it?
EA: So we're in a subscription box that sells over a million a month, which is called Ipsy. Secondly, we're in Aerie and American Eagle.
MR: How'd you make that happen?
EA: I met the Schottensteins and their granddaughter, who I love and she loves my product. She told her grandfather, "We have to put it in American Eagle." They gave it a go. Everybody tried it. I spoke to marketing. It ended up working because the products speak for themselves.
College
MR: What’s your daily screen time?
EA: Five hours, 56 minutes.
MR: I guess I’m surprised it’s that low with all you do. I didn’t realize you had this company.
EA: I was actually doing that before everything else. Skincare company started during COVID.
MR: How old were you?
EA: I was 20.
MR: You graduated from Touro but you transferred, right?
EA: I went from Hofstra to Touro.
MR: Because?
EA: Hofstra was woke and nauseating. Unaccommodating. Just everything.
MR: Unaccommodating to what?
EA: I'm a sports journalism major. I'm taking my sports journalism class. I was so lucky at 19 years old to be credentialed by the Super Bowl to cover it for SiriusXM. It's literally a dream come true, the LA Rams’ Super Bowl. I went to my professor and told him I was going to miss four classes. And my professor says, "Well, you can't be a working student. So either you're going to stay in class or I'm going to fail you."
Now, I called his bluff on it. I was like, “If you're going to fail me for going to the Super Bowl as a ‘worker,’ you're out of your mind.” And he did fail me.”
Another instance was we had to write for Women's History Month about our favorite athlete, and the teacher suggested we write about Lia Thomas. Now Lia Thomas is a transgender athlete. So personally, if it doesn't resonate with me, why force me to write about something I don't care about? I wrote about Chris Evert and I got an F. This was a woman fighting cancer who's a tennis player. And I got the F because I didn't write about a transgender swimmer? Like, stop. It was so out of control.
Sharks
MR: Do you have any hobbies outside of your work?
EA: I love music. Ishay Ribo was my most-listened-to last year because his music really inspires me. This last year I stopped listening to rap completely, because it just messes up my head a bit. I love Bad Bunny.
What do I do for fun? I don't know. I think that's what I do, I listen to music.
MR: How do you navigate your dating life with your career?
EA: I'm a bit intimidating.
MR: You are a bit intimidating?
EA: I think so. I don't know why. First of all, people are afraid to approach me, which I find funny, because I'm so social and outgoing. If a wall started talking to me, I would have a whole conversation with the wall.
I think on the outside what I do looks really glamorous, but once you're in it, you see it's pretty…“toxic” is not the word because it's not me, but it's the lifestyle. Politics are very corrupt.
MR: And media?
EA: And media. It’s an industry of sharks. You either eat or you'll be eaten. And I try to play fair. I'm always trying to pretend that there's space for everybody at the table and to uplift one another, but it's never reciprocated. So it's very stressful.
Now looking at it from the outside as a guy, my girlfriend's traveling a bunch…she's picky as it is when it comes to men. Her work is her priority. Maybe I'll just lay off. And I don't blame people for thinking that, because it's the career that I chose. But listen, I'm 23. I know I have time before I want to settle and I'm going to maximize my youth to put all my energy towards my work. And if the right guy comes along, then by all means I will take a step back and make time for him.
MR: You have to travel a lot for work, right?
EA: Yes. So I work for the British sports network DAZN. I have 18 fights a year contractually. That's 18 times a year I'm flying. And that's not including speaking engagements, political events, personal events.
MR: Who's your favorite boxer of all time?
EA: Listen, Ali is one of one. Personality wise, Ali is very motivating. Mike Tyson's iconic.
MR: Are you interested in anyone before Ali?
EA: Pre-Ali, no.
You know what's funny? I bicker a lot with people who argue with me like, "Oh, the NBA isn't what it used to be."
"Well honey, you weren't alive when it used to be, so who cares? What, you going to watch tape for the rest of your life? Get on with it."
Saudi Arabia and Friday Nights
MR: Do you have any good travel hacks?
EA: I have this one bag and its my go-to for everything. I hang it on my shower whenever I arrive. It’s my pharmacy on the go. Skincare, contact solution, makeup remover, hairspray.
MR: What's the name of the thing?
EA: I don't know. You don't have to put it in there. It's not like they're paying me.
MR: Are you nervous when you fly?
EA: Oh, definitely not. I fall asleep before the plane takes off. I love sleeping. I like the motion of the plane moving. It rocks me to sleep.
MR: Do you have any cool apps on your phone that people might not have heard of?
EA: I love this app called Vocabulary. It gives me a different word every day.
MR: What's today's word?
EA: Exacerbation.
I can keep a list of my favorite words I’d like to use.
MR: What's a word you think you'd use?
EA: Perfidious.
MR: You’ve covered fights in Saudi Arabia — what do you do there? What’s that like?
EA: Saudi is undertaking huge initiatives in sporting events. Needless to say, Liv Golf is a huge one. They have Formula One in Jeddah. And they've really taken up a lot of space, if not all of it, in the boxing world.
I also did the 6 Kings Slam. It was Djokovic and Nadal, Alcaraz, Rune, Medvedev, Sinner, all playing against each other. In my life I never thought I'd be in a room with all six of them at the same time. They’re going to do another 6 Kings come October. They do really grand sports events that are incomparable to any other country I've been to.
MR: What do you do when you’re there?
EA: There’s a week of activities leading up to a fight. A press conference, an open workout. I'm very busy with work, but they go above and beyond there.
I broke my chin while I was there and have a scar on my face.
MR: How'd you break your chin?
EA: I was working out at the gym. I took a weight, and I’d slam it, then I’d squat and pick it up. I slammed the weight one time, and it bounced back and knocked me out.
They called an ambulance. But I got WhatsApp’s that night from the doctor checking in on me.
MR: What does your workout routine look like?
EA: I try to work out at least twice a week. It's really hard when I travel, but I really make it a point to. I love Barry's, because it beats me.
MR: When you wake up in the morning, what's the first thing you do?
EA: Modeh Ani.
After that I recently started praying. This is a coincidence that has nothing to do with Trump, but the day of Trump's inauguration, I ordered a book of prayers It was so hard to find. I paid $80 for one book.
MR: I read “Against the Evil Eye” every morning.
MR: Really?
EA: For health, against the evil eye, happiness, success.
MR: Do you have siblings?
EA: I'm one of four.
MR: Are they also as ambitious and successful as you?
EA: No.
No, I'm joking. They have their own ways. My brother works in real estate doing mortgages with my dad. My sister's 18 and she's deciding what she wants to do. My younger brother is 15 and I promise you he's going to be one of the most successful men on the planet, because he's been driven since he's born. He just has it in him and I'm so proud of him.
MR: Do you get your energy and drive from your mom or dad?
EA: Both. My dad's a great public speaker and my mom's an attorney, so she's sharp. My dad's a bit more outgoing and social. I would say I got that from him. And my mom's very reserved. She's very modest and humble and she keeps me grounded and my dad pushes me to go. So together it's a good combo, because you stay grounded. But they're always pushing me.
MR: And are they religious?
EA: Put it this way, they’re very mad that sometimes I miss Friday night dinners. I really try not to. They're like, "You keep missing Kiddush. You're setting a bad example."