Marie-Yemta Moussanang is an independent franco-Chadian researcher and entrepreneur. She produces the podcast “Afrotopiques” that documents the metamorphosis of emancipation from a south perspective. As a graduate in political science, contemporary philosophy, and creative industries, she works between Paris, Dakar, N’Djamena and Bamako. She develops RADIOBOUGOU, a “Maison d’édition d’Oralités” based in Sahel, to accompany the emergence of natif podcasts in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to promote the circulation of emancipatory knowledge. She teaches at Sciences Po Paris.
2023 LAUREATES
Kensley Jules
A former student of CinéFabrique, Kensley Jules is passionate about writing in all its forms. He is a laureate of the Beaumarchais-SACD grant in the sonic fiction category for “Bloc noir.” He was selected for the Paper to Film x Audible call for applications in the historical sonic fiction category. He was also selected in various festivals, including Festival l’Ecrit à l’Ecran, Valence Scénario, Tomorrow’s Stories, New Images, INA, Series Mania Forum. He is currently editing a pilot episode of the fantastic audio series “Bloc noir” and is working on two horror audio series for the platform BLYND of Anatole Studio.
Marie-Yemta Moussanang
Vincent Hazard
Following a career in sound design for films in France and the United-Kingdom (alongside directors such as Costa-Gavras, Stephen Frears, or Luc Besson), Vincent Hazard becomes a TV and radio writer and producer after a training at the Femis screenwriting workshop. He writes for “Affaires sensibles,” and distinguishes himself through series like “Panda la voix du Djihad” and “22 millions” on the Bygmalion affair. He is a laureate of the 2022 Prix fiction radio of the SACD.
Claire Richard
Claire Richard is an author of fiction and non-fiction, especially for radio. She produced short documentaries for Arte Radio (“Soumission Impossible,” “les mauvais rêves ») and fictions: « Cent Façons de Disparaître," "Les Chemins de désir," "Le Télégraphe Céleste," for Arte Radio et France Culture. She received many awards, nationally and internationally : Prix Nouveau Talent SACD 2017, Prix Europa 2019, Prix Italia 2019, Prix de la fiction SACD au Paris Podcast Festival 2019, Prix de l'écriture radiophonique 2020 de la SGDL. She also wrote books such as "Des Mains heureuses," a poetic essay on the invisible continent of touch, published mid-January at the Éditions du Seuil.
Caroline Gillet
Caroline Gillet has been making documentaries for the French national public radio "France Inter" for the last 15 years. Her work focuses on topics related to society, intimacy, and transmission between generations and cultures. Her latest podcast, 'Inside Kabul', was constructed with hundreds of voice notes sent by two young Afghan women after the takeover by taliban. The podcast was adapted into a 30 minutes animation film for France Televisions and BBC. Before that, she was in a charge of a weekly documentary radio program called “Foule Continentale”. Caroline also produced the daily live radio program “Tea Time Club” (adapted for France 4) and the mini podcast serie “À ton âge”. Besides radio, Caroline co-created "RADIOLIVE", a documentary show on stage that toured for 7 years. She wrote a book for Actes Sud, worked on the podcast “Transfert” and “Entre” by Slate and directed a documentary film, “Les mères intérieures,” for France 3 on the decision to have children or not. She teaches radio reporting at the University of Louvain.
Romain Masson
For more than 20 years, Romain Masson worked in France and abroard, for public and private institutions and non-profit organizations, as director and journalist (Canal Plus, Arte, Médecins du Monde), audiovisual attaché in Beirut, Warsaw and Dakar (Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs) and audio producer (Radio France, ONG RAES, Making Waves). He is a collaborator at Radio France as a documentary producer and executive producer (France Culture, France Inter, France Info, France Musique, FIP). He contributed to the creation of Making Waves, a French institution established in Seine Saint-Denis, created to favor, through radio and podcast, the emergence of spaces for dialogue, transmission, expression, and creation.
Sarah Lou Lepers
Journalist and reporter in several French newsrooms, Sarah Lou Lepers is a podcast author and producer. Her first creation “Daddy Roland” is broadcast on Arte Radio. She produced several episodes of the podcast “Transfert” (Slate) with the team of Charlotte Pudlowski. She collaborates with Louie Media and produces some episodes of the podcast “Emotions.” She was nominated in 2021 in the documentary category of Paris Podcast Festival for “Éloïse Improvise,” a 7-episode series produced by Elephant Doc. She helps the Agence France Presse develop narrative podcasts, by conceiving podcasts at the crossroads of news and documentaries: “Sur le Fil,” “Le Poison de Poutine” and “Turbulences.” She is involved in educational workshops for media in schools and prisons.
2023 SPEAKERS
Marcus Thorne Bagalà - Producer/Music Supervisor, Realm
Marcus Thorne Bagalà is an Emmy Award winning New York City based composer whose music is a versatile blend of chamber music, electronic synth exploration and traditional folk music. His work spans film, tv, podcast, radio and theatre. Most recently, the feature documentary Trans Pecos: The Story of Stolen Land and the Loss of America’s Last Frontier released, which Marcus scored and sound designed, which paints an honest portrait of what is to come if we allow oil interests to supersede the public good. Marcus was previously staff composer and engineer at Gimlet Media. His work has been featured in projects that have been awarded Cannes Lions, Clios and Creative Media Awards, as well as developing the principle monster design for the Gimlet/Monkey Paw collaboration Quiet Part Loud. Before Gimlet, Marcus composed music for WBEZ’s This American Life, contributing his music to the Peabody winning episode The Anatomy of Doubt and Pulitzer's winning episode The Out Crowd. Marcus is currently the music supervisor, in-house composer and a producer at Realm. Most recently he produced, scored and was the supervising sound editor for the chart topping podcast Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind. In 2021, Marcus won an LA Emmy Award for his (and co-composer Mark Baechle's) score for KCET's Tending Nature. In 2022 Marcus and Mark were nominated for a second LA Emmy for the feature length Tending Nature film. "
Bryson Barnes - Technical Director, NBC News Group
Bryson Barnes is a lifelong audio creator who got his start in music. He is the current and founding Technical Director of Audio for the NBC News Group, where he manages audio engineering, creative music supervision and facilitates day-to-day production across the podcast portfolio. Since helping launch the unit, his work includes 10 Apple #1 podcasts to date: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra, Letters from Sing Sing, Tiffany Dover is Dead*, Southlake, American Radical, Dateline’s Murder and Magnolias, Internal Affairs, Missing in America, The Thing About Helen and Olga and The Seduction, and other offerings from NBC News, MSNBC, Dateline, TODAY and NBC Sports. He has played a key role in helping produce Peabody and DuPont recipients, Pulitzer finalists and Emmy and Ambie nominees. Previously, Bryson has worked on podcasts for 99 Percent Invisible, The New York Times and Reveal. As a composer, his music has appeared in films, podcasts and on television.
Lorenzo Benedetti - Co-Founder and CEO, Paradiso
Lorenzo created Studio Bagel in 2012, which he sold to Canal+ group in 2014. He served as Head of Digital Production at Canal+ group. Lorenzo has produced several programs such as “Les Tutos” by Jerôme Niel and “Les recettes pompettes” with Monsieur Poulpe. He recently produced the “CALLS” series by Timothée Hochet for Canal+ in 2019 which was acquired by Apple for international remake.
Elise Bergerson - Head of Audio, Verve Talent and Literary Agency
Elise Bergerson is Head of Audio at Verve Talent & Literary Agency and before that owned and operated her own consulting company focused on the podcast industry. She has worked in podcasting for the last decade and has advised countless media companies and creators in the realm of business development, operational scaling, and strategic management. She is the former Business Operations Manager for This American Life and Serial Productions where she oversaw the creation of all operational systems for an enterprise spanning 6 companies and producing among the most popular podcasts worldwide. Prior to that she worked in international conflict resolution. She holds a Bachelors in political science from Barnard College and a Masters in non-profit management and public administration from New York University. She is based in New York.
Chris Berube - Senior Producer, 99% Invisible
Chris Berube is a Senior Producer at 99% Invisible. Recently, he edited The Dropout (ABC News, now a TV show!) and the second season of Articles of Interest (Radiotopia). He's also worked for Slate Magazine, the CBC in Canada and the 30 for 30 podcast. Chris has lost at the Webby Awards six times, and with any luck, he will one day be the losingest person in Webby history.
Dan Bobkoff - Founder, Rhyme Media
Dan Bobkoff is an experienced podcasting showrunner, host and reporter. He's the founder of Rhyme Media, a podcast production company that works with clients such as The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs. He served as the executive producer of podcasts at Axios, where he oversaw two daily shows and created the hit How It Happened. He led the audio department at Business Insider, where he developed and hosted Household Name (later known as Brought to You By…). Bobkoff has been a reporter at NPR News, and his work has appeared on Marketplace, Planet Money, and 99 Percent Invisible. He covered the 2008 election from Ohio and was part of NPR's team covering the Boston Marathon bombings. Bobkoff is a graduate of Wesleyan University and holds a master's degree from Columbia University.
Chris Colbert - CEO and Founder, DCP Entertainment
Chris Colbert is a Webby & New York Festival award-winning podcast host/producer/writer, as well as the CEO and Founder of DCP Entertainment, a media production & distribution network for underrepresented voices. Having previously worked at SXM and Cadence13, and with names like Jamie Foxx, Touré, Joy-Ann Reid, Zak Levitt, iHeart Media, ESSENCE, PEOPLE, Crooked Media, Sports Illustrated, and the United Negro College Fund, Chris and his team specialize in media partnerships and content development for audio and video projects.
Jackie Danziger - VP of Narrative Content and Production, Lemonada Media
Jackie Danziger is the VP of Narrative Content & Production at Lemonada Media. In this role, she develops original series and acts as story editor for narrative shows like Believe Her, Discarded, and The Untold Story with Jay Ellis. She is also the supervising producer of Lemonada’s flagship podcast Last Day, where she has written about the opioid crisis, the rising rate of suicide, and gun violence in America. Previously, she produced limited series for The Clinton Foundation and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Keisha "TK" Dutes - Co-Founder, Bondfire Radio
Keisha "TK" Dutes is the co-founder of Bondfire Radio a community oriented online radio station and has been at the helm of podcasts from producer to executive producer. Since 2005, TK's experience spans terrestrial radio, online, podcast (Good Words with Kirk Franklin, HeadSpace's HiberNation, Buzzfeed's "Thirst Aid Kit", Function with Anil Dash, Hear to Slay) and audio drama. TK's passion for Black history and audio lead to a production of W.E.B DuBois' The Comet, and The Weeksvile Project, a story about a free Black community Brooklyn, N.Y. As a contributing reporter and talent for NPR's Life Kit, her episodes are thoughtfully crafted 1st person accounts about making career changes to conversations exploring mental health, boundaries, inner voice, and more. She also spreads the gospel of radio and podcasting through workshops and mentorship, and was listed on Current.org's "Black Talents in Public Media You Should Know." Currently, she serves on the board of the Association of Independents in Radio and does independent projects with her friends at her new company, Philo's Future Media.
Yael Even Or - Senior Producer/Production Lead, Paradiso
Yael Even Or is a Senior Producer and Production Lead at Paradiso US. There, she produced "Seventeen" and “Beyond the Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount). Prior to Paradiso, she produced numerous non fiction podcasts for Audible, among them "Mandela: The Lost Tapes", "Meeting Manson" and an upcoming investigative project with Jon Ronson. Her reporting and commentary appeared in the Washington Post, BBC World Service, Vice, PRI, WNYC, The Jewish Daily Forward, Tablet Magazine, and Okay Africa. Yael worked at KCRW, NPR's member station in LA, PRI's America Abroad, and Israel's Walla News. She has a master's degree in international affairs from The New School.
Julia Furlan - Podcast Host, Editor, and Professor
Julia Furlan is a Brazilian-American podcast host, editor and an adjunct professor at The New School and NYU. She’s hosted and produced audio for places like NPR, WNYC, Vox Media and Latino USA. All of her work is rooted in a belief in uplifting underrepresented voices. In her free time, Julia can be found propagating a small jungle of spider plants and learning to make comics.
Liz Gateley - Senior Creative Executive, Spotify Studios
Liz Gateley is an Oscar-winning producer who has transformed some of the most culturally-impactful brands, including Spotify, MTV and Lifetime, through groundbreaking and critically-acclaimed content. Over the past 3 years, she built Spotify’s Original Podcast business from the ground up helping to secure deals with Higher Ground, Ava Duvernay and Warner Bros/DC and developing a hit slate of original podcasts including 2020’s Best Podcast of the Year, Wind of Change. She is part of the senior team that led the Podcast BU to achieve 233% growth in Users of Originals & Exclusives.
Chrystal Genesis - Supervising Producer, Lemonada Media
Chrystal Genesis is a host, editor and curator from London now living in New York City. She runs and hosts award winning independence arts, culture and politics podcast, Stance. Chrystal’s podcast company Stance Studios made shows and narrative series for partners including BBC, Tate Galleries, Adidas, Gucci, The North Face and The European Cultural Foundation. She now works as a Supervising Producer for Narrative at Lemonada Media. She formally worked as a Producer for Sony Podcasts US working with clients including Discovery, Dateline NBC, and iHeart Radio. Chrystal has hosted BBC Podcast Radio Hour & BBC Front Row and worked at BBC for just under a decade, producing multi-platform arts, news and current affairs content for shows on Radio 4, BBC London, 6 Music, BBC 1, The World Affairs Unit, The Political Unit and BBC World in London and Washington DC. Chrystal produced the launch of a podcast series for HuffPost UK. She formally worked curating and running the youth department for young people aged 15-30 at Southbank Centre, the UK's largest arts centre, and executive produced its youth podcast. Previously Chrystal worked in curation for the organisation’s Performance, Dance, Podcast & Comedy, and Contemporary Music teams.
JT Green - Founder and Executive Producer, Molten Heart
JT Green is an audio documentarian by trade and artist by practice. They are the founder of the creative studio Molten Heart, which takes an immersive and artistic approach to podcasts, musical albums, and in-person audio experiences. Molten Heart’s latest co-production, Finding Tamika, has been featured on numerous best of lists (including The New York Times and Vulture) and won a 2023 duPont-Columbia Award. Outside of Molten Heart, they are a multi-disciplinary artist, exploring the spiritual qualities of improvisation, the convergence of health and personal technology, and gender expression on the internet. Their independent audio documentary, PMHx, won the 2021 Third Coast Award for Best Documentary Short. Along with performing at EXPO Chicago, Chicago Home Theater Festival, and NYUs Brooklyn venue, The Garage—they’ve exhibited visual artworks at The University of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Mass MoCA.
Martín Gonzalez - Senior Audio Engineer, 99% Invisible
Martín Gonzalez is 99PI's Senior Audio Engineer, based in Brooklyn and from Rhode Island via Argentina. Previously he worked at Pushkin Industries on their shows Broken Record, The Last Archive, Into the Zone, and Revisionist History. Before that, he was a studio & live sound engineer for lots of bands, including Calexico, Blitzen Trapper, Sharon Van Etten, and Julia Jacklin. He is a proud graduate of the Transom Story Workshop and a dropout of Berklee College of Music. In his spare time, he does paint-by-numbers and buys too many records.
Mangesh Hattikudur - Co-Founder, Kaleidoscope
Mangesh Hattikudur wants to make your favorite show! Prior to Kaleidoscope, Mangesh headed up podcast development as SVP for iHeartMedia, where he launched critically acclaimed shows (Somebody, Hit Man, Forgotten: Women of Juarez), collaborated with wonderful personalities (from Minnie Driver to Hillary Clinton to the grandmothers of Call Your Grandmother), worked with incredible brands (Buzzfeed's Impeachment Today, Vice News Reports), and even dominated the charts (at one point, his team launched the #1 and 2 shows in the country!) Before that, Mangesh ran creative for Mental Floss, a beloved print magazine and media company he co-founded in college and ran for 17 glorious years.
Claire Hazan - Head of Studios, Spotify France and Benelux
Claire Hazan joined Spotify as Head of Podcasts for France and Benelux in March 2020. Working in Paris, she is in charge of the podcast strategy and production activities, including scouting talents and stories to build the local slate of original podcasts. As a producer and journalist with several years of experience in media and digital strategy, Claire previously worked for Europe 1 radio, where she created and managed Europe 1 Studio, the first ever podcast studio for a national radio in France. Previous to that she worked as a journalist for Le Monde and GQ, and supported the digital transformation of key cultural media titles within the Lagardere group in France.
Chenjerai Kumanyika - Assistant Professor, New York University
Chenjerai Kumanyika is an assistant professor in NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Alongside his scholarship and teaching, disciplinary service on the intersections of social justice and media, Kumanyika specializes in using narrative non-fiction audio journalism to critique the ideology of American historical myths about issues such as race, the Civil War, and policing. He has written in scholarly venues such as Popular Music & Society, Popular Communication, The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture, as well as public venues such as The Intercept, Transom, NPR Codeswitch, All Things Considered, Invisibilia, and VICE. Kumanyika is also the co-creator, co-executive producer and co-host of Uncivil, Gimlet Media’s podcast on the Civil War and he is the collaborator for Scene on Radio’s influential Season 2 “Seeing White,” and Season 4 on the history of American democracy. Kumanyika’s work has been recognized with several prestigious honors including the George Foster Peabody Award (2018) for Uncivil and The Media Literate Media Award (NAMLE) for Scene on Radio (2021). In 2021, he received the Union of Democratic Communications’ Dallas Smythe Award for his career accomplishments and advocacy. Kumanyika studied mass communication and critical media studies at The Pennsylvania State University’s Donald Bellisario College of Communication where he earned his Ph.D.
Brendan Klinkenberg - Executive Editor, Gimlet
Brendan Klinkenberg is an Executive Editor at Gimlet. Previously, he was a reporter and editor at Rolling Stone, Complex, and Wired. He lives in Brooklyn
Andrew Kuo - CEO & Co-Founder, SomeFriends
Andrew Kuo is CEO and Co-Founder of SomeFriends, the audio-first media company telling stories by and about people of color, for everyone, with the mission of championing inclusion through diversity. Prior to founding SomeFriends, Andrew served as Managing Director of 88rising, the leading Asian youth culture brand. During his tenure, he launched their TV and film studio, resulting in a first-look deal with Sony Pictures, closed their Series C funding and created the Paradise Rising music label. Andrew’s start in entertainment began as Vice President of International Business Development and Strategy at A+E Networks, after spending time on Wall Street as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and corporate lawyer at Skadden Arps.
Stevie Lane - Supervising Producer, Heavyweight
Stevie Lane is the Supervising Producer at Heavyweight, which has been nominated four times for IDA Documentary Awards. Previously, Stevie helped develop Radiotopia’s Everything is Alive, was a producer on the podcast StartUp, and has had work featured on This American Life. She graduated from Bowdoin College, where she studied Political Philosophy.
Emily Lynne - Co-Creator, HEADS WILL ROLL
Emily co-created and stars in the Audible ten-part serialized audio story, HEADS WILL ROLL, opposite her sister, Kate McKinnon, and is currently writing an animated pilot adaption for Broadway Video and Peacock. The duo also wrote a draft of the Amblin comedy THE LUNCH WITCH with McKinnon attached to star. Emily’s horror-comedy AFTER BITE, about a malcontent who is bitten by a zombie and has one night to confront her demons before becoming undead, recently attached SNL director, Hannah Levy, and acclaimed horror producer Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Split, Insidious) to produce. Emily can be heard voicing various political figures in Stephen Colbert’s animated Showtime series, OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT, including Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Karen Pence, Queen Elizabeth, Stormy Daniels, and others. She can also be heard voicing several roles in the Viacom animated feature, WASHINGTONIA. Emily has appeared in Netflix’s THE ILIZA SHLESINGER SKETCH SHOW and FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE.
Amanda McLouglin - Creator and CEO, Multitude
Amanda McLoughlin is the creator and CEO of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio based in New York City. Multitude produces original shows, publishes free resources for podcasters, and helps clients of all sizes create, market, and grow great shows. Before starting Multitude in 2018, she was a YouTuber and small business advisor. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list in 2021, and continues to spend her days helping other creators make a living by making great stuff online. @shessomickey
Kristen Meinzer - Host, How To Be Fine and By The Book
Kristen Meinzer is an award-winning podcaster, culture critic, royal watcher, and author. Her podcasts, which include How To Be Fine, By The Book, Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen, Newsweek's Royal Watch, and others, have been named to best-of lists by Time, O The Oprah Magazine, Vulture, Indiewire, and more. As a culture critic and royal watcher, Kristen regularly appears on the BBC, CBC, NPR, CNN, Vox, and other outlets. As an advocate for women and people of color in the podcasting space, Kristen has served as mentor in the Spotify Soundup program, a keynote with She Podcasts, and a 2021 appointee in the U.S. Speaker's Program, working with South African storytellers shining a light on gender-based violence. Her book, So You Want to Start a Podcast, won the Audie Award for best business/personal development audiobook of 2020. Kristen was named a 2020 Woman of the Year by The Women's Center in Washington DC and one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Podcasting by Quill in 2021.
Arielle Nissenblatt - Founder, Earbuds Podcast Collective
Arielle Nissenblatt is the founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective. She is the Community Manager at SquadCast.fm. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute of Audio Documentary Studies. Nissenblatt is a podcast marketing and audience growth enthusiast, having spoken on panels at conferences such as Radiodays Asia, Sounds of New York, Podcast Movement, American University, and more. She is one of the founders of Podcast Taxonomy, an international effort to categorize roles and credits in the podcast industry. She is the cohost of the Sounds Profitable Podcast and recently launched a podcast about podcast trailers.
Emi Norris - Managing Director, Paradiso US
Emi is Paradiso US’s Managing Director and Executive Producer of the podcasts “Love Under Lockdown” (Stitcher/Studio71), “A Gay in the Life” (Spotify Live), “Beyond the Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount), “Seventeen” and the upcoming original fiction comedy “Conference Call.” Prior to Paradiso, Emi worked in originals partnerships & distribution at VICE and Refinery29 and in strategy at Bertelsmann. She also spent seven years in the independent film industry, first in production on films by directors Luca Guadagino and Alfonso Cuarón and later in international TV sales and digital distribution at start-ups FilmBuff in New York and Under the Milky Way in Paris. She holds a BA from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Mimi O'Donnell - Head of Scripted/Fiction, Spotify and Gimlet
Mimi is the Head of Scripted/Fiction at Spotify and Gimlet, overseeing a variety of Spotify original scripted shows like Case 63, Quiet Part Loud, Red Frontier, Gay Pride & Prejudice and Two Princes. Before coming to Gimlet she was the Artistic Director of the Labyrinth Theater Company. She also spent many years as a Costume Designer for Theater, TV and Film.
Molly O'Keefe - Head of Development, Paradiso
Molly O’Keefe is the Head of Development for Paradiso where she has produced “Seventeen,” “Conference Call,” “In The Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount) and “The Baker Street Four” (Audible UK). She previously oversaw Artist Programs at Tribeca Film Institute, whose mission was to fight gender and racial inequality in entertainment. Prior to that, she was a development and production executive at Sundance Productions and Red Hour. Molly has consulted for the Sundance Episodic and Screenwriter's Labs, Warner Bros Director’s Program, WarnerMedia’s OneFifty and producer Debbie Liebling. She is a graduate of Emerson College and based in Los Angeles.
Shima Oliaee - CEO and Founder, Shirazad Productions
Shima Oliaee is the CEO and founder of Shirazad Productions, a company created to report and produce underrepresented stories and voices that have been erased from history. Her first independently-made audio series Pink Card premiered at ESPN 30 for 30 on December 8, 2022, and was nominated for Podcast of the Year by the Ambies. Her next investigative 8-part series will premiere this winter in 2023. Shima co-created the 9-part series Dolly Parton’s America, which received a George Foster Peabody Award, an Edward R Murrow Award, a New York Festival of the Arts Award, along with several other national honors. Her audio doc The Flag and the Fury won a 2021 duPont-Columbia Award and Best in Show at the National Headliner Awards for best audio documentary. Shima created and co-hosted The Vanishing of Harry Pace for Radiolab, nominated for Best Audio Documentary by the IDA. Her series UnErased was named the best podcast of the year by KQED News in 2018. After studying music and cinema-television at the University of Southern California, Shima received her graduate degree in psychology, worked as a teacher, translated for the UN, and worked in comedy television - including the Golden Globe winning Brooklyn Nine-Nine - before returning to her first love, audio.
Lauren Passell - Founder, Tink Media
Lauren Passell is the founder of Tink Media, a podcast growth company. She is the editor of Podcast the Newsletter and Podcast Marketing Magic, is the co-host of Feed the Queue, and writes about podcasts for Lifehacker. She has spoken about podcast marketing for Radio Bootcamp, SXSW, Podcast Movement, Podfest, London Podcast Festival and more. She is a judge for Signal Awards and the International Women's Podcast Awards. Follow her on Twitter @laurenpassell.
Valentina Powers - Head of Content Operations, Gimlet
Valentina is the Head of Content Operations at Gimlet, where she oversees strategy operations and other aspects of process and planning to ensure we are set up to the best we can to execute on strategy and work efficiently with cross-functional stakeholders at Spotify. She also manages the post production team of audio engineers and composers. Previously, she worked at New York Public Radio where she was running Operations and Program Management for the Product and Technology team. Valentina has been in the audio space for most of her career where she started as Production Assistant for a freelance radio documentary producer.
Sayre Quevedo - Award Winning Multimedia Artist and Journalist
Sayre Quevedo is an artist and journalist. He works across mediums to tell stories about intimacy, identity, and human relationships. Quevedo began as a reporter with Youth Radio in Oakland, California at the age of 15 in 2008. Since then his work has been featured on NPR, Marketplace, BBC Short Cuts, Love Me on the CBC, McSweeney's and Radio Atlas. In 2018 his piece 'Espera' received the Third Coast/RHDF Directors' Choice Award and his other piece 'The Quevedos' was nominated for a Best Audio Documentary award by the International Documentary Association (IDA). The following year he won the 2019 Third Coast/RHDF Gold Award for Best Documentary for 'The Return' . It was also nominated for a Best Audio Documentary award by the IDA, his second nomination two years in a row. In 2023 Quevedo was nominated twice for Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary by the IDA and won for his piece, 'Documenting a Death by Euthenasia.' Quevedo was the Fall 2019 Podcaster-In-Residence for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, an Associate Producer for The Daily at The New York Times and NPR's Latino USA, and a Producer for VICE News.
Heather Rogers - Audio Producer and Reporter, Gimlet
Heather is an audio producer and reporter. She comes from a background in long-form and investigative journalism. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ProPublica and The Intercept. Her most recent book, Green Gone Wrong, takes a critical, on-the-ground look at climate-change solutions, like carbon offsets and organic farming. At Gimlet, she’s worked on a range of shows over the last seven years, including StartUp and Conviction.
Shoshi Shmuluvitz - Managing Producer, Campside Media
Shoshi Shmuluvitz is managing producer and editor at Campside Media. She makes audio documentaries and narrative podcasts on anything from politics to true crime to the story of a woman who had sex with her husband’s ghost. She produced shows including Infamous, about scandals that brought down the rich, famous and powerful; Tabloid, a Webby-nominated investigation into Ivanka Trump; and Meltdown, a look at the disastrous mishandling of the 2008 financial crisis and how it led to the rise of Trump. She also has a background in international reporting.
Claire Tighe - Podcast Producer and Journalist
Claire Tighe is an award-winning podcast producer and journalist. Her recent projects include Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders with The Chicago Tribune and Mandela: The Lost Tapes (Audible) with Rick Stengel, the Former Under Secretary of State in Obama admin. Claire was as founding staffer of the audio unit at NBC News and MSNBC, where she covered major stories including the presidential impeachment, the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial justice movement, and the 2020 election. Claire has worked on podcasts for Netflix, Adam McKay at Sony, Epic Magazine, Preet Bharara, and feature episodes for Vox's On with Kara Swisher, Insider, WHYY, and Sierra Club Magazine. Claire is a recipient of the 2020 New York Press Club award and 2019 Amnesty International USA Media Award for Outstanding Student Journalism. Her shows have earned recognition as a Top 10 Show on Apple Podcasts, and nominations for Webbys and the NAACP awards. A graduate from New York University’s Reporting the Nation master's program, Claire was an Arthur L. Carter Fellow, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies with honors from Dickinson College. Claire teaches podcast journalism at NYU, CUNY Hunter and the Salt Institute.
Heidi Vanderlee - Founder and Owner, Positive Jam PR
Heidi Vanderlee is the owner and founder of Positive Jam PR, and has been working in entertainment and public relations since 2012. Podcast clients include: Sarah Marshall of You're Wrong About and You Are Good, Alex Steed of You Are Good, Multitude, Paradiso, Daniela Taplin Lundberg of Hollywood Gold and Stay Gold Features, Starburns Audio, and The War Report with Gastor Almonte and Shalewa Sharpe. Other clients include Mara Wilson, Allison Raskin, Chris Gethard, Josh Gondelman, Gabe Mollica, Asian Comedy Fest, Shout Your Abortion and Comedy Gives Back.
Cher Vincent - Supervising Producer, NPR
Cher is currently a Supervising Producer at NPR, working with such shows as Louder Than a Riot. She was most recently a Senior Producer at Pushkin Industries, where she piloted and produced shows like Some of My Best Friends Are with Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Ben Austen, and Well-Read Black Girl with Glory Edim. Previously, she was the Senior Producer of Slate’s Thirst Aid Kit and in 2020, the Senior Editor of the award-winning podcast Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America for Vox Creative. She has also produced stories for The New York Times, Gimlet Media, Spotify, Endeavor Audio, and many other places on the internet. She served as Story Editor for Finding Tamika at Molten Heart. After years of enjoying podcasting as a public school science teacher in Chicago, Cher co-founded the podcast collective, Postloudness, in 2016. She currently resides in Brooklyn and is often told she is delightful.
Britta von Schoeler - Head of Broadway Video Enterprises
Britta von Schoeler heads Broadway Video Enterprises (BVE) – the division of Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’ global media and entertainment company, charged with creating revenue growth and amplifying the company’s portfolio of brands across all media. In her position, von Schoeler helms the strategic planning and implementation of partnerships for Broadway Video Entertainment’s programming library, which includes the NBC Emmy Award-winning sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, as well as The Other Two, Documentary Now!, Schmigadoon, Miracle Workers and many others. Additionally, von Schoeler conceives and executes on unique business opportunities creating globally recognized brands such as Más Mejor, BVE’s comedy content studio powered by Latino voices. She is the Executive Producer of Amazon’s Kids in the Hall and Producer of HBO’s Los Espookys. Von Schoeler also launched Broadway Video’s audio division and oversees the production of all podcasts including New York Times Best Selling Audible Originals like Heads Will Roll (written and starring Kate McKinnon) and Hit Job (starring Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer), and Hot White Heist (named as a Best Podcast of 2021 by Vulture and starring Bowen Yang). von Schoeler’s efforts extend the reach of the BVE brands globally. Her portfolio of projects ranges from global distribution of traditional media – including the production of new series and formats – to leveraging Broadway Video’s family of talent and intellectual property for experiential executions such as live tours and exhibits to the creation of product lines. In addition, von Schoeler handles the creation of authentic premium content integrations for top brands. Prior to joining BVE in 2001, von Schoeler worked for BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc. overseeing consumer products production and marketing for numerous popular shows, including Absolutely Fabulous. In addition, she was Manager of Business Affairs at Discovery Communications, Inc. She is a graduate of Vassar College.
Nina Weinsten - Independent Development Executive
Nina Weinstein is an independent development executive with an extensive background in non-fiction television for major and cable networks. Weinstein re-joined NBC News for the third time as Director of Development for MSNBC in 2015, developing and producing longform programming and series as well as supervising all acquisitions. She was Executive Producer of MSNBC’s highest rated series and documentaries and worked with many of the network anchors (Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Katy Tur and Jacob Soboroff.) She also developed and supervised the successful series What’s Eating America with Andrew Zimmern. In 2020 Weinstein moved to NBC News Studios as Executive Story Editor until leaving the network in 2022. Weinstein previously worked for four years in Los Angeles as Executive Producer at Bloomberg Television where she created the documentary biography series “GameChangers.” She has supervised, produced and written for shows for Bravo, NBC News, CBS News, Court TV and has produced for Meredith Vieira, Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, and Maria Shriver. Ms. Weinstein’s work as a television news producer/writer of documentaries and newsmagazine reports has been widely recognized and honored. Her previous work in various roles at Scripps Howard Productions, National Geographic television and CBS News received two Emmy Awards, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and an Academy Award nomination.
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2023 PROGRAM
Creating A Show and Finding An Audience - Panel
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
With Julia Furlan (Podcast Host), Kristen Meinzer (By The Book Podcast), Mangesh Hattikudur (Kaleidescope) and Chenjerai Kumanyika (Podcast Host)
Moderated by Yael Even Or (Paradiso)
Break
12:00 pm - 12:15 pm
Fiction Case Study: Heads Will Roll
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
With Emily Lynne (Co-Creator, Heads Will Roll) and Britta von Schoeler (Broadway Video)
Moderated by Molly O'Keefe (Paradiso)
Lunch
1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
Travel to the New York Times
2:15 pm - 3:00 pm
Visit to the New York Times - 620 8th Avenue, New York, NY
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 - Loft Story
Making the Sound of 99% Invisible - Presentation
10:00 am - 11:00 am
With Martín Gonzalez (99PI) and Chris Berube (99PI)
Break
11:00 am - 11:15 am
Marketing, Distributing, and Making a Community of Listeners - Panel
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
With Chrystal Genesis (Lemonada), Heidi Vanderlee (Positive Jam PR)
Moderated by Lauren Passell (Tink Media)
Lunch
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Non-Fiction Case Study: ESPN's 30 for 30 Pink Card
1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
With Shima Oliaee (Host and Creator, Pink Card) and Sayre Quevedo (Story Editor, Pink Card)
Moderated by Shoshi Schmuluvitz (Campside)
IP and Derivatives: How To Get A Good Deal - Presentation
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
With Elise Bergerson (Verve)
Immersive Post-Production Workshop and Talk
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
With Marcus Thorne Bagalà (Realm) and Bryson Barnes (NBC News & MSNBC)
Moderated by Claire Tighe
Travel to Villa Albertine - 972 5th Ave, New York, NY 10075
4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Arrival at Villa Albertine (Laureates Only)
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Sounds of New York Cocktail Party (Invite Only)
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Villa Albertine - 972 5th Ave, New York, NY 10075
Thursday, April 20, 2023 - Loft Story and WNYC
Best Practices with Buyers - Panel
10:00 am - 11:00 am
With Andrew Kuo (SomeFriends), Jackie Danziger (Lemonada), Nina Weinstein (Independent Development Executive), and Chris Colbert (DCP Entertainment)
Moderated by Emi Norris (Paradiso)
Creative Sustenance and Collaboration - Talk
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
With Cher Vincent (NPR) and JT Green (Molten Heart)
Lunch - Dar 525 - 168 Driggs Ave, Brooklyn, NY (not Grand Ave location)
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Dar 525 - 168 Driggs Ave, Brookolyn NY (not Grand Ave location)
Travel to WNYC - 160 Varick Street, New York, NY
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Visit to WNYC
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Friday, April 21, 2023 - Spotify Studios
Travel to Gimlet Media - 41 Flatbush Ave Floor 7, Brooklyn, NY 11217
8:30 am - 9:30 am
Welcome and Tour of Gimlet Offices + Studios
9:30 am - 10:00 am
With Raymond Rodriguez (Gimlet)
Brief Overview of Gimlet + Spotify Business/Strategy/How We Work
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Informal Panel/Q&A
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
With Mimi O'Donnell (Spotify/Gimlet), Brendan Klinkenberg (Gimlet), Heather Rogers (Gimlet), Stevie Lane (Heavyweight), and Valentina Powers (Gimlet)
Lunch @ Gimlet
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Travel to Spotify WTC 4 - 150 Greenwich St 62nd floor, New York, NY 10007
1:00pm - 2:00 pm
Spotify's Original Podcast Strategy
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
With Liz Gateley
Masterclass: Play on 2023
3:30 pm - 4:15 pm
Trends, insights and recommendations on how to grow (and keep) your audience with a Spotify Partner Manager
Tour of Spotify Offices
4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Camille Juzeau is an author and director of documentaries for radio and podcast. She has collaborated with France Inter, (La Tête au carré and Le temps d'un bivouac), France Culture (A voix nue, Toute une vie, Les pieds sur terre), Arte Radio and Paradiso, institutions such as the City of Paris. She is the creator of the successful podcast Les Baladeurs (The Others) and of a monthly documentary series L'Insomniaque on Arte Radio.
2022 LAUREATES
Iris Ouedraogo
Iris Ouedraogo is a French-Burkinabé who was born in Bordeaux. She has been working in podcasts since 2018 as a journalist, head of production, and director for several French studios. Her work includes Travail de bleu, dedicated to giving young people a voice on Spotify. She also created and produced the podcast for the CheckNews service at Libération. Iris is currently working for Paradiso Media as a journalist on the podcast Brut while also directing an independent documentary.
Camille Juzeau
Claire Jéhanno
Claire Jehanno is an author and creator of PILE, a literary podcast with more than 60 episodes, which she hosted for two and a half years. Claire’s love for podcasts was born during her time as a radio correspondent while in university. She continued her work in publishing and communication until early 2020 when she decided to become independent and devote herself fully to podcasting. Writing stories for the youth magazines Mon Petit Sciences and Vie, Claire developed a specialization - maybe even a passion - for a younger demographic. She has since developed a series of youth podcasts such as Les courriers de Mlle Ursule, and is working on an audio series for teenagers. With her podcast F, chronique d'un féminisme ordinaire, Claire Jéhanno was one of the six laureates of the INALAB 2019 call for projects.
Emmanuel Suarez
Emmanuel Suarez is an author and actor who devotes himself to radio fiction and podcast, notably with La Division, produced by France Culture in 2020, and L'Incroyable expédition de Corentin Tréguier au Congo, laureate of the Fonds Podcasts Originaux SACD / France Culture. He received the Prix SACD Radio 2021. An indefatigable traveler and a specialist in history, geography and languages, Emmanuel Suarez writes for theater, opera and, above all, radio. He has collaborated with scientists on transdisciplinary shows for theater; Dernières nouvelles de la mer, written with Claire Nouvian and several renowned oceanographers, received numerous awards and toured in ten countries at the invitation of the UN and EU. Passionate about music, he wrote the libretto and a new narration of Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals for the Rennes Opera House as well as several musical theater pieces, including So In Love, a tribute to Cole Porter, and La Femme cachée de la lune, scheduled for production in 2022. However, he dedicates most of his time to radio (whether broadcast or podcast), with five works to date (and several prizes) for Radio France. His favorite subjects to explore are humans’ place within the greater kingdom of life, history and memory. Emmanuel speaks fluent English and German and gets by in Russian, Spanish, Italian, Swahili, Japanese and French Sign Language. He has just received the 2021 SACD Radio Prize.
Thibaud Delavigne
After a brief stint at university, Thibaud Delavigne got his start by creating a cultural association that organized concerts, exhibitions, and events in Montpellier. He was then hired as a host and journalist at a local radio station Radio Clapas, where he learned the fundamentals of sound, interviewing and audio editing. After a few years Thibaud took over the management of Radio Campus in Paris. He then joined StreetPress.com as a reporter and manager before founding L’Officine, a podcast writing and production agency. He produced, amongst others, Le rapport Brazza - Un secret de famille, un scandale d'Etat, a five episodes fiction-documentary co-produced by Spotify.
Aladine Zaiane
Aladine Zaiane is a self-taught journalist who has succeeded at making a place for himself in this precarious industry. He is an author and director of documentaries who describes himself as "a story hunter". For several years he balanced directing documentaries for Mouv’ and France TV while freelancing for sites such as Loopsider and AJ+. In January 2020 he joined the editorial team of the France Culture program Les Pieds sur Terre and collaborated on the podcast Défense de filmer by Brut, co-produced by Spotify.
Axelle Jah Njiké
Cameroonese born-French writer and feminist activist Axelle Jah Njiké conceives and develops content center around the lives and experiences of women of African descent (Afropean), both from the standpoint of the individual and the collective. She has created and produced the podcast Me My Sexe And I®-Le podcast , as well as the audio series La fille sur le canapé at Nouvelles Ecoutes and Je suis noire et je n'aime pas Beyoncé for France Culture. Her audio works have reached reached a large audience, across different cultures and origins.
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2022 PANELISTS AND MODERATORS
Paradiso Presentation: Adapting French Language Podcasts
Monday, May 9th - 11:15am-12:00pm
Emi Norris - Managing Director, Paradiso US
Moderator
Emi is Paradiso US’s Managing Director and Executive Producer of the podcasts “Love Under Lockdown” (Stitcher/Studio71), “A Gay in the Life” (Spotify Live), “Beyond the Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount), “Seventeen” and the upcoming original fiction comedy “Conference Call.” Prior to Paradiso, Emi worked in originals partnerships & distribution at VICE and Refinery29 and in strategy at Bertelsmann. She also spent seven years in the independent film industry, first in production on films by directors Luca Guadagino and Alfonso Cuarón and later in international TV sales and digital distribution at start-ups FilmBuff in New York and Under the Milky Way in Paris. She holds a BA from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Claire Hazan - Head of Studios, Spotify France and Benelux
Panelist
Claire Hazan joined Spotify as Head of Podcasts for France and Benelux in March 2020. Working in Paris, she is in charge of the podcast strategy and production activities, including scouting talents and stories to build the local slate of original podcasts. As a producer and journalist with several years of experience in media and digital strategy, Claire previously worked for Europe 1 radio, where she created and managed Europe 1 Studio, the first ever podcast studio for a national radio in France. Previous to that she worked as a journalist for Le Monde and GQ, and supported the digital transformation of key cultural media titles within the Lagardere group in France.
Lorenzo Benedetti - Paradiso
Panelist
Lorenzo created Studio Bagel in 2012, which he sold to Canal+ group in 2014. He served as Head of Digital Production at Canal+ group. Lorenzo has produced several programs such as “Les Tutos” by Jerôme Niel and “Les recettes pompettes” with Monsieur Poulpe. He recently produced the “CALLS” series by Timothée Hochet for Canal+ in 2019 which was acquired by Apple for international remake.
Molly O'Keefe - Head of Development, Paradiso US
Panelist
Molly O’Keefe is the Head of Development for Paradiso Podcasts. She is a development consultant for producer Debbie Liebling. She oversaw Artist Programs at Tribeca Film Institute, whose mission was to fight gender and racial inequality in entertainment. She was a development and production executive at Sundance Productions and Red Hour. Molly has consulted for the Sundance Episodic and Screenwriter's Labs, Warner Brothers Director’s Program and WarnerMedia’s OneFifty. She is a graduate of Emerson College and based in Los Angeles.
Marketing and Distribution: Standing Out From the Crowd
Monday, May 9th - 12:00-1:00pm
Moderator
Arielle Nissenblatt is the founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, a weekly podcast newsletter and podcast. She is the Community Manager at SquadCast.fm, a remote recording platform. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute of Audio Documentary Studies. Nissenblatt is a podcast marketing expert, having spoken on panels at conferences such as Podcast Movement, International Documentary Association’s Podcast Day, at USC, Montana Media Lab, American University, and more. She is one of the founders of Podcast Taxonomy, an international effort to categorize roles and credits in the podcast industry. Nissenblatt listens to over 40 hours of audio content per week. She is a podcast industry futurist and believes in the power of audio to break down cultural barriers.
Amanda McLoughlin - CEO, Multitude
Panelist
Amanda McLoughlin is the creator and CEO of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio based in New York City. Multitude produces original shows, publishes free resources for podcasters, and helps clients of all sizes create, market, and grow great shows. Before starting Multitude in 2018, she was a YouTuber and small business advisor. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list in 2021, and continues to spend her days helping other creators make a living by making great stuff online. @shessomickey
Panelist
Positive Jam PR founder Heidi Vanderlee has been working in entertainment and public relations since 2012. She was a music booker for The Chris Gethard Show from 2012-2018, and after spending several years in entertainment PR, she founded Positive Jam in 2020. Positive Jam PR specializes in comedy, podcasting, film, live entertainment, social justice, and everything in between. An artist herself, Heidi plays cello in the band Early Riser. She lives in Brooklyn with her two goofy cats. Follow her on Twitter: @heidivanderlee
Heidi Vanderlee - Founder, Positive Jam PR
Michelle Tattenbaum - Director
Moderator
Michelle Tattenbaum directs and writes scripted, fiction podcasts. She was the Producing Director for Gen-Z Media, where she directed many podcasts, including seasons 2 and 3 of The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel and The Magic Sash, a podcast celebrating the history of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. She also directed the hit podcast Six Minutes for Gen-Z Media, which released over 200 episodes and is downloaded millions of times every month. Michelle is also a theater director, who works extensively in New York City and regionally. She directed the New York premiere of the musical Nobody Loves You by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter at Second Stage Theatre after directing the show's world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre (Craig Noel Award nomination for Best Director of a Musical).
Amy Kraft - Senior Director of Development and Children's Programming,
Pinna
Panelist
Amy Kraft is the Senior Director of Development and Children’s Programming at Pinna, leading development of a growing library of more than 50 Pinna Original podcasts and 60 Pinna Original audiobooks. She is a children’s media veteran who has developed innovative and interactive entertainment with companies including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sesame Workshop, Spin Master, Microsoft, Kyowon, Barnes and Noble, and Leap Frog. She was cofounder of the children’s content company Monkey Bar Collective and a member of KIDMAP, the Kids’ Inclusive and Diverse Media Action Project.
Ben Strouse - CEO, Gen Z Media
Panelist
Peabody Award-winning creator Ben Strouse oversees the company. He wrote The New York Times Best-of-the-Year children’s book Hey Boy (Simon & Schuster), and created book, lyrics and music for the Off-Broadway musical Whateverman. Before co-founding GZM, Ben practiced Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law in New York City.
Heather Alexander - Executive Editor of Original Kids' Content, Audible
Panelist
Heather Alexander has been creating original audio programming for Audible for five years. Drawing on her 15 years of experience as a kids’ book editor and agent, she works with writers, producers, musicians, engineers, actors, and sound designers to create shows that families can enjoy together. From single narrator stories to full-cast serials, Audible’s commitment to family listening includes diverse voices across the medium. Some favorites include The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley and Friends, Letters from Camp co-created by and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Laurie Berkner’s Song and Story Kitchen, and the Rivals! Frenemies who Changed the World series by Scott McCormick. Audible produces about 20 original shows for kids each year, so there is always something new.
Nina Lassam - Head of Business Operations, TV and Audio
Clare Toeniskoetter - Senior Producer, The Daily
Always On: How To Keep Series Topical, Fresh, and Engaging (News, Chat, Weekly)
Tuesday, May 10th - 10:00-11:00am
Yael Even Or - Senior Producer/Production Lead, Paradiso
Moderator
Yael Even Or is a Senior Producer and Production Lead at Paradiso US. There, she produced "Seventeen" and led production for “Beyond the Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount). Prior to Paradiso, she produced numerous non fiction podcasts for Audible, among them "Meeting Manson" (with Rolling Stone magazine), "Algorithms at Work," and "Love Right Now." Her reporting and commentary appeared in the Washington Post, BBC World Service, Vice, PRI, WNYC, The Jewish Daily Forward, Tablet Magazine, and Okay Africa. Yael worked at KCRW, NPR's member station in LA, PRI's America Abroad, and Israel's Walla News. She has a master's degree in international affairs from The New School.
Dan Bobkoff - Executive Producer
Panelist
Dan Bobkoff is an experienced podcasting showrunner, host and reporter. He served as the executive producer of podcasts at Axios, where he oversaw two daily shows and created the hit How It Happened. He led the audio department at Business Insider, where he developed and hosted Household Name (later known as Brought to You By…). Bobkoff has been a reporter at NPR News, and his work has appeared on Marketplace, Planet Money, and 99 Percent Invisible. He covered the 2008 election from Ohio and was part of NPR's team covering the Boston Marathon bombings. Bobkoff is a graduate of Wesleyan University and holds a master's degree from Columbia University.
Gianna Palmer - Senior Editor, Stitcher
Panelist
Gianna Palmer helps podcasters figure out what they want to say and how to say it. As a senior editor at Stitcher, Gianna has edited both serialized documentary podcasts (like Toxic: The Britney Spears Story and Mob Queens) and beloved weekly shows (including The Sporkful and Unladylike). Previously, Gianna was senior producer of Katie Couric’s award-winning podcast and Fake the Nation, a comedy political show hosted by Negin Farsad. Before moving over to podcasts, Gianna worked at the BBC as a broadcast producer and contributing radio reporter. Gianna is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Alexandra Botti - Senior Producer, Axios
Panelist
Alexandra Botti has been producing news for radio and podcasts for almost a decade. She is currently a senior producer at Axios, running the daily podcast "Axios Today," and previously oversaw production of the nationally distributed public radio program and podcast "The Takeaway" out of WNYC. She got her start in audio at WAMU in Washington, D.C., where she produced the national NPR news talk program "The Diane Rehm Show." Alex is a graduate of Smith College and also holds a Master's degree in Language and Communication (Sociolinguistics) from Georgetown University (and she'll happily explain to you why she thinks we need more linguists in audio journalism). Alex is a dual citizen of the United States and France, and lives in Brooklyn.
Monetization: Attracting Advertisers
Tuesday, May 10th - 11:30am-12:30pm
Arielle Nissenblatt - Founder, EarBuds Podcast Collective
Moderator
Arielle Nissenblatt is the founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, a weekly podcast newsletter and podcast. She is the Community Manager at SquadCast.fm, a remote recording platform. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute of Audio Documentary Studies. Nissenblatt is a podcast marketing expert, having spoken on panels at conferences such as Podcast Movement, International Documentary Association’s Podcast Day, at USC, Montana Media Lab, American University, and more. She is one of the founders of Podcast Taxonomy, an international effort to categorize roles and credits in the podcast industry. Nissenblatt listens to over 40 hours of audio content per week. She is a podcast industry futurist and believes in the power of audio to break down cultural barriers.
Veronika Taylor - SVP Creator Network, Acast
Panelist
Veronika Taylor is Senior Vice President of the Creator Network at Acast, the world’s leading independent podcast company, which has a portfolio of more than 40,000 podcasts. She directs the company’s strategy for attracting the biggest and best podcasts all around the globe. Prior to Acast, she spent a decade at Rodale, where she oversaw 100+ international partnerships of the company's health and wellness magazine/digital brands, including Men's Health, Women's Health, Prevention, and Runner's World. Veronika received her bachelor's from Vassar College and a masters in international affairs and journalism from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three kids.
Jay Green - SVP Digital Strategy & Analytics, Cadence13
Panelist
An industry leader with over 15 years of senior brand building, marketing, research and sales experience, Jay Green is known for working with major brands on high-level audio integrations, brand strategies and analytics. Green was an early evangelist of podcasting’s power to connect brands with engaged audiences. He is currently the SVP of Digital Strategy and Analytics for Cadence13 and has led the way in the industry for major brands to integrate data and attribution into the medium.
Pod People Presentation
Tuesday, May 10th - 1:30-2:00pm
Jasmine Hammond - VP Community, Pod People
Jasmine Hammond is the Vice President of Community at Pod People, a production company and staffing agency powered by 2500 audio creators. She is an experienced arts educator, curriculum developer, and community builder. Some career highlights: Jasmine was the Walnut Street Theatre's first ever Resident Teaching Artist and later their Assistant Director of Education—stewarding the first Sensory-Friendly Theatre Programming and Disney Musicals in Schools Program in Philadelphia—before shifting to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts to become their Education Program Manager. Here, she trained artists through curriculum around Musical Theatre, Jazz, and Digital Music Composition before shifting the the Brooklyn Music School as their Director of Outreach, where she worked to build national, education-based partnerships. Jasmine is happy to be a part of Pod People, where she works with a team to provide accessible educational opportunities, mentorship programs, and networking events, to level-up the Pod People Community! Jasmine has been awarded the Adele Manger Award for Transformative Teaching Artistry and the Philadelphia Inquirer's Diversity and Inclusion Future Leader Award, as well as, an Honorable Mention for the Tony Awards Excellence in Theatre Education.
Creators' Networking Mini Market
Tuesday, May 10th - 2:00-5:00pm
Jessie Wright-Mendoza
Jessie Wright-Mendoza is a freelance audio and digital journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has aired on public radio stations including NPR, WNYC, WHYY, and West Virginia Public Radio, and on podcasts including Unfictional and Distillations. In addition, her writing has appeared on Modern Notion, The Week, and Metropolis, and she's a regular contributor to JSTOR Daily, where she writes about medical history. She's produced podcasts for Popular Mechanics and The Week, and was a producer for the PBS Digital series Blank On Blank. She earned a degree in journalism from Boston University, and undertook further studies at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and the International Center for Photography, where she won the Wall Street Journal Scholarship for Photojournalism.
James Scully
James Scully is an outgoing native New Yorker who grew up in a home with three generations of family. He had close relationships with both his grandparents and great-grandparents, being exposed to an invaluable amount of local culture. It has helped him become a passionate actor, writer, director, and historian. He’s a graduate of Xavier High School in Manhattan, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and has spent over a decade working in media for companies such as Condé Nast and Hearst. James is behind Breaking Walls, docu-podcast on the history of American network radio broadcasting. He’s directed, post-produced, adapted, and acted in scripted audio fiction productions, like the pilot for Frontier Gentleman, has developed new audio fiction series, like Burning Gotham, and is an actor in the Fireside Mystery Theatre troupe. He’s also a longtime SPERDVAC board member, a member of the WGA Audio Alliance, and a member of The Gotham (formerly IFP).
J. Faye Yuan
Born in Shanghai and raised in Indiana, J. Faye Yuan is a New York-based bilingual producer and editor. With support from Tribeca Creators Market, Doha Film Institute, and Women Make Movies, Faye edited her first feature-length documentary about a maverick Chinese animal activist. In 2019, she directed and edited a game-show-inspired docuseries, which won a New York State Council on the Arts Film & Media Award. In addition to filmmaking, she is a curator for the Queens Memory Project – a community archiving program with the aim of raising awareness and a sense of ownership in the production of shared historic records. She is currently the host of the Queens Memory Podcast – a bilingual podcast chronicling the lives of Asian immigrants in Queens, New York.
Luis Gil
Luis Gil is Adonde Media's Manager of Production Operations & Culture. Originally from Venezuela and now based in Brooklyn, New York, he spent the first decade of his career as a session musician and recording engineer before moving into the world of podcasting. In addition to being a very accomplished project manager and mastering engineer, he leads the way Adonde incorporates values into their work and teaches mindfulness-based leadership programs throughout Latin America and the US. His work consistently tops podcasting charts all over the world and has earned multiple radio and journalism awards, including a Peabody nomination in 2022.
Mijon Zulu
Mijon Zulu, a Barbadian-Zimbabwean American raised in Zimbabwe, graduated from Williams College and lives in NYC. He is an actor, singer, writer, and creative with a serious funny bone.
Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell is a writer, producer, and gregarious generalist based in New York City. He is currently producing Losing Control, a podcast from Sports Illustrated Studios and iHeartMedia, and previously developed and produced three seasons of Who Is?, the first podcast from NowThis News. Michael has sold print pieces to The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York, and Vox, and most importantly, has written extensively for West Side Rag, a hyperlocal publication covering the goings-on and endless intrigue of Manhattan's Upper West Side. A native Hoosier, Michael was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.
IP and Derivatives: Podcast Adaptations to Film & Television
Wednesday, May 11th - 10:00-11:00am
Elise Bergerson - Podcast Agent, Verve
Moderator
Podcast agent and business consultant for radio and podcast production. Advanced experience providing strategic support and representation, and in overseeing every stage of business creation and development for podcast companies and production studios. Experienced project manager. Oversaw business operations for a production enterprise spanning six companies and producing among the most popular podcast programming worldwide.
Christy Gressman - VP & Executive Producer Podcasts, Topic Studios
Panelist
Christy Gressman is the producer of The Orbiting Human Circus and a partner in Night Vale Presents, the network for independently-minded creators and listeners co-founded by the creators of the genre-defining fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale. As Night Vale Presents’ executive producer, Christy oversees network-wide show curation, development, production, and distribution. She is also the producer or executive producer of a number of original podcasts, including Conversations with People Who Hate Me with Dylan Marron, I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, and musical fiction works Adventures in New America, Dreamboy, and It Makes A Sound. In addition to her work in podcasting, she is, among other things, the producer of The Orbiting Human Circus’ live shows and other works; a former partner in, and current contributor to, an industry-leading software company that develops touring applications for the live entertainment industry; an attorney; and a graduate of Yale School of Management, Harvard Law School, and the fine arts program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Andrew Kuo - CEO & Co-Founder, SomeFriends
Panelist
Andrew Kuo is CEO and Co-Founder of SomeFriends, the audio-first media company telling stories by and about people of color, for everyone, with the mission of championing inclusion through diversity. Prior to founding SomeFriends, Andrew served as Managing Director of 88rising, the leading Asian youth culture brand. During his tenure, he launched their TV and film studio, resulting in a first-look deal with Sony Pictures, closed their Series C funding and created the Paradise Rising music label. Andrew’s start in entertainment began as Vice President of International Business Development and Strategy at A+E Networks, after spending time on Wall Street as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and corporate lawyer at Skadden Arps.
Britta von Schoeler - President, Broadway Video Enterprises
Panelist
Britta von Schoeler heads Broadway Video Enterprises (BVE) – the division of Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’ global media and entertainment company, charged with creating revenue growth and amplifying the company’s portfolio of brands across all media. In her position, von Schoeler helms the strategic planning and implementation of partnerships for Broadway Video Entertainment’s programming library. von Schoeler’s efforts extend the reach of the BVE brands globally. Her portfolio of projects ranges from global distribution of traditional media – including the production of new series and formats – to leveraging Broadway Video’s family of talent and intellectual property for experiential executions. Prior to joining BVE in 2001, von Schoeler worked for BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc. overseeing consumer products production and marketing for numerous popular shows, including Absolutely Fabulous. In addition, she was Manager of Business Affairs at Discovery Communications, Inc. She is a graduate of Vassar College.
Experts on Experts: Finding Your Characters and Interview Best Practices
Wednesday, May 11th - 11:30am-12:30pm
Mia Warren - Senior Producer, Somethin' Else
Mia (she/her) is an audio producer living in Brooklyn, NY. She produces long-form narrative nonfiction series at Sony Podcasts. In 2020, Mia was the inaugural Editing Fellow at Feet in 2 Worlds, where she produced an award-winning season of the podcast "A Better Life?", which explores how America’s failed response to COVID-19 has reshaped immigrants’ lives and their relationship to the United States. In 2021, she hosted season two of the series.
Mia is the co-creator and executive producer of Feeling My Flo, a podcast for tweens all about menstruation. She got her start in radio as a broadcast and podcast producer for StoryCorps, the national oral history project, and as a reporter at Marfa Public Radio in far West Texas.
Arun Venugopal - Senior Reporter Race & Justice, WNYC
Arun Venugopal is Senior Reporter in the Race & Justice Unit at WNYC in New York. He also serves as a guest host at Fresh Air, regularly sitting in for Terry Gross, and often contributes to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour and CBS News and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The Atlantic. He lives with his family in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Master Class on Fiction Podcasts
Wednesday, May 11th - 1:30-2:30pm
Shawn Christensen - Criminal Content
Shawn Christensen is an Oscar-winning filmmaker who currently directs and edits Fiction Podcasts such as BLACKOUT (Rami Malek) (2019), HUNTED (Parker Posey) (2020), and AMERICAN HOSTAGE (Jon Hamm) (2022). BLACKOUT won the Webby for Best Scripted Fiction Podcast in 2020. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for CURFEW (2013) and wrote and directed the feature film adaptation BEFORE I DISAPPEAR (Emmy Rossum, Paul Wesley, Ron Perlman) (2014) which won the SXSW Audience Award.
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A DAY AT SPOTIFY AND GIMLET STUDIOS - THURSDAY, MAY 12TH
A Conversation with Lydia Polgreen
Thursday, May 12th - 10:30-11:00am
Lydia Polgreen - Managing Director, Gimlet
Lydia currently serves as the Managing Director at Gimlet. Prior to that, she served as editor in chief of HuffPost, and worked at the New York Times in several roles that spanned from Associate Masthead Editor, Deputy International Editor, South Africa bureau chief, correspondent for the New Delhi bureau and chief of the West Africa bureau. She grew up in Kenya, Ghana and Minnesota. Today, she resides in NY with her wife, documentary photographer Candace Feit.
Spotify/Gimlet Creators' Panel
Thursday, May 12th - 11:00am-12:00pm
Flora Lichtman - Managing Editor, "Every Little Thing" (Gimlet)
Panelist
Flora is the host and managing editor of Every Little Thing. Previously, Flora worked for “Bill Nye Saves the World” on Netflix, The New York Times, and Science Friday.
Caitlin Kenney - Head of Programming, Gimlet
Panelist
Caitlin is the Head of Programming at Gimlet. Before joining Gimlet, she was one of the founding members of NPR’s Planet Money, where her work on the Planet Money t-shirt project earned her an Emmy, a duPont-Columbia, and a Gerald Loeb award. Prior to that, she worked as a producer at WNYC, WBUR, and NPR’s Bryant Park Project.
Saidu Tejan-Thomas
Panelist
Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. (@SaiduTTJ) is a poet, writer, and producer born in Freetown Sierra Leone.He’s the host of Resistance , a show about people refusing to accept things as they are. Saidu is currently at Gimlet Media.
Spotify Talk Audio Strategy
Thursday, May 12th - 2:30-3:15pm
Understanding Creator Tooling & Opportunities Coming to Market
Thursday, May 12th - 3:45-4:30pm
Pierre Tettart
Pierre is Head of Creator for the Talk Verticals at Spotify. Previously, Pierre worked for YouTube and Airbnb.
Narrative Non-Fiction Case Study: Crimetown (Season 2)
Friday, May 13th - 10:00-11:00am
Zac Stuart-Pontier - Creator, "Crimetown"
Zac Stuart-Pontier is a filmmaker, journalist and podcaster. Zac is the creator of the Gimlet podcast Crimetown with Marc Smerling, which has been included on numerous best of lists (including The New York Times, USA Today, Vulture, & The Atlantic) and spent multiple weeks at number 1 on the Apple Podcast Charts. He won two Emmys for HBO’s “The Jinx” as Co-Executive Producer and Editor, he was also a writer on the show. “The Jinx” was awarded a Peabody Award and the Outstanding Miniseries by the Television Critics Association. He is the creator of The RFK Tapes and the Executive Producer and Editor of THE BALLAD OF BILLY BALLS, currently in development as a TV show. Zac was a producer on the documentaries CATFISH, BEAUTIFUL DARLING and MARKIE IN MILWAUKEE. On the narrative side, Zac was the editor of BLEED FOR THIS, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE and SIMON KILLER and OPUS JAZZ.
Samantha Lee - Associate Producer, "Crimetown"
Sam Lee is a senior producer at Prologue Projects. After over a decade in non-fiction TV development, Sam pivoted to audio, producing immersive audio tours for Detour.com and podcasts including Crimetown Season 2 and Unladylike. Her work has appeared on ESPN, Slate, Studio 360 and more. Sam joined Prologue Projects to produce The Edge: Houston Astros and stayed on to produce a season of Fiasco. She is currently Senior Producer on a new ten-part documentary series that will publish later this year.
Meet the Buyers: Mandates and Pitch Best Practices
Friday, May 13th - 11:30am-12:30pm
Maggie Murphy - VP, Arts & Entertainment Programming
Panelist
Programming pop culture and memoir content, building out a content lineup for first-person narratives, performance, scripted comedy, music, and theater tailored to entertainment enthusiasts while boosting monthly habituation. Previously, executive produced a broad slate of original audio narratives from histories (Soldiers of Science), personal struggle (How to Be a Girl, Force of Beauty, Molly Burke), and edutainment (The Teaching Company). Also guided third-party brands such as Rolling Stone (Meeting Manson) and Paramount (Billie Was a Black Woman) to create genre-busting experiences for Audible listeners. Cross-department experiences in scheduling, content analytics, budgeting, and audio production allow me to serve as a filter and lens and guide smart and creative decision-making.
Soraya Shockley
Emi Norris - Managing Director, Paradiso US
Moderator
Emi is Paradiso US’s Managing Director and Executive Producer of the podcasts “Love Under Lockdown” (Stitcher/Studio71), “A Gay in the Life” (Spotify Live), “Beyond the Ring with Daisy King” (Paramount), “Seventeen” and the upcoming original fiction comedy “Conference Call.” Prior to Paradiso, Emi worked in originals partnerships & distribution at VICE and Refinery29 and in strategy at Bertelsmann. She also spent seven years in the independent film industry, first in production on films by directors Luca Guadagino and Alfonso Cuarón and later in international TV sales and digital distribution at start-ups FilmBuff in New York and Under the Milky Way in Paris. She holds a BA from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Matt Lieber - Co-Founder & President, Gimlet
Matt Lieber leads Podcast Operations for Spotify and is a co-founder of Gimlet Media, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019. In a previous life, Matt produced radio shows and podcasts. He also worked as a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, where he focused on media and digital business. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan.
Kenzi Wilbur - VP Partnerships & Development, SALT Audio
Panelist
Co-led the founding content team at Luminary to build and produce an exciting podcast slate that balances well-known celebrity voices, narrative journalism, industry stalwarts, and smaller, indie shows to cater to today’s podcast listener while keeping a keen eye toward diverse perspectives and pushing the audio industry forward creatively. James Beard Award-nominated podcast host and producer with extensive experience in managing editorial teams, working directly with app and product teams, editing, and writing.
Margaret Kelley - Podcast Programming Manager, Warner Bros. Discovery
Panelist
Embedded in podcasts and public radio for 15+ years, Margaret Kelley is a veteran audio producer and editor, programmer, live events producer, music supervisor, vocal director, musician and creator. She is currently the podcast programming manager with Warner Bros. Discovery's Central Podcast Team. There, she shepherds the development of audio-first creative and podcast production for d+ and multiple legacy brands. Previously, she has consulted and produced for various podcast networks and emerging media companies, in addition to being a staff producer at Slate, Panoply, New York Public Radio, and NPR.
Fiction Case Study: "Welcome to Night Vale"
Friday, May 13th - 1:30-2:30pm
Molly O'Keefe - Head of Development, Paradiso US
Moderator
Molly O’Keefe is the Head of Development for Paradiso Podcasts. She is a development consultant for producer Debbie Liebling. She oversaw Artist Programs at Tribeca Film Institute, whose mission was to fight gender and racial inequality in entertainment. She was a development and production executive at Sundance Productions and Red Hour. Molly has consulted for the Sundance Episodic and Screenwriter's Labs, Warner Brothers Director’s Program and WarnerMedia’s OneFifty. She is a graduate of Emerson College and based in Los Angeles.
Jeffrey Cranor - Writer, "Welcome to Night Vale"
Panelist
Jeffrey Cranor cowrites the Welcome to Night Vale and Within the Wires podcasts. He also co-creates theater and dance pieces with choreographer/wife Jillian Sweeney. They live in New York.
Master Class on Tech Practices
Friday, May 13th - 3:00-4:00pm
Bryson Barnes - Technical Director of Audio, NBC News Group
Bryson Barnes is the Technical Director of Audio for the NBC News Group, where he manages audio engineering, creative music supervision and day-to-day production across the portfolio. Since joining the unit full-time in the spring of 2021, his credits include 3 Apple #1 podcasts to date: Southlake, American Radical and Dateline’s The Thing About Helen and Olga, in addition to offerings from NBC News, MSNBC, Dateline and TODAY. Prior to joining NBC, Bryson worked as a freelancer, counting among his clients 99 Percent Invisible, Reveal and the New York Times, and has taught in an adjunct capacity at NYU, Skidmore College and McGill University.
