Amy Siskind (born December 16, 1965) is an American activist and writer. She is the author of ''The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump’s First Year'' (2018) and organizer of the

We the People March The We the People March was a demonstration in Washington, D.C., in the United States, held on September 21, 2019. The march was advertised as an event to remind elected officials that they work for the people. Its organizer Amy Siskind said tha ...

Early life and education

Siskind was born in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsu ...

, to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents, Bernard Siskind and Selma Lipsky Siskind, and is the youngest of five siblings. She attended

Marblehead High School Marblehead High School is a public high school located in Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States. History The school has approximately 879 students. The current campus began construction in 2001, and opened for the 2002–2003 school year. In ...

, graduating in 1984. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in economics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1987, and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

in finance and international business from the

New York University Stern School of Business The Leonard N. Stern School of Business (also NYU Stern, Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. Founded as the School of Commerce, Accounts ...

in 1992.

Career

Early career

As a Wall Street executive, Siskind was a pioneer and expert in the

distressed debt In corporate finance, distressed securities are securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing financial or operational distress, default, or are under bankruptcy. As far as debt securities, this is called distressed debt. ...

trading market. She became the first female Managing Director at Wasserstein Perella & Co. in 1996, at the age of 31, and later ran trading departments at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

and Imperial Capital, where she was also a partner. Siskind worked 20 years on Wall Street before retiring in 2006.

The New Agenda and political activism

Siskind was an early supporter of

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

during the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

cycle, having previously supported Clinton's re-election bid to the United States Senate, and having taken her daughter to meet Clinton at an event in 2006. Siskind has drawn criticism from liberals for voting for

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

over

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. In August 2008, Siskind co-founded The New Agenda in her living room with 30 Hillary Clinton supporters who alleged sexism and misogyny were at play during the 2008 election. The New Agenda is a non-profit organization "dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls by bringing about systemic change in the media, at the workplace, at school and at home". she is president of the organization. It focuses on issues that affect the success of women, including pay discrimination, sexual assault and sexual harassment. Siskind was reported to be one of the earliest supporters of the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement and Consciousness raising, awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was init ...

, sparked by a tweet from

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano ( ; born December 19, 1972) is an American actress and activist. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'' (1997–1998), Phoebe Halliwell in '' Charmed'' ...

on October 15, 2017, for which Siskind tweeted her own support within the first hundred minutes. In October 2018, in the days following the

Pittsburgh synagogue shooting On October 27, 2018, a right-wing extremist attacked Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Had ...

, Siskind posted on Facebook that she was organizing an anti-hate vigil in her Westchester County community. After a local newspaper ran a story about it,

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right politics, far-right, Neo-fascism, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence and militancy: ...

founder

Gavin McInnes Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster, far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'' on his website, Compound Censored. He co-founded ''Vic ...

and his family, who lived in the nearby community of

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a Village (New York), village located within the Town (New York), Town of Mamaroneck (town), New York, Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York. Larchmont is a suburb of New York City, located approximately northeast of Midt ...

, appeared at Siskind's door without invitation or forewarning; she called the police. *Weill, Kelly (November 13, 2018
"Gavin McInnes Whines His Fellow Rich Neighbors Don’t Like Him"
''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' *Rom, Gabriel (October 29, 2018
"Amy Siskind warns that far-right leader Gavin McInnes lives here"
''

The Journal News ''The Journal News'' is a newspaper in New York State serving the New York counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam, a region known as the Lower Hudson Valley. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Journal News'' was created through a ...

'' *Campbell, Andy (January 4, 2019
"Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes Can Get Back To Antifa After He Battles His Neighbors"
''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' *Doughtery, Owen (January 4, 2019
"Proud Boys founder asked neighbors to take down anti-hate signs: report"
'' The Hill'' *Sommer, Will (January 4, 2019
"Gavin McInnes Writes Letters to Neighbors to Take Down Anti-Hate Signs"
''

'' *Campbell, Andy (January 8, 201
"Gavin McInnes’ Wife Threatens Neighbors Over ‘Hate Has No Home Here’ Signs"
''

The List

In November 2016, Siskind started keeping a weekly list of not-normal events of the Trump administration, and posting the lists on social media. Siskind indicated that she did not intend to merely recite normal political disputes, but to catalogue "things that are uncharacteristic of our democracy". In September 2017, she was named in ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

s 2017 "Politico 50". In March 2018 she compiled the first year of weekly lists and published them as ''The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year''. In June 2018, Siskind started ''The Weekly List'' podcast to accompany the lists; writing in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' in July 2018,

Jo Piazza Jo Piazza is an American journalist, editor, and author of thirteen books, including The Sicilian Inheritance and the ''Good Morning America'' Book Club pick ''We Are Not Like Them'' with Christine Pride. She’s also the host of the ''Under the ...

listed this as one of the "Podcasts Created by Women You Need to Be Listening To Right Now". In July 2017, the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

began archiving her weekly reports. Siskind acknowledged in an interview the following year that a downside of taking such a highly public stance is that "I can tweet things that are inarticulate and be attacked for months and get death threats". In 2018, ''The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year'' was called one of the best books of 2018 by Carlos Lozada of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Her podcast was also recognized by ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

'' in 2019. Siskind also organized the 2019

, a national march advertised as an event to remind elected officials that they work for the American people. The march took place on September 21, 2019, in Washington D.C., with others in various cities across the United States. In 2021, Siskind donated The List collection to the Annenberg School library. The List was archived along with Siskind's podcast and other content she had created.

Personal life

Siskind lives in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

with her two children. She is openly lesbian.

References

External links

*
TheWeeklyList.org

''The Weekly List'' podcast

The New Agenda
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siskind, Amy 1965 births Living people American women podcasters American political podcasters American political writers Cornell University alumni New York University Stern School of Business alumni Left-wing populists Liberalism in the United States People from Marblehead, Massachusetts People from Mamaroneck, New York 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers Writers from Massachusetts Writers from New York (state) American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American feminists Lesbian feminists American lesbian writers Lesbian Jews Marblehead High School alumni 21st-century American LGBTQ people