We were lucky to catch up with Emily Tuckman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
To be honest, it’s all a work in progress. Starting out on the business side a little later in life (I have been an actor since I was ten years old, but I took 10 years off in my mid 20s to mid 30s to teach full time) it was difficult to jump in at age 35 to a business where most started in their 20s. Especially when I got pregnant two years in. I had to rebuild what my version of success was, and embrace that vision while raising a tiny human. I’m a workaholic, so finding the hours just happens. I performed in two back to back shows in the first year of my kiddos life and I delved into character work and memorized lines while on walks and breastfeeding him. That feeling of being able to do it all really helped me overcome imposter syndrome, and realize what truly mattered to me versus the things I could let go.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am hyper focused on my acting career-theater, television and film, as well as the occasional commercial, but I also love tutoring for the ACT and SAT, as well as advanced math and college essay writing. Essentially I run two simultaneous businesses, which allows me to pursue my creative dreams while also empowering teenagers and making some money doing so. Right now I’m auditioning like crazy after a long strike (I was on the front lines until the day before my spinal surgery and then again a month after surgery!) I have a wonderful agent and manager helping me with opportunities, and I’m an active reader at Actors Connection where I get to meet truly amazing and kind casting directors. I finished a web series that I produced and starred in a few years back, and now I’m just pounding pavement on the audition front! www.emilytuckman.com
Tutoring website:
www.prismprep.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The most important quality, which I believe is also a skill, is perseverance. This business can be brutal, and discouraging, and I think you need to believe so deeply and unequivocally in yourself to succeed. In terms of skills: the desire to improve. Despite having great confidence (the third skill or quality I think one needs for this business and frankly, the tutoring business and well, You need to be constantly seeking out new classes and coaches and life experiences.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for folks to collaborate with!! I know a ton of actors through being in the business for over ten years, producing 11 theater shows and one web series, but directors, producers, like minded creatives—people who want to tell a meaningful story, make political change, etc!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.emilytuckman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilytuckman?igsh=OHJvY3dkd2h3bHc1&utm_source=qr
- Linkedin: Check out Emily Tuckman’s profile on LinkedIn
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GsZWKpZPyAY&feature=youtu.be
Image Credits
Initial photo: Leslie Hassler Yoga and all black posed photo: Coco Jourdana (Studio Coco J)
