Elise Loehnen is a writer, editor, and podcast host who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Rob, and their two sons, Max and Sam. She is the host of Pulling the Thread, a podcast focused on pulling apart the stories we tell about who we are—and then putting those threads back together. Ultimately Elise is a seeker and synthesizer, braiding together wisdom traditions, cultural history, and a deep knowledge of healing modalities to unlock new ways to contextualize who we are and why we’re here. She’s also the author of the instant New York Times bestseller On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good (Dial Press/PRH). The book weaves together history, memoir, and cultural criticism to explore the ways patriarchy lands in the bodies of women and embeds itself in our consciousness—and what we then police in ourselves and in each other. Regardless of our religious provenance, the self-denial implicit in each of the Seven Deadly Sins—Sloth, Envy, Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Anger—reads like a checklist of what it means to be a “good” woman. With awareness, we can begin to recognize these patterns of self-restriction, break the story, and move ourselves and each other toward freedom and balance.

Elise is a frequent contributor to Oprah, and has written for The New York Times, Elle Decor, Stylist, and more.

OFFICIAL BIO:

Elise Loehnen Fissmer is a writer and editor living in Los Angeles with her husband, Rob, and their sons, Max and Sam. She is the host of Pulling the Thread, a podcast with Cadence13, where she interviews cultural luminaries on the big questions of the day, including Dr. Gabor Maté, Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Harriet Lerner, Loretta Ross, Drs. John and Julie Gottman, Dr. Richard Schwartz, Joy Harjo, Dr. B.J. Miller, Nedra Tawwab, Dr. Suzanne Simard, Carissa Schumacher, Susan Cain, Heather Mcghee, Dr. Riane Eisler, and Terry Real. While she’s co-written 12 books, including five New York Times Best Sellers, her first book under her own name, On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good (Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House), as also an instant New York Times bestseller. Previously, she was the chief content officer of goop, where she co-hosted The goop Podcast and The goop Lab on Netflix, and led the brand’s content strategy and programming, including the launch of a magazine with Condé Nast and a book imprint. For the podcast, she interviewed 100s of thought leaders, doctors, and experts, including Ibram X Kendi, Bryan Stevenson, Marianne Williamson, Isabel Wilkerson, Dr. Vivek Murphy, Daniel Pink, Kate Bowler, Nicholas Kristof, Terry Tempest Williams, Eve Ensler, Ambassador Samantha Power, Rebecca Traister, Cynthia Bourgeault, Rick Doblin, Malcolm Gladwell, Peggy Orenstein, Mary Beard, Adam Grant, and so many more.

Previously, she was the editorial projects director of Condé Nast Traveler. Before Traveler, she was the editor at large and ultimately deputy editor of Lucky Magazine, where she also served as the on-air spokesperson, appearing regularly on shows like Today, E!, Good Morning America, and The Early Show. She has a B.A. from Yale and majored in English and Fine Arts; she also went to St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. Before that, she attended a school where lunchtimes were spent jumping an irrigation ditch. Originally from Missoula, Montana, it's important to her that people know that she went to the National Mathletes Championship when she was in 8th grade and that she’s a horse whisperer. These days, she spends her time writing, reading, consulting, doing board work (previously MacKenzie-Childs, currently Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream and SkinFix), and fundraising for causes and politicians focused on environmental action, social justice, women and children’s health, and a more equitable world. Elise serves on the LA Council for the disaster relief and global health no-profit AmeriCares. Elise reads a lot. You can find what she’s currently reading and recommending here, at her Bookshop.org profile, or everything all at once at Goodreads.

The photo on the homepage is by Vanessa Tierney; feel free to use the headshots below, but please credit Sarah Cramer Shields,