Meet Emily, an Ivy League Witch
Emily McGill grew up in Pittsburgh as a theatre kid going to Catholic school, whose big dreams and even bigger personality made it clear that there was more to life than what she’d find in the 412. By college, her whole life revolved around theatre, and in her early 20s, she'd made it to New York City with one plan: to work on Broadway.
What followed was 15 years handling publicity and communications in one of the most glamorous, demanding, and at times, soul-crushing industries in the world. From red carpets and opening nights to seeing every show she could and juggling industry politics, through stints at a ‘traditional’ PR agency and Disney’s Broadway division, the journey led her to founding Emily McGill Entertainment. And burnout.
(When people ask what EME does, the answer is “anything that entertains Emily!”)
Thankfully, she had an incredible therapist who introduced spirituality, and tarot cards.
Then, COVID hit and everyone was forced to pause. Time allowed her to reconsider the trajectory she found herself on, and she realized it hadn’t felt aligned in a long time. But a small voice started to get louder, and a pull towards spiritual work began to emerge. That voice led to earning her Masters from Columbia University’s Spirituality Mind Body Institute in 2024.
Emily’s thesis focused on tarot as an evidence-based tool for self-reflection (100% of participants reported greater clarity after a single session, averaging 7.7/10).
She has presented that research at Harvard Medical School, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Columbia University. In doing her own work, Emily realized she's been helping people find their way back to themselves her whole life.
Another discovery was a love of ceramics; the grad school elective became a mental health practice. There’s nothing like being in the studio creating ceramic tarot decks.
Still connected to Broadway, Emily created The Hirschfeld Broadway Tarot, and made her debut as a co-producer on OTHELLO starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2025.
Renaissance woman is the best way to describe the portfolio life and career that Emily has carved out for herself. She's a spiritual psychologist and coach, a tarot practitioner, a ceramicist, a Broadway producer, a pilates devotee, and a self-described Ivy League Witch. She's also someone who has personally experienced depression and grief, discovering a way to move forward, rebuilding from the inside out, one aligned and honest choice at a time.
Emily knows what it feels like to contort yourself into a shape that was never yours. Or maybe it belonged to an old version of you that doesn’t fit anymore. She knows the exhaustion of performing as the self you think the world expects. And she knows what it feels like when you finally stop.
That's the work. Helping you find your way back to you. Sometimes with her Columbia degree, sometimes with a tarot deck.