“KalaLea is an audio journalist who has produced stories for NPR’s Latino USA, Slate Studios, NPR’s Interfaith Voices, The New Yorker podcasts and KCRW.

She received her Master’s degree from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism with a specialization in multimedia storytelling. In 2017, KalaLea was a recipient of the Tow-Knight Entrepreneurial Journalism fellowship.

Before working in audio, KalaLea worked as a digital producer for advertising and publishing companies. And before that, she was the owner of a little cafe in Brooklyn.”

Abdine joined the Rooster Teeth team in 2012 to develop an in-house direct sales and integrated marketing team focused on growing The Roost, Rooster Teeth, and RTX brands with new and existing advertising partners. His department manages all aspects of Rooster Teeth’s advertising presence including display, pre-roll, product integrations, show sponsorship, RTX sales and marketing, and whatever other new and unique ideas percolate from the Rooster Teeth creative team. In his free time, Abdine is an avid mountain biker, IPA connoisseur, and enjoys long walks on the beach.

Erica, Account Director, is a Cincinnati, Ohio native turned Brooklynite who brings a decade of work experience to Fohr inclusive of digital marketing, influencer marketing, and experiential strategies. She has worked across several categories including wines & spirits, hospitality, tech, fashion, luxury goods, automobile, F&B, CPG, and beauty. Previously, in her most recent roles at Nike Communications and The Fader/Cornerstone agency, she led accounts and campaign initiatives for brands including Pepsi, Bacardi, LVMH, Footlocker, Boden, Montblanc, Sonos, and Anheuser Busch. She is proud to say many of the campaigns she’s helped to launch have impacted popular culture at large, allowing her to become an expert in lifestyle marketing.

“The son of a scientist and a doctor, Jad Abumrad did most of his growing up in Tennessee, before studying creative writing and music composition at Oberlin College in Ohio. Following graduation, Abumrad wrote music for films, and reported and produced documentaries for a variety of local and national public radio programs, including On The Media, Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, Morning Edition, All Things Considered and WNYC’s “”24 Hours at the Edge of Ground Zero.””

While working on staff at WNYC, Abumrad began tinkering with an idea for a new kind of radio program. That idea evolved into one of public radio’s most popular shows today – Radiolab. Abumrad hosts the program with Robert Krulwich and also serves as one of its producers. The program won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and explores big questions in science, philosophy and mankind. Under Abumrad’s direction, the show uses a combination of deep-dive journalism, narrative storytelling, dialogue and music to craft compositions of exploration and discovery. Radiolab podcasts are downloaded over 10 million times each month and the program is carried on more than 500 stations across the nation and internationally.

Abumrad is also the Executive Producer and creator of Radiolab’s More Perfect, a podcast that explores how cases deliberated inside the rarefied world of the Supreme Court affect our lives far away from the bench.

Abumrad was honored as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow (also known as the Genius Grant). The MacArthur Foundation website says: “Abumrad is inspiring boundless curiosity within a new generation of listeners and experimenting with sound to find ever more effective and entertaining ways to explain ideas and tell a story.”

Abumrad also produced and hosted The Ring & I, an insightful, funny, and lyrical look at the enduring power of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. It aired nationally and internationally and earned ten awards, including the prestigious 2005 National Headliner Grand Award in Radio.”

If my memory serves me, the first time I was asked the proverbial What do you want to be when you grow up? The answer was, “An astronaut.” Later it became a drawer. Then a guy who makes television commercials. By middle school I decided I wanted to be an environmental engineer, before stints hoping to be a photographer and then filmmaker. In high school, after dreaming of being a teacher, I was certain I’d be a professional jazz saxophone player. In college, I jumped from humanitarian aid worker, to psychotherapist, to indie rock musician. After graduating I wanted to be a writer. Now, I make radio.

Paula Allegretti is senior vice president of news network partnerships at WarnerMedia. In this role, Allegretti identifies and assesses ad sales revenue opportunities for WarnerMedia’s news portfolio of brands, including CNN, with a focus on new business development and long-term growth. She is based in New York.

Allegretti collaborates with both network and sales executives to develop CNN’s go-to-market sales strategy, while serving as a liaison to Jeff Zucker, Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports & President, CNN Worldwide, and his leadership team to ensure the vision of the brand is reflected in the brand’s sales strategy.

She plays a critical role in representing news across the entire WarnerMedia sales organization, while strengthening overall revenue opportunities in line with the company’s go-to-market strategies. She collaborates with both network executives and sales executives to develop CNN’s sales strategy for the larger team to execute in the marketplace.

Since joining Turner, now WarnerMedia, in 2001 as a sales coordinator, Allegretti held ascending positions, quickly rising to an account executive where she sold sports, and entertainment in New York and Atlanta offices. Allegretti made the shift to CNN in 2006 and was most recently served as vice president, CNN network partnerships and sales strategy.

Allegretti was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. She graduated from University of Georgia with a degree in public relations. Currently, Allegretti resides in Manhattan with her husband Michael, and their two children.

Joel Anderson is a Slate staff writer and host of the third season of Slow Burn, as well as the upcoming sixth season about the Los Angeles riots. Before joining Slate, he was a reporter for multiple news outlets including ESPN.com and BuzzFeed News.

Model, activist and spokesperson are just a few of the words that scratch the surface when describing Leomie Anderson. Leomie has used her voice to continuously to raise awareness around racism, sexism and more in the fashion industry and wider. She has created her own brand, LAPP a black owned business, LAPP the brand which earlier in the year landed her in the top spot of Forbes 30 under 30 for Arts and Culture . LAPP is a brand that Leomie has created on her own, from the ground up, the epitome of an independent black business woman.

LAPP has been worn and supported by Leomie’s peers, the likes of Rihanna, Hailey Beiber, Jourdan Dunn, Gabrielle Union, Bella Hadid, Sofia Richie, Hailey Bieber and Winnie Harlow to name a few.

LAPP also has an accompanying Magazine/ Platform that allows women to speak freely about issues concerning them, and has been a great space for black women during the current BLM movement.

Leomie is a two-time Ted talk speaker and has spoken at Oxford and Cambridge universities.

The Olympic Idol. The Wrestling Machine. The American Hero. Kurt Angle has established worldwide recognition as a professional wrestler, actor, and spokesperson since winning the Gold MEdal in the 1996 Olympics. Kurt claims this was his dream from as early as the age of five, but never did he dream it would turn out to be so much more than that. While Kurt is known for amazing achievements all throughout his life as an amateur and pro wrestler, his path was filled with personal difficulties, obstacles, and hurdles he had to overcome every step of the way. All have helped to shape exactly who he’s know as today: a man of unstoppable force. Receiving numerous award for his excellence in freestyle and professional wrestling, Kurt is considered to be one of the World’s Greatest Amateur and Professional Wrestlers of all time. He is a member of the TNA and WWE Hall of Fame.

Davar Ardalan is National Geographic’s executive producer of audio, where she oversees the award-winning podcast series, “Overheard at National Geographic,” as well as other narrative storytelling podcasts in production. Collaborating across the National Geographic universe Davar is bringing new voices from diverse backgrounds to podcasting as her team transports audiences to the far corners of our big, weird, beautiful world. Davar is an author, journalist, and tech entrepreneur and founder of IVOW AI, which is focused on artificial intelligence and cultural storytelling. Prior to this, she was deputy director of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship Program in Washington D.C. and before that a veteran journalist at NPR News. Davar has been recognized with a 2017 NASA Team Leadership award, a Gracie Award from the American Women in Radio and Television, 2 NABJ awards and a shout-out in the popular comic strip Zippy. In May 2014, she was the recipient of a United States Ellis Island Medal of Honor, for individual achievement and for promoting cultural unity.

Tiffany Ashitey is Director of Partnerships at Acast, the creator-first podcast company that hosts, distributes, and monetizes more than 27,000 podcasts, from the world’s leading creators. A three-time Webby Award-nominated Executive Producer, Tiffany has more than a decade of experience leading, executing, and managing projects in audio storytelling, video production, digital, and podcast production. She’s worked with brands such as Sports Illustrated, Coach, Jordan Brand, Essence Magazine, and Black Entertainment Television (BET). She founded and ran the ESSENCE Podcast Network, the first-ever podcast network in the brand’s 50-year history, which is created, operated, developed, and produced by women of color.

Reza Aslan is a renowned writer, commentator, professor, Emmy-nominated producer, and scholar of religions. A recipient of the prestigious James Joyce award, Aslan is the author of three internationally best-selling books, including the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. His producing credits include the acclaimed HBO drama The Leftovers and the CBS sitcom United States of Al. He is the host and Executive Producer of two documentary series: Rough Draft with Reza Aslan and Believer. Aslan is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

Shira has an extensive background in digital media, both on the content and business side. Before joining forces with the inimitable Jenny Kaplan, Shira ran a boutique brand strategy advisory based in NYC. Shira is a lover of Russian Literature and a devoted yoga practitioner.

Gisselle Bances is the Executive Producer of iHeart Media’s first Latinx podcast network. She’s a bilingual journalist with 15 years of experience creating compelling stories, campaigns and original video and podcast content.

She developed the first bilingual series for Yahoo Entertainment focused on Latinx celebrities and culture. Prior to Yahoo, she was the head of digital for E! News, working with brands like HULU, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. She also developed digital series for E! and Telemundo.

In 2020, she produced the CBS special Essential Heroes: A Momento Latino Event hosted by Eva Longoria and Ricky Martin.
A native of Los Angeles, Gisselle is dedicated to celebrating and elevating the Latinx experience.

One of Hollywood’s premiere Asian American icons, Dante Basco was first introduced in Steve Spielberg’s fairytale movie Hook, as “Rufio”, the leader of the Lost Boys. Recently, Dante starred in Newline’s Take the Lead, opposite Antonio Banderas, and starred in a pilot for Touchstone/ABC, The Chang Family Saves the World, written and produced by John Ridley and directed by Paris Barclay. He is also the voice of Jake Long in Disney’s animated series American Dragon: Jake Long, as well as the voice of villain Prince Zuko in Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Dante has also starred in his share of feature films: Biker Boyz (with Laurence Fishburne, Kid Rock and Derek Luke), Naked Brown Men (which he co-produced and stars in with his brothers), Extreme Days, But I’m a Cheerleader (with Natasha Lyonne, Cathy Moriarty and Clea Duvall), The Debut, Fakin’ Da Funk (with Pam Greer and Tatiana Ali), Rave, and Showtime’s critically acclaimed Riot – just to name a few. Dante has also appeared on Entourage, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Nash Bridges, Touched by an Angel, Providence, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Moesha, and The Proud Family. Dante recently made his directorial debut at SXSW with Fabulous Filipino Brothers.

Grace Bastidas is an editor, writer, and expert on multicultural audiences. As the founding editor and content director of Parents Latina, Grace is in charge of guiding the creative vision and mission of a brand that reaches 3.4 million multicultural moms and dads. She also has editorial oversight of the Spanish-language brand, Ser Padres. She has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and New York magazine, among other publications. Her work has always focused on giving voice to communities of color via authentic storytelling. A mom of two, Grace is also the co-host of Parents’ That New Mom Life podcast and an ambassador for the Good+ Foundation, a nonprofit working to break the cycle of family poverty.

Preet is a former U.S. Attorney and the co-founder of CAFE, the podcast-first publisher that breaks down how the law and justice intersect with politics, business, technology and our daily lives. He is the award-winning host of Stay Tuned with Preet and Doing Justice and co-host of the CAFE Insider podcast. He is also a distinguished scholar in residence at the NYU School of Law, the author of “Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law,” and regular contributor to CNN and other networks.

Michael Ian Black is a multi-media talent who’s starred in numerous films and TV series, written and/or directed two films, is a prolific author and commentator, and regularly tours the country performing his ribald brand of jokes and observations. He most recently starred in TVLand’s “The Jim Gaffigan Show” and Comedy Central’s “Another Period.” He also reprised one of his iconic film roles in Netflix’s “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later,” and previously in “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.”

Mia Bloomfield is the Creative Director of Content at SpokenLayer, where she focuses on the ideation, scripting, and overall listener experience. Mia has a background in writing and performing scripted and improv comedy in New York. Her approach to editorial is to write scripts that sound the way people talk. No matter how detailed the concept, great editorial always leaves room for genuine moments of connection. Audio is intimate so all editorial should be too.

Brian Bochner is the Head of Growth at Feather, responsible for driving their customer acquisition, retention, monetization strategy. Prior to Feather, Brian spent four years at 360i where he led media strategy and digital innovation for Pernod Ricard brands like Absolut Vodka and Jameson Whiskey. Brian graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University and has worked at Feather for two years.

Chase works on the NLP research side of engineering. She loves translating the rich conversational and storytelling podcast medium into insights via deep learning. Before Podsights, Chase did graduate research into multi-modal language grounding and brain-computer interfaces at Tufts University. She was the founding Machine Learning Software Engineer at DalangHealth, a mobile health start-up where she researched and developed methods for transfer learning, style transfer, NLG and conversational Ai.

Born in Glasgow Scotland where he began his acting and music career. Billy graduated from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Throughout his artistic life Billy has focused on both acting and music (composing and singing) with significant success. His initial acting began on the Scottish stage, St. Andrews Repertory hired Billy for their production of The Slab Boys and followed to play the title role in “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole”. He has performed in several Shakespearean including playing Banquo in Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London followed by the film. In the fall of 1998 Billy was cast in the role of Pippin Peter Jackson’s Trilogy of “Lord Of The Rings”. The New Line Cinema’s Trilogy shot over 18 months in New Zealand “The Fellowship of the Ring” 2001, “The Two Towers” 2002, finally “The Return of the King” 2003. Billy’s character sublimely combined drama and comedy that clearly enriched the film and his career. He also wrote and performed the stirring song “Edge of Night” in “Return of the King” in a Wonderful sequence with John Noble. When Peter Jackson shot the Hobbit Trilogy he brought Billy back to write and perform the closing song for the Trilogy “The Last Goodbye” was played over the final credits of “The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies”. To follow with his music Billy Created the Bee Cake Band that has had world wide success. Billy has gone on to work with serious actors in interesting films and significant television. Some of his television appearances have been “Moby Dick”, “The Simpsons”, Grey’s Anatomy”, “Outlander” which he recurred, “Hollywood (Playing Noel Coward) and just completed “Doom Patrol”. Billy did a guest role in “Motive” where here was nominated for a Canadian Academy award. To name a few of the Motion Pictures he starred in are. Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World”, with Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. “Stone of Destiny” with Robert Carlyle and Kate Mara. “Forger” with Alfred Molina, Hayden Panettiere and Lauren Bacall. Most recently Billy starred with Edward James Olmos, George Lopez, and Kathleen Quinlan in “Walking With Herb”.

Chris Bruderle brings over 25 years of experience in Data/Web Analytics and Media Market Research at premium Digital and Muti-Platform web publishers including The Daily Beast, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Conde Nast Publications and This Old House Ventures.

Before working at IAB where he leads research-based thought leadership initiatives, Chris was most recently VP, Analytics & Research at The Daily Beast where he spent nearly 7 years and was responsible for the tracking, analysis and reporting of The Daily Beast’s O&O site and off-platform data/analytics for Senior/Corporate Management, Editorial, Advertising Sales, Product/Engineering, Audience/Business Development, Social Media and PR. He established the company-wide Editorial Analytics and Advertising Sales data and research stacks which included, among others, Google Analytics, Parse.ly, Krux DMP, Optimizely, comScore, Kantar, Samba, Newswhip, Crowd Tangle, Buzzsumo, and CrazyEgg.

Prior to The Daily Beast, Chris spent 5 years as Associate and Acting Director at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia where he directed the correspondence and development of all research-based strategies supporting the Advertising Sales and Marketing staffs of each of the MSLO media brands and platforms across digital, mobile/tablet, TV, print and radio. Chris has also held marketing and market research positions at Conde Nast and Time Inc.

Chris started his career at BBDO as an Assistant Media Planner where he most notably completed the “Media Training Program”.

Idil Cakim is the Senior Vice President, Research and Insights at Audacy, the #1 creator of original, premium audio content representing an audio universe of discovery and connection. Home to the industry’s most influential collection of broadcast and digital content, podcasts and premium live experiences, Audacy engages over 170 million consumers each month. In this role, Cakim leads the company’s business to business strategy and audio insights practice, with a focus on building perspectives, ideas, and client strategies.

Antonia Cereijido is the Executive Producer of LAist Studios and the host of the LAist podcast Norco ’80. She was a producer for six years on NPR’s Latino USA and hosted her own segment The Breakdown. She has hosted podcasts for Mic and Slate. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Code Switch, and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, advocate, and author of the New York Times bestselling book “Adnan’s Story” and Executive Producer of a four-part HBO documentary “The Case Against Adnan Syed.” Rabia is also co-producer and co-host of three podcasts, Undisclosed, The 45th, and The Hidden Djinn.

With over 370 million downloads, Undisclosed is the biggest wrongful conviction podcast in the world, and the Undisclosed team has helped exonerate nearly a dozen defendants, and find new evidence to get most of their defendants back in court. The 45th is a weekly podcast examining the policies and politics of the 45th US Presidential administration, which wrapped up with the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The Hidden Djinn was created in collaboration with iHeart Media, showcasing the folklore and history behind the legends of the djinn, and connecting the tales through Islamic, Christian, and Jewish sources.

Rabia is a 2021 Aspen Institute/ADL Civil Society Fellow and was previously a 2016 Aspen Ideas Scholar and on the Vanguard Board at the Aspen Institute. She is a Fellow of the Truman National Security Project, a Fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, and a former Board member of the ACLU of Connecticut and Maryland. Rabia is the recipient of the Truman National Security Project’s 2015 Harry S. Truman Award for Communications & Media Influence, is a 2015 Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrant, and is the recipient of the 2015 Healing & Hope award by the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. She is currently a founding board member of the Inter-Jewish Muslim Alliance, and the Muslim Jewish Advisory Council, both of which focus on building Muslim-Jewish coalitions around pressing policy issues, and educating across communities to break barriers.

Rabia was a 2016 Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at U.S. Institute of Peace, where she researched the intersection of religion and violent extremism in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. During this time Rabia also worked with PYCA, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates, delivering leadership trainings in Islamabad to rising youth advocates from across Pakistan.

Rabia came to USIP from the New America Foundation, where she was an International Security Fellow, developing and leading a CVE (countering violent extremism) community project in partnership with Google, Facebook and Twitter. Her work New America focused on the empowerment of American Muslim communities in social media advocacy.

In 2011 Rabia founded the Safe Nation Collaborative, a CVE training firm, which worked on two fronts: providing CVE and cultural competency training to law enforcement, correctional, and homeland security officials, and providing national security and CVE training to Muslim communities and institutions. During its existence, Safe Nation worked with the US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Justice, the National Counter Terror Center, the Maryland State Police and Correctional Officer Training Commission, and the DC Metro Police Department. As a senior CVE analyst and consultant, Rabia worked on both domestic and international CVE projects with government and nonprofit sectors.

Rabia received her Juris Doctorate from the George Mason School of Law and practiced immigration and civil rights law for over a decade before moving into the CVE policy sphere. Her practice focus was asylum and family immigration, and civil rights defense of Muslim immigrants against federal law enforcement agencies.

Rabia’s second book, “Fatty Fatty Boom Boom”, a memoir on food, fat, and family, is due to be published in 2021 by Algonquin Books.

Rabia is a frequent public speaker and writer on criminal justice, civil rights, and media advocacy.

Chris Colbert is a Webby & New York Festival award-winning podcast host/producer/writer, as well as the CEO and Founder of DCP, a media agency for underrepresented voices. In addition to serving on the boards of The Podcast Academy, BIPOC Podcast Creators, LWC Studios and the Podcasting Seriously Awards Fund, Chris uses his position in the industry to create equity and visibility for BIPOC creators. Chris is also the co-owner of Podstream Studios Times Square, a customizable audio and video recording space for content creators.

One of the most creative thinkers and leaders in the industry, Corcoran leads all partner acquisition and content development across all of Cadence13’s programming division. Since Corcoran joined the company in May 2015, Cadence13, a leading premium podcast studio, has partnered with some of the most influential creators and brands, including: Crooked Media, goop, theSkimm, Unsolved Mysteries, You Must Remember This, Jemele Hill, Karina Longworth, Lauren Conrad, Andrew Yang, Kevin Durant, Emma Chamberlain, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Meacham, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, TenderfootTV, Ben Reiter, David Plouffe, Elle Fanning, The Dolan Twins, Kobe Bryant, JJ Redick, Leon Neyfakh, Headspace, People, Deepak Chopra, CJ McCollum, Gretchen Rubin, James Andrew Miller, Market Snacks and many more. Corcoran’s vision led to the creation of Ramble, a podcast network of some of the most influential digital stars in the world. Corcoran is also the Creator and Executive Producer of the Peabody-nominated C13Originals studio, home to such critically acclaimed podcast documentaries as It Was Said; Gangster Capitalism; Long May They Run; Once Upon a Time…in the Valley; Relative Unknown; Hope, Through History; and The Edge, an investigative documentary on the Houston Astros. Corcoran created and developed the concept for C13 Features—a pioneering podcast feature studio focused on creating a wide-ranging slate of compelling feature-length fictionalized stories of all genres that appeal to a wide audience—and will serve as executive producer for all productions/features and lead the new studio. Corcoran was named a “Power Player of Podcasting” by Business Insider in February 2020. Cadence13 was named one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019.” Cadence13 is an Audacy company.

Audie Cornish is a co-host of All Things Considered, NPR’s award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, and Consider This, NPR’s afternoon news podcast.

Previously, she served as host of Weekend Edition Sunday. Prior to moving into that host position in the fall of 2011, Cornish reported from Capitol Hill for NPR News, covering issues and power in both the House and Senate and specializing in financial industry policy. She was part of NPR’s six-person reporting team during the 2008 presidential election, and had a featured role in coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Cornish comes to Washington, D.C., from Nashville, where she covered the South for NPR, including many the Gulf states left reeling by the 2005 hurricane season. She has also covered the aftermath of other disasters, including the deaths of several miners in West Virginia in 2006, as well as the tornadoes that struck Tennessee in 2006 and Alabama in 2007.

Before coming to NPR, Cornish was a reporter for Boston’s award-winning public radio station WBUR. There she covered some of the region’s major news stories, including the legalization of same sex marriage, the sexual abuse scandal in the Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese, as well as Boston’s hosting of the Democratic National Convention. Cornish also reported for WBUR’s syndicated programming including On Point, distributed by NPR, and Here and Now.
In 2005, Cornish shared in a first prize in the National Awards for Education Writing for “Reading, Writing, and Race,” a study of the achievement gap. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Cornish has served as a reporter for the Associated Press in Boston. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Sarah works with publishers, brands and agencies alike to find solutions. Before Podsights, Sarah was the founder of The Bite Agency a Full service creative + media agency connecting the right brands with the right podcasts. Prior to that, she did sales at HowStuffWorks.

Courtney Coupe is the Senior Vice President of CNN Digital Productions. Coupe oversees development and production for all audio and streaming video.

Previously, Coupe was VP of Content Strategy & Operations for Great Big Story, an award-winning media company that developed and produced non-fiction micro-documentaries, series, and films. While at Great Big Story, Coupe received two Emmy wins, two additional Emmy nominations, an Edward R. Murrow award, and a Cannes Silver Lion.

Before joining Great Big Story, Coupe served as the Executive Producer of Digital Video Development and Production for Bloomberg, overseeing daily digital video development, production and strategy across web, mobile and social.

Prior to that, Coupe spent seven years at ABC News, as a producer for ABC News Digital and Good Morning America, covering news events such as the Royal Wedding, the 2008 election and inauguration, Hurricane Katrina, and the death of Pope John Paul II. While at ABC News, Coupe received an Emmy award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Coupe is a graduate of Boston College.

Sean works on the attribution pipeline at Podsights. He knows way too much about noisy IPs, cross-device graphs and pixels. Ask him about it. Before Podsights Sean founded Embedly, a Y Combinator company, whose product was used by Reddit, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Microsoft and hundreds of other sites. Medium acquired Embedly in 2016.

Lizzy Denihan, Head of Partnership Strategy, leads podcast sales strategy, content, and integrated brand partnerships for Audacy’s Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios. Denihan develops, oversees, and executes innovative initiatives for the premium podcast studios’ broad range of best-in-class talent, partners, and critically acclaimed content. Denihan is an eleven-year veteran of the Integrated Sponsorship Sales team at Major League Baseball.

Donny Deutsch is Chairman Emeritus of Deutsch Inc., one of the most prominent media and business voices, innovative political analysts, and leading branding mavens of our time. Deutsch built the multi-billion dollar ad agency through mastering the power of strategic branding, and when he sold the company to The Interpublic Group of Companies so began his expansion from business into media. Over the course of a career spanning decades, Deutsch has become a familiar, outspoken political analyst on MSNBC, regularly appearing on some of the cable news network’s most popular shows, Morning Joe and Deadline: White House. Previously, Deutsch hosted the long running CNBC talk show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. In 2019, Deutsch wrapped serving as host on MSNBC’s hit summer show, Saturday Night Politics, closing out the season as the highest-rated Saturday evening show in MSNBC history. The show attracted loyal viewers with Deutsch’s hard-hitting yet entertaining personality, and atypical approach to breaking down the week’s biggest political news stories. As a thought leader across industries, Deutsch has also penned two business motivation books, Often Wrong, Never in Doubt and THE BIG IDEA: How to Make Your Entrepreneurial Dreams Come True from the AHA Moment to Your First Million.

Matt works on the partnerships team at Podsights. He’s been in the attribution space for over 5 years and likes to see campaign results over and above the coupon code, vanity URL, and conversion survey. Before Podsights Matt worked at Megaphone and Barometric where he started his Podcast attribution career. Before that he has been on both the agency and advertiser side of the industry

Kellee Edwards, “One of the Most Powerful Women In Travel” according to Condé Nast, is an award-winning travel expert, journalist and television host by land, air and sea. She is a licensed pilot, advanced open water scuba diver, and explorer. A pioneer in her approach to adventure travel, her brand Kellee Set Go! is recognized by some of the biggest brands in travel, including The Travel Channel, where she hosts Mysterious Islands, a series that explores some of the most remote islands in the world. She recently launched a new podcast with Travel + Leisure called “Let’s Go Together,” amplifying diversity and inclusion in the travel and adventure space.

Rich Eiseman is the Head of Sales at QCODE Media. He is a 14 year veteran in the media industry, specializing in audio partnerships. After 10+ years with iHeartMedia, he helped launch Endeavor Audio’s podcast group where he sold into QCODE series including Blackout, Gaslight and the Edge of Sleep. He joined QCODE full time as Head of Sales in January 2020.

One of television’s most visible anchors and personalities, Rich Eisen was a mainstay on ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1996-2003 before becoming the first on-air talent added at the NFL Network in June 2003, five months before the network’s launch in November of 2003.

As a four-time Emmy nominee for “Outstanding Studio Host,” Eisen can be seen Sunday morning’s throughout the NFL season hosting the network’s Emmy-nominated NFL GameDay Morning.

As the signature host of the NFL Network, Eisen also serves as the emcee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Canton, Ohio, and also anchors the network’s special on location coverage of the NFL Draft, NFL Scouting Combine and Super Bowl.

In 2014, Eisen created The Rich Eisen Show. Now in its sixth year, the Emmy nominated show originates out of Los Angeles, CA and features an engaging mix of sports, humor and pop culture, while attracting the most recognizable names in sports and entertainment, including Tom Brady, Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Regina King, Aaron Rodgers, Larry David, Morgan Freeman and more.

The show airs nationally from noon-3PM ET on Peacock TV, and is also available on Channel 211 NBC Sports Audio on SiriusXM.

This February, Eisen will launch Just Getting Started, an original podcast distributed the Westwood One where he will interview the biggest names from news, entertainment, sports, and pop culture, discussing their career origins and mining their stories on how they got started in a format where audiences can be inspired by their endeavors.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Eisen earned a Master of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 1994.
He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Suzy Shuster. Together they have three children and two rescue dogs.

15 year veteran in the podcasting industry and the first Latina to be inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame, Co-founder of She Podcasts, a podcasting community for women + non-binary that has almost 20k members with a corresponding podcast and conference. Libsyn’s Community Manager and co-host/producer of The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast.

She’s a podcasting advocate, pundit and mentor to primarily women podcaster leaders. Her thing is driving dialogue in the podcasting industry focusing on podcasts’ impact on society, and culture as well as their power to drive social change.

Sid Evans is Editor in Chief of Southern Living, a modern, innovative multimedia brand covering the best in Southern food, homes, gardens, travel and personalities, and Coastal Living, the source of inspiration and information for people who celebrate life along the coast. Sid is responsible for the editorial vision, direction and content for both brands, which are part of Meredith Corporation’s coveted portfolio of national, premium media brands. Through Sid’s leadership, both iconic brands achieved a significant rise in digital content creation, which led to a diversification of audiences reached. Throughout this process, each brand has maintained its relevant, generational charm and continued to inspire its readers through print. Since Sid took on this position, Southern Living has won the 2015 Henry Luce Award and the 2019 MPA Kelly Award and received honorable mention at the 2019 Folio Eddie and Ozzie awards for Editorial Team of the Year. Most recently, Sid became host of Southern Living’s new podcast, Biscuits & Jam, where each week food-loving musicians share stories about home, family, tradition, and Southern culture.

Partners in life and on the podcast, Fortune and Jacquelyn (Jax) provide a unique, comedic view on pop culture and their married life during weekly episodes for the Sincerely Fortune podcast. Fortune is a comedian who became known as a writer and panelist on E’s hit show Chelsea Lately, as well as starring as a series regular on The Mindy Project for Hulu and Champions for NBC.

A.J. Feliciano is Head of The Roost Podcast Network at Rooster Teeth and oversees platform and content partnerships for all podcasts in the network. The Roost is the industry-leading video-centric podcast network, boasting a curated collection of more than 100 shows and productions that achieve more than 300MM monthly impressions. The Roost reaches millennial and Gen Z audiences across all platforms where they watch or listen to podcasts, including video platforms like YouTube, Rooster Teeth FIRST and RoosterTeeth.com. Prior to joining Rooster Teeth, Feliciano spent eight years earning his stripes at NBCUniversal as an unscripted development executive overseeing various hit series before later cutting his teeth in the gaming start-up world at VR/AR startup Well Played Studios.

Al Franken is the only U.S. Senator who was also one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live, where he worked for fifteen seasons. He’s won won five Emmy awards for writing and producing, two Grammy awards, and is the author of four #1 New York Times bestsellers. The Al Franken Podcast features guests like Chris Rock, David Letterman, and Anthony Fauci.

Kirk Franklin wants everyone to know one thing. He’s never going to stop pushing the envelope. Franklin’s latest musical offering—and 13th studio album—is the aptly titled LONG LIVE LOVE from his RCA distributed label, Fo Yo Soul Recordings. But even before the album’s May 31st release date, its first single is already laying down some serious groundwork.

“Love Theory” bowed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and has kept the position on lock for thirty-nine weeks. The vibrant track marked the singer’s record-extending seventh No. 1, and his second start atop the chart. With 1 million U.S. streams in its first week per Nielsen Music, “Love Theory” also opened at No. 1 on Gospel Streaming Songs as well as Gospel Digital Song Sales. Its colorful and energetic video has accumulated over 17.3 million YouTube views and counting. The album “Long Live Love” and single “Love Theory” won two Grammys in January 2020. Franklin says, “It’s my constant story about this message of love, the love of God, and me trying to play my role in that conversation.”
After culling through 50 to 60 song ideas, Franklin began collaborating with his fraternity of co-producers, Ron Hill, Shaun Martin, Max Stark, and S1. His last album, 2015’s Losing My Religion, won a GRAMMY Award winner for Best Gospel Album in 2017. It boasted guest turns by gospel and R&B artists including Kim Burrell, Lalah Hathaway, Tasha Cobbs, and Tamela Mann. Franklin opted to let the music—a flavorful mélange of gospel, R&B, hip-hop, and other influences—play the feature role on LONG LIVE LOVE.

Celebrating his 26th career anniversary this year, the winner of more than 40 Stellar Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and 16 Dove Awards is also busy pushing the envelope in other endeavors. Franklin brought his total GRAMMY tally to 16 Grammys at the 62nd annual ceremony this year.

In 2020, Franklin has his eyes set on another successful Exodus Music & Arts Festival, fantastic additions to the Kirk Franklin Praise channel on SiriusXM, and starting production on his bio-pic. “You already know what I’m going to say,” Franklin answers with a hearty laugh when asked about the secret behind his career longevity and indefatigable drive to keep pushing. “It’s because of somebody bigger than me and you. I’m the most non-perfect person in the world. But having an opportunity to be here still and communicate this faith that I believe in … I don’t know what else I could ask for.”

Lex Friedman is the Chief Revenue Officer at ART19. He was previously a cofounder at Midroll/Stitcher, and has more than a decade of experience on the business side of podcasting. Lex has led teams that sold more than $250 million in podcast ads.

Lulu Garcia-Navarro is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday and one of the hosts of NPR’s morning news podcast Up First. She is infamous in the IT department of NPR for losing laptops to bullets, hurricanes, and bomb blasts.

Before joining the Sunday morning team, she served as an NPR correspondent based in Brazil, Israel, Mexico, and Iraq. She was one of the first reporters to enter Libya after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising began and spent months painting a deep and vivid portrait of a country at war. Often at great personal risk, Garcia-Navarro captured history in the making with stunning insight, courage, and humanity.

For her work covering the Arab Spring, Garcia-Navarro was awarded a 2011 George Foster Peabody Award, a Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club, an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Alliance for Women and the Media’s Gracie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. She contributed to NPR News reporting on Iraq, which was recognized with a 2005 Peabody Award and a 2007 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton. She has also won awards for her work on migration in Mexico and the Amazon in Brazil.

Since joining Weekend Edition Sunday, Garcia-Navarro and her team have also received a Gracie for their coverage of the #MeToo movement. She’s hard at work making sure Weekend Edition brings in the voices of those who will surprise, delight, and move you, wherever they might be found.

Garcia-Navarro got her start in journalism as a freelancer with the BBC World Service and Voice of America. She later became a producer for Associated Press Television News before transitioning to AP Radio. While there, Garcia-Navarro covered post-Sept. 11 events in Afghanistan and developments in Jerusalem. She was posted for the AP to Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion, where she stayed covering the conflict.

Garcia-Navarro holds a Bachelor of Science degree in international relations from Georgetown University and a Master of Arts degree in journalism from City University in London.

Gina Garrubbo is President and CEO of National Public Media (NPM), a subsidiary of NPR owned in partnership with PBS and WGBH. As a full-service corporate sponsorship organization, National Public Media supports the continued growth of NPR and the public media system via funding from corporate sponsors across multiple platforms, from broadcast radio and podcasts, to the NPR app and NPR.org. National Public Media includes NPM Creative, its in-house creative studio offering brands long-form custom audio production, including branded podcast production. NPM Creative won the 2022 PR Daily Content Marketing Award for Best Branded Podcast in partnership with YouTube.


Outside of National Public Media, Garrubbo sits on the IAB Executive, IAB Finance and IAB Audio Committees, working with leaders across the industry to build industry standards, best practices and resources for audio marketing.


Prior to NPR, Garrubbo spent more than 20 years growing marketing and sales teams, launching brands and building companies, with extensive experience in both legacy and emerging media. She was one of the builders of women.com, one of the first websites for women, and BlogHer, a network of bloggers which brought independent voices to millions of readers. Garrubbo built advertising sales teams for Oxygen Media, Discovery Communications and in syndicated television. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and Glen Highland Farm.

Nathan works on the user experience of our products. He enjoys sweating the small stuff while designing products that solve problems for our users. Before Podsights, Nathan built pod.link, a marketing tool to help podcasters promote their shows and grow their audience. Podsights acquired pod.link in 2020.

Bryan Goldmark is a third-generation audio professional, having grown up in the radio industry. Starting in sales at an early age, Bryan moved to New York City after graduating from the University of Arizona to launch his professional career. Since then, he has held sales positions at CBS, Sinclair, and Katz Radio. Most recently, at Westwood One, he led the charge for their East Coast podcast sales business and brought CHANEL into podcasting. Since starting at Locked On, Bryan has championed introducing major brands to the podcast landscape and helped launch campaigns for Pepsi, McDonald’s, Visa, Michelob Ultra, AT&T, and more.

LZ Granderson is a political contributor for ABC News, an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times and co-host of “Sedano, LZ and Kaplan” for ESPNLA 710.

As a senior writer for ESPN, he maintained a regular column and was a co-host of ESPN TV’s “SportsNation.” He previously worked at CNN as a political contributor and columnist, and is a frequent guest on The Times’ Spectrum News 1’s daily news magazine program, “L.A. Times Today.”

Granderson serves as a fellow at The Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, as well as The Hechinger Institute at Columbia University. In 2011, Granderson was named Journalist of the Year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and his columns have been recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists, as well as The Online News Association. His TED Talk on LGBTQ equality has more than 1.6 million views.

Otis Gray is a radio producer that has worked with a range of publishers (The Moth, WBUR and Slate). For his own hit podcast called Sleepy, he reads books like Peter Pan, Jungle Book, and Little Women in his soothing baritone voice to help people fall asleep.

With over 10 years in podcasting, Jay was at the forefront of audience membership working with the IAB to create their current measurement standards.  Having held executive key strategic positions at PodcastOne, AdLarge, Cadence13, Audacy and now Soundrise; Jay was integral in evolving podcast operations through attribution, brand safety and the overall education and evangelism of the marketplace.  Jay maintains deep relationships on all sides of the medium and continues to speak at conferences, webinars and industry events.  He maintains a seat on the Board of Governors of The Podcast Academy and holds advisory positions with key partners.

Jay lives in NJ with his wife Devan and two sons.  When he’s not listening to a podcast he spends his time defending wrestling moves from his six and two year old, teaching himself Motley Crue on the guitar, coaching little league and cooking the perfect ribs.

Rayna Greenberg is a writer, photographer, and podcast host. Ashley Hesseltine is a standup comedian, writer, and founder of the Instagram accounts Bros Being Basic and Fashion Dads. Together, they created Girls Gotta Eat, one of the most popular comedy podcasts reaching young adult women.

Suzanne Grimes, a prominent executive with over 30 years of experience in the media industry, currently serves as the President of Westwood One and the EVP of Corporate Marketing at Cumulus Media. At Westwood One, Grimes oversees the largest audio network in America, providing nationally syndicated news, sports and entertainment programming to more than 9,400 radio stations nationwide, reaching a quarter billion monthly listeners. Under her leadership, Westwood One has expanded its digital footprint, growing streaming audio and launching the top-ranked Cumulus Podcast Network with over 1.4 billion podcast downloads annually. Grimes also leads corporate marketing at Cumulus Media, where she is responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies that promote the company’s brand and drive revenue growth.

Prior to joining Westwood One and Cumulus Media, Grimes held executive positions at other media companies, including iHeartMedia, Reader’s Digest Association, Condé Nast, and News Corp. Throughout her career, she has been recognized for her leadership and industry expertise. She has been named a “Women to Watch” by Advertising Age and a Top Woman in Media by Cynopsis Media. She has been included in Radio Ink magazine’s “40 Most Powerful People in Radio” and “Most Powerful Women in Radio” each year since 2016, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of Radio Advertising Bureau’s Board of Directors.

Anya Grundmann oversees NPR’s industry-leading podcast portfolio, in addition to NPR Music, NPR Events and NPR’s entertainment and talk radio programming. Under her transformational and creative leadership, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts have become a household name in music discovery and the NPR Programming division has dramatically expanded NPR’s on demand audience and journalism footprint with the launch of more than 15 podcasts and radio shows in collaboration with NPR News, including four of the top 20 podcasts in America.

Before becoming the head of NPR Programming in 2015, Grundmann was the founding Executive Director of NPR Music, a premiere award-winning source for music discovery and innovative multiplatform journalism that reaches more than 12 million people a month across npr.org, YouTube, podcasts and NPR radio programs. In 2013, Billboard named her as one of the “Power 100” in the music industry, and Fast Company noted that Anya and her team are “re-inventing public radio for the post-radio generation.”

Before driving the launch of NPR Music, Grundmann served as the Director of NPR’s Music radio division, including the Peabody award-winning classical music radio program, Performance Today where she started as an intern and eventually became the editor overseeing features, daily scripts, and live broadcasts from remote locations. In 2002, she left NPR briefly when she was awarded a year-long fellowship with the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University.

She got her start in public radio as a volunteer at member station KNAU (Flagstaff, Arizona) where she helped create KNAU’s first music database and worked as an on-air announcer. She graduated from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy®-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN’s reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN’s shows domestically and internationally, and regularly contributes to CNN.com.

Since 2001, Gupta has covered some of the most important health stories in the United States and around the world. On March 9, 2020, Gupta penned an op-ed announcing the network would refer to the novel coronavirus outbreak as a “pandemic,” ahead of both the WHO and the CDC. Throughout 2020 into 2021, Gupta hosted his podcast Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction (one of Apple’s top ten best shows of 2020), reaffirming his role as a trusted guide to viewers worldwide on navigating between facts and fiction surrounding Covid-19 and the pandemic.

In 2003, Gupta embedded with the US Navy’s “Devil Docs” medical unit, reporting from Iraq and Kuwait as the unit traveled to Baghdad. He provided live coverage of the first battlefield operation performed during the war, and performed life-saving brain surgery five times in a desert operating room. In 2004, Gupta was sent to Sri Lanka to cover the tsunami that claimed more than 155,000 lives in Southeast Asia, contributing to the 2005 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for CNN.

In 2005, Gupta contributed to CNN’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina, revealing that official reports that Charity Hospital in New Orleans had been evacuated were inaccurate. His “Charity Hospital” coverage for Anderson Cooper 360° resulted in his 2006 News & Documentary Emmy® for Outstanding Feature Story. That year, he also covered the Lebanon War. In 2007 and 2008, Gupta and Anderson Cooper co-hosted the global film series “Planet in Peril,” which examined the impact of climate change all over the world.

In 2009, Gupta embedded with the US Army’s 82nd Airborne, accompanying them on life-saving rescue missions in Afghanistan. In 2010, Gupta reported on the devastating earthquake in Haiti, for which he was awarded two Emmy® awards. His distinctive reporting in 2010 also included live coverage on the unprecedented flooding in Pakistan. He also contributed to the network’s 2010 Peabody Award-winning coverage of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2011, Gupta reported from earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan, adding clarity and context to the human impact and radiation concerns.

During the rollout of Healthcare.gov in 2013, millions experienced glitches in the online portal. Gupta spoke exclusively with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the magnitude of the botched website launch, for which she took responsibility.

In 2014, he was the first western reporter who traveled to Conakry, Guinea, to investigate the deadly Ebola outbreak that would soon find its way to the United States for the first time in history. When a major earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, Gupta flew into Kathmandu to cover the aftermath. In 2016, Gupta told the exclusive story of the separation of craniopagus twins Jadon and Anias McDonald in the Emmy® award-winning documentary “Separated: Saving the Twins.” Gupta extensively covered the Flint, Michigan, water crisis and Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. That same year, he moderated a panel with President Barack Obama on the opioid crisis.

In 2017, Gupta reported from the frontlines of a breakdown in the medical infrastructure of Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria. He also broke the news about Sen. John McCain’s diagnosis with brain cancer. In 2018, Gupta cohosted “Finding Hope: Battling America’s Suicide Crisis,” for which he won another Emmy award.

Over the last few years, Gupta has increasingly focused on long-form reporting. He is the host of the CNN Original Series “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta,” which follows Gupta’s travels around the world in search of the secret to living longer, healthier and happier. Gupta also stars in the HBO Original Documentary “One Nation Under Stress,” which examines why life expectancy is declining in the United States. His enterprise reporting on medical marijuana has led to five documentary films, “Weed,” which were awarded the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

In addition to his work for CNN, Gupta is an associate professor of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He serves as a diplomate of the American Board of Neurosurgery. And in 2019, Gupta was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, considered one of the highest honors in the medical field.

Gupta contributes to the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” and serves as an executive producer for the HBO Documentary Unit. He is the author of three New York Times best-selling books, “Chasing Life” (2007), “Cheating Death” (2009) and “Monday Mornings” (2012). His fourth book, “Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain” will be published in 2020. In 2021, Gupta co-founded LIFE ITSELF conference with Marc Hodosh of TEDMED. The four day conference will features extraordinary thinkers intersecting health & medicine — from research, technology, government, entertainment & business.

Gupta has been named one of PEOPLE magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive,” a “pop culture icon” by USA Today and one of the “Ten Most Influential Celebrities” by Forbes Magazine. He has won several awards for his humanitarian efforts and the John F. Kennedy University Laureate award. Gupta has received numerous honorary degrees and delivered a commencement address in the “Big House” at his alma mater in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Gupta received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and a Doctorate of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan Medical School.

“Jingle” Jared Gutstadt is the founder and CEO of Audio Up. His first podcast Bear and a Banjo invented the scripted musical genre and was listed by Variety as one of the best podcasts of 2019 and heralded by Fast Company for its disruption of the traditional ad model. Jared created Audio Up as an ecosystem for premium entertainment content within the music and audio space. From fictional scripted podcasts, which include musicals where the record itself becomes the story foundation, to unfiltered interview formats, Audio Up’s goal is to create a new and innovative forms of IP. Gutstadt was also named Adweek’s Podcast Innovator of the Year and Podcast Producer of the Year for 2020.

Peter Gwin is an editor at large for National Geographic and cohost of the award-winning podcast Overheard. He began as a staff writer for the magazine in 2003, and has contributed stories from an array of far-flung places, including pirates in the Malacca Straits, tyrannosaurs in the Junggar Basin, lost manuscripts in Timbuktu, ship-breakers in Bangladesh, Tuareg rebels in the Aïr Mountains, and Arabian horses in Oman. A native of Fayette County, Georgia, and a graduate of Furman University, he began his career as an English teacher in a small village in northern Botswana.

Pop culture junkie and entertainment enthusiast Gerrad Hall has interviewed hundreds of movie and TV stars over the past 15 years. As Senior TV Editor at Entertainment Weekly, he can be heard telling you What to Watch wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts; is one of the hosts for the magazine’s live Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys red carpet shows; and makes appearances on various talk shows. Gerrad’s job highlights include his cover story on Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot; his interviews with the new Fab 5 and the Family Matters cast reunion; spending post-Oscars mornings behind the scenes at Good Morning America; and revealing untold stories about one of his favorite childhood obsessions, the He-Man movie Masters of the Universe. Prior to joining EW, Gerrad helped launch ReelzChannel, where he traveled the world (Hawaii! Egypt! Bora Bora!) as a host, correspondent, and producer on the cable network’s movie-centric programs. He was later part of the two-man team behind The Seven Sees, a unique website that delivered the seven must-see stories in movies, entertainment, and pop culture with interviews, features, and reviews.

Rachelle Hampton is a staff writer at Slate and co-host of Slate’s newest culture podcast ICYMI. Her writing has appeared in an array of publications including New Republic, Pacific Standard, In These Times, Chicago Defender, and Smithsonian Magazine.

As a co-founder of AdvertiseCast, Dave Hanley heads up advertising sales and business development for the organization. With a long time passion for podcasts, Dave leveraged his experience starting two successul enterprise software companies when joining forces with AdvertiseCast CEO Trevr Smithlin to build the industry’s first and largest podcast marketplace.

Mary Harris is the host and managing editor of What Next, Slate’s daily news podcast. Over the past decade, she has earned considerable respect for her reporting throughout the public radio landscape, including NPR, Marketplace, and WNYC.

Kevin Hart is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, podcaster and all around entertainment powerhouse. His 20-year career includes major successes like authoring a NYT best-selling memoir, starring in ten films that have debuted in the number one spot, and he was recently named the highest grossing comedian for the second straight year by Forbes who described him as a “built-in marketing machine.”



Hart runs his own production company, Hartbeat Productions, as well as his own digital network, Laugh Out Loud, which serves as a platform for emerging comedians. Laugh out Loud is also a channel on SiriusXM which produces exclusive comedic programming that includes radio shows, podcasts and on-demand video. Kevin’s latest audio endeavor is his SiriusXM podcast Comedy Gold Minds, a show where he interviews famous comics like early series guests Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Schumer.

Noam is the host and senior producer of Unexplainable. He also composes the show’s music. Before Unexplainable, Noam was a reporter/producer for Vox’s daily news show Today, Explained. In the summer of 2020, he also co-created Today, Explained to Kids, a smart, safe, and fun take on the big questions children are asking parents, teachers, and the world at large. Prior to joining Vox, Noam worked at Latino USA, composed music for video games, and taught third-grade science.

Kristin Hensley & Jen Smedley are two moms with four kids and two husbands between them. Not to mention six dogs and, minimally, two glasses of wine. The comedians have sold-out two national tours, written a New York Times Best Selling book, landed branded deals with Fortune 100 companies such as Wal-Mart and Unilever, and taped a standup comedy special for Amazon Prime Video.

Rob Herting is the CEO and founder of QCODE, a leading podcast and media studio. Prior to starting QCODE Rob spent over a decade at the major entertainment agencies representing writers, directors, producers and actors in film, television and new media. Herting started in the mailroom at Endeavor before transitioning to Verve as a Motion Picture Literary Agent. He then joined CAA where he was an agent for five years. In 2018, Rob left CAA to form QCODE in partnership with production company Automatik and management firm Grandview. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Kelly, and their two sons Will and Nate.

Rayna Greenberg is a writer, photographer, and podcast host. Ashley Hesseltine is a standup comedian, writer, and founder of the Instagram accounts Bros Being Basic and Fashion Dads. Together, they created Girls Gotta Eat, one of the most popular comedy podcasts reaching young adult women.

Cheryl Hines is an actress and director, best known for playing the role of Larry David’s wife, Cheryl, on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also starred as Dallas Royce on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. She co-hosts the documentary review podcast “True Story” with Tig Notaro.

Skip Hollandsworth is an award-winning true-crime writer and the best-selling author of The Midnight Assassin. His “Midnight in the Garden of East Texas” was the inspiration for the Richard Linklater film Bernie, which Hollandsworth co-wrote. Hollandsworth is also a staff writer for Texas Monthly and the Creator behind the true-crime podcast Tom Brown’s Body which debuted its first season in 2020 to high acclaim.

As EVP, Managing Director of Local Video and Audio Investment for Amplifi US, the investment and innovation platform of dentsu, Jennifer Hungerbuhler oversees the investment strategy for local video and audio across all screen and devices for all clients within Dentsu’s Network. In this significant role, Jennifer manages over $1.5B in annual media spend and is charged with reinventing the supply side of media, innovating consistent and scalable buying and investment capabilities, and developing richer media owner partnerships, locally and globally. Jennifer has over 20 years of industry experience and has worked with clients across almost every vertical.

Kelli Hurley is the SVP, Digital Partnerships for Westwood One, where she oversees podcast talent relations and the acquisition of new shows, partnerships and revenue. Kelli was the early champion of building the Westwood One Podcast Network, which officially launched in April of 2018 and is now the fastest organically growing podcast network in America.

Kelli has amassed a lineup of podcast content, ranging from political talk to sports to comedy to pop culture — and the list of talent coming into the fold is growing by the day. Kelli has been the lead on some of the most successful partnerships to date: The Daily Wire, American Public Media’s Marketplace Minute, and Imperative Entertainment’s portfolio of podcasts.

Kelli is a radio and digital audio veteran with more than a dozen years’ of network radio experience under her belt. She started her career in Los Angeles, successfully managing clients and agencies for iHeartRadio, Premiere Networks, United Stations, and Westwood One. In 2011, she transitioned from network radio to digital audio as a Director of Sales for TargetSpot in Chicago.

She’s best known for her work on television shows like Community and Love. She also directed an episode of the Disney+ series 616. Gillian thought she didn’t like math or science in school but now she’s making up for lost time.

Mike Jensen is the Chief Business Officer of Kast Media. Before joining Kast, Jensen was VP of Podcast Strategy for iHeartMedia, where he oversaw the development and launch of iHeart Original podcasts. Previously, Jensen led the successful launch of Stitcher advertising, joining in 2013 to create a monetization strategy for the brand, leading to the successful sale of Stitcher to E.W Scripps as Head of Sales in 2016. Jensen’s media experience includes management positions at AOL, Wall Street Journal, and Tribune. Jensen volunteers his time as a board chair of National Disability Institute, a non-profit organization building a better future for people with disabilities and their families.

Eric John leads the IAB Media Center, a dedicated unit within the IAB whose mission is to simplify the video and audio supply chain, providing best practices and education for brands, agencies, and media companies. Eric drives the center’s efforts in the development of market-making research, industry standards, best practices and buyer/seller terms and conditions. Before joining the IAB, Eric served as VP of Digital Services and Strategy at the Alliance for Audited Media and as Global Director of Publisher / Developer marketing at Nokia, managing the company’s world-wide mobile app developer ecosystem. Prior to Nokia, Eric launched and led advertiser brand engagement solutions for Yahoo!, creating advanced, data-driven video, mobile and interactive campaigns for brands such as Pepsi, L’Oréal, GM, Audio and Nikon. Eric began his career at internet advertising pioneer DoubleClick (Google) where he led product development and marketing within the DART for Publishers (DFP) and DART for Advertisers (DFA) business units where he launched the industry’s first post-click measurement tools. Eric is an alumnus of Miami of Ohio (BA) and Indiana University (MA) and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Product Management Program.

Jason Johnson is a political analyst, professor, public speaker, author of Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, and the host of A Word With Jason Johnson. He is also a regular political contributor to MSNBC and CNN.

Cody Johnston is a comedian, writer, host, and podcaster from Ohio. Katy Stoll is an actress, producer, and podcaster living in California. After nearly a decade of working with Cracked.com and building their online voice and presence, Cody and Katy created the popular YouTube channel: Some More News and launched the companion podcast called Even More News.

Bomani Jones is a multi-platform host and commentator at ESPN. He has hosted his ESPN Audio podcast, The Right Time with Bomani Jones, since it premiered in April 2018. Offered two times per week (Tues. & Thur.), Jones expands on and adds to the familiar elements – including his thought-provoking takes on the hottest issues in sports – from his former ESPN Radio show. The show also regularly features guests from entertainment and media industries and more.

Known not only for insightful sports commentary, but also for his impactful conversations on social topics, Jones regularly appears across ESPN’s studio programming, including as a panelist on Around the Horn and has appeared on other programs at the network, including SportsCenter, First Take and Outside the Lines. He also often joins ESPN Radio’s The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
Prior to that, Jones hosted the daily ESPN television studio show High Noon, alongside co-host Pablo Torre, from 2018-20. In March of 2015, ESPN Radio launched The Right Time with Bomani Jones, which aired at 4 p.m. ET. The three-hour program showcased Jones’ provocative opinions, relevant guests and listener interaction, while discussing topical issues. The show was based in Miami and ended in December 2017, as Jones pivoted to concentrating on his television show with Torre and his podcast.
He was a full-time co-host of ESPN’s Highly Questionable from May 2013 until June 2017. Jones started his relationship with ESPN as a columnist for ESPN.com and has been contributing to ESPN as a writer and commentator since 2004.

Beyond his work with ESPN, Jones also hosts The Evening Jones, an interactive webcast. The Atlanta native, who grew up in Houston, has also previously written for SBNation.com, contributed videos to The Score in Canada and was a talk radio host in Raleigh, N.C. While in North Carolina, he was an adjunct professor at both Duke and Elon Universities.
Jones appeared in two sports documentaries on HBO: “The Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina,” and “Runnin’ Rebels,” about basketball at UNLV. He also was in the A&E “Biography” of Michael Jackson.

Kevin Jones is the Founder and CEO of Blue Wire. He spent 10 years working professionally in sports media, with stops included reporting and managing content at KNBR in San Francisco, the Cleveland Browns, and at CBS Affiliate WUSA-9 in his hometown of Washington D.C.

These days, Jones is busy running Blue Wire, which has gone from idea to 30 full-time employees in less two-and-a-half years. The media company partners with hundreds of unique podcasters in sports, including Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, Baron Davis, Greg Olsen, Grant Wahl, Lisa Leslie and dozens of high-powered regional influencers. Blue Wire is reaching millions of consumers each month with its approach of hyper-targeted content for the younger audience.

Twitter: @Mr_KevinJones

Brigid works on the partnerships team at Podsights. With the experience of a former buyer under her belt, she helps brands, agencies, and publishers understand the value of transparent reporting and accurate attribution.

Before Podsights, Brigid was the Digital Audio Investments Manager at Horizon Media. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Syracuse University and sings the National Anthem in front of thousands of people as a hobby. YouTube it.

Charlie Kammerer is the President of Slate. As such, he focuses on developing new opportunities for brands to engage Slate’s premium audience through editorial initiatives, innovative podcast strategies, and branded content programs. He joined Slate in 2017 after 20 years at Time Inc.

Jenny is an award-winning journalist who decided to quit her job at Bloomberg News to start something new. At Bloomberg, Jenny covered global business, touching on everything from Coca-Cola to cannabis. She also developed and co-hosted Bloomberg’s Material World podcast, where she fell in love with audio. Jenny graduated from Brown University.

Gary E. Knell is Chairman of National Geographic Partners, the global joint venture owned by The Walt Disney Company and the National Geographic Society, which includes National Geographic television, print and digital assets and related activities in travel and consumer products.

From 2014 through February 2018, Knell served as President and CEO of the National Geographic Society where he oversaw the Society’s vast nonprofit activities in science, exploration, education and media innovation.

Knell’s career in media spans nearly four decades. Prior to National Geographic, he served as President and CEO of National Public Radio. He spent 22 years at Sesame Workshop, where he served as President and CEO for 12 years. Knell was Managing Director of Manager Media International, a multimedia publishing company based in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore. He also served as Senior Vice President at WNET/Channel 13 in New York, was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees in Washington, D.C., and worked in the California State Legislature and Governor’s Office.
Knell is a member of the boards of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Economic Club of Washington and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. He is also a member of the Cultural Diplomacy Council of Meridian, a nonpartisan diplomacy center, and an advisor to the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and the Military Child Education Coalition.

Knell has a B.A. in political science from UCLA and was Editorial Director of the UCLA Daily Bruin and a stringer for the Associated Press. He has a J.D. from Loyola University of Los Angeles, where he was recently named a Top 50 Alumni. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Kenyon College in Ohio, Mercy College in New York, and Franklin University in Switzerland, and he has been a commencement speaker at the University of Redlands, UCLA, the University of Texas-Austin, Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University.

Cameron Kolovos is Group Business Director at the podcast company Acast, where he helps leading advertisers reach millions of immersed listeners on the world’s most popular podcasts. Cameron’s career spans 15 years in digital media sales. Prior to joining Acast, he worked on the sales team for Mashable as well as at various advertising technology companies and platforms. Cameron graduated from the University of San Francisco (majored in marketing), where he played on the university’s division 1 men’s soccer team. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Agnes is the Co-Founder behind Podcorn by Audacy, the largest podcast marketplace, connecting podcasters with advertisers for native sponsorships. Podcorn gives podcasters the creative control to monetize their content with the right brands and enables advertisers to collaborate on organic ads that resonate with listeners, driving business results. Podcorn was acquired by Audacy in 2021. Prior to Podcorn, Agnes was the Co-Founder behind the Google-owned branded content platform FameBit. FameBit became the leading marketplace where brands and YouTube stars collaborate for branded content and the company was acquired by Google in 2016. Agnes’ industry accomplishments have been profiled in New York Times, WSJ, Forbes, Variety, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Fast Co, and many other publications, and she has been continuously recognized as one of the most innovative entrepreneurs in media and technology. Agnes’ first entrepreneurial endeavor was SeasonsBox, a subscription-based service that sent members eco-friendly products each month. Agnes received her B.A. and M.A. from York University.

Emily Kwong (she/her) is the reporter for NPR’s daily science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, Monday through Friday.

Prior to working at NPR, Kwong was a reporter and host at KCAW-Sitka, a community radio station in Sitka, Alaska. She covered local government and politics, culture and general assignments, chasing stories onto fishing boats and up volcanoes. Her work earned multiple awards from the Alaska Press Club and Alaska Broadcasters Association. Prior to that, Kwong produced youth media with WNYC’s Radio Rookies and The Modern Story in Hyderabad, India.
Kwong won the “Best New Artist” award in 2013 from the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition for a story about a Maine journalist learning to speak with an electrolarynx. She was the 2018 “Above the Fray” Fellow, reporting a series for NPR on climate change and internal migration in Mongolia.

Kwong earned her bachelor’s degree at Columbia University in 2012. She learned the finer points of cutting tape at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in 2013.

Amanda is a veteran true crime journalist at award-winning NBC affiliate, WRAL-TV, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is also a book author and has published ten books in dramatically different genres from true crime to personal memoirs. For her new podcast, Follow The Truth, she spent 18 months researching, interviewing and writing the show.

Sophia Lanman is the Director of Audio Production at SpokenLayer, where she focuses on audio engineering and sound design. Coming from a background in music production and voice, Sophia approaches sound design for podcasts with a heavy focus on the aesthetics of sound. She believes that sound is a collection of references and cultural cues, and leveraging that connection is how you make engaging, relatable narratives.

Maggie Lanter is the VP of Business Development at Blue Wire, where for the past year she has led revenue generation and strategy for the sports media startup, including advertising/sponsorship sales, content production agreements, strategic partnerships, and new business opportunities.

Prior to joining Blue Wire, Maggie spent 6 years at Wasserman at the sports agency’s HQ in Los Angeles, working in the brand consulting division, serving clients like Microsoft (e.g., Surface, Xbox) and American Express in their sports and entertainment marketing and partnerships.

Twitter Handle: @maggielanter

Since joining PEOPLE in 2012, Andrea Lavinthal has added a distinct voice to the brands’ style and beauty content across print, digital, social, and video. She created several franchises including the annual PEOPLE x TODAY Show Drugstore Beauty Awards and the Style Issue, and will host the forthcoming podcast, PEOPLE in the 90s. She regularly appears on PeopleTV and national shows such as Access Hollywood and TODAY. Lavinthal got her start in publishing in 2001 when she joined the beauty department at Cosmopolitan. After five years as Beauty Editor, she assumed the role of Content Editor on Sirius XM’s Cosmo Radio, where she co-hosted a weekly show. During that time, she launched Cosmo’s first daily beauty blog. Lavinthal is also a weekly co-host of The Taylor Strecker Show, a live-streaming radio show, and is co-author of three books: The Hookup Handbook, Friend or Frenemy, and Your So-Called Life.

Max Linsky is the co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios, an Audacy company, which has made such podcasts as Missing Richard Simmons, Still Processing, Wind of Change, Back Issue, The Clearing, Welcome to Your Fantasy, and The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow. Pineapple Street Studios is also the longtime podcast partner of brands including HBO, Netflix, and Nike, and has had 12 #1 shows on the Apple Podcast charts to date. Max is the creator and host of Pineapple Street’s forthcoming original series 70 Over 70, where he talks to Dionne Warwick, Madeleine Albright, and many more about how to make the most of the time we have left. He is also a co-founder of Longform and co-hosts the Longform Podcast.

Andy Lipset is Chief Executive Officer of SpokenLayer, a position he has held for close to two years. He has been widely credited for pioneering and creating the Digital Audio advertising ecosystem and marketplace when, in 2003, he co-founded Ronning Lipset Radio, the first sales representation firm to sell streaming audio. When Ronning Lipset was acquired by TargetSpot in 2008, Mr. Lipset became Chief Revenue Officer of the newly formed entity. In 2014, he joined Pandora as Vice President, Local Sales, overseeing the sales and strategy for the company’s fastest growing division, as it entered into 50 local markets. In 2016, as Vice President, East, he was given oversight of the company’s largest region that encompassed all Pandora’s agencies and advertisers from New England to Florida.

David Locke is the founder and president of the Locked On Podcast Network and the voice of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. In 2016, David founded Locked On, building off the success of his Locked On Jazz podcast. A pioneer in the short-form, daily podcast model that is now an industry standard, David built Locked On one podcast at a time before expanding his management team in 2018 and raising capital in 2019. In January 2021, Locked On was acquired by TEGNA. David has had a 25-year career in sports media as program director, media innovator and play-by-play voice of the Utah Jazz, Seattle Sonics, University of Washington and Seattle Storm.

Global superstar Demi Lovato is a multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated singer, actress, producer, and best-selling author with one of the biggest social media followings of 108+ million. Her 2008 debut album, Don’t Forget, was followed with sold-out world tours and five hit records, including 2017’s Tell Me You Love Me, featuring the viral hit “Sorry Not Sorry”. Other hit singles include “Cool for the Summer” and “Heart Attack,” among others. In 2020 she made her return to the stage with the debut of powerhouse ballad “Anyone” at the GRAMMY Awards and appeared at Super Bowl LIV where she performed the National Anthem, followed by the recent release of her singles the empowering “I Love Me,” “I’m Ready” with Sam Smith where the two declare that they are ready to be loved, the politically charged “Commander in Chief, and “What Other People Say” with Sam Fischer. In addition, Lovato kicked off 2021 with a performance in the Presidential Inauguration Committee’s “Celebrating America” special following President Biden’s inauguration. Alongside her music, Demi has also maintained an acting career, and recently appeared in the final season of NBC’s Will & Grace and the recent Netflix feature film Eurovision opposite Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan. Lovato has been honored with numerous awards, including an MTV Video Music Award, five People’s Choice Awards, an ALMA Award, a Latin American Music Award, a GLAAD Vanguard Award for LGBTQ activism, and most recently a VMA nomination for “I Love Me” in the “Video for Good” category. She has received two GRAMMY Award nominations, four Billboard Music Award nominations and three Brit Award nominations. Lovato is a passionate global advocate for mental health, named by Global Citizen as the organization’s official ambassador in 2017. She was also honored by the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, with the Artistic Award for Courage, and is a New York Times best-selling author. Most recently, Lovato premiered her powerful four-part documentary series from YouTube Originals and director Michael D. Ratner entitled Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil as SxSW, where it opened the 2021 festival and went on to receive rave reviews upon its wide release. Demi’s accompanying album, Dancing with the Devil… The Art of Starting Over was released on April 2, 2021, where it landed at #1 on the Billboard Album Sales Chart and #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.

Jon Lovett is a former presidential speechwriter, as well as a TV writer, podcast host, and straight shooter WIDELY respected on both sides. In 2017, he founded Crooked Media with Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor, to build a progressive media network with shows, analysis, and content that informs, entertains, and inspires action. There, he co-hosts Pod Save America and hosts Lovett or Leave It.

Will serves as CEO and Executive Producer, where he oversees a mission to create exceptional media that reaches audiences at every level. Over the years he has developed strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Amazon, Netflix, Viacom, GQ, Marriott Bonvoy, the Atlantic, the New York Times, and Morgan Stanley. After graduating from Cornell University, he started his creative career at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company before going on to build famed hospitality brands Catch and Toro, earning him a spot on Forbes’ and Zagat’s 30 under 30. Will is a frequent guest lecturer at USC’s Schools of Dramatic Arts where he teaches How To Make a Hit Podcast to the next generation of visionary media-makers.

Noreen Malone is the host of Slow Burn Season 5, which delves into the origins of and untold stories behind the Iraq war. She was previously the editorial director at New York Magazine where her reporting won the George Polk Award and a Front Page Award.

Madison Malone Kircher is a senior writer at Slate and co-host of the internet culture podcast, ICYMI. Previously, she was an internet culture writer at New York Magazine where she received an ASME nomination for her work meticulously chronicling a year’s worth of memes.

Will Mayo is a loud, passionate voice for sound and storytelling. He founded SpokenLayer in 2012 after seeing the opportunity in personalized short-form audio. Now a global, profitable, and industry leader, it has helped Google, Amazon, and others launch their smart speakers. Prior to founding SpokenLayer, Will worked at Intel, Apple, and Goldman Sachs. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and focused on Product Design and Ergonomics at Lehigh University. Besides his obsessions with technology, you may find Will rowing in Austin, teaching yoga, singing choral music, or attempting to build his own furniture.

Heather McDonald’s wildly successful comedy and pop culture podcast, JUICY SCOOP WITH HEATHER MCDONALD, is in its seventh year and has over 600 episodes and 100+ MILLION downloads. The show has over 20,000 five-star reviews on iTunes and is ranked #2 in Comedy Interview charts and the #1 Female Comedy Interview Podcast. Her loyal Juicy Scoopers continue to laugh out loud as they get the juiciest inside scoop from Heather and her celebrity guests.

Heather has released stand-up comedy specials on Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Showtime. Her latest stand-up Special, JUICY SCOOP, racked up an unheard of 1,800 five-star reviews in its first two weeks of being available. It continues to grow and make people laugh daily. Her debut stand-up special, I DON’T MEAN TO BRAG, was released on SHOWTIME and NETFLIX. She is a headlining comedian who has sold-out shows at theaters and clubs throughout the country.

Her stand-up comedy, podcast, and other creative content are celebrated for their relatability. She is always sharing authentically about her over 20-year marriage, two teenage sons, and being a stepmother, all while making girl’s nights out her main priority in life.

Heather’s celebrity impressions and comedic pop culture sketches have gone viral on multiple social media platforms and continue to bring joy to the world.

She is most recognized from E!’s top-rated show CHELSEA LATELY where she wrote, produced, and appeared for its entire 7-year run. She also starred in the mockumentary series AFTER LATELY. Heather was also a contributing writer who had featured roles in the major motion films “White Chicks” and “Dance Flicks” by The Wayans Brothers.

She has hosted TLC’s All About Sex and Hollywood Today Live. She has been seen on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, The Bachelorette, Wendy Williams, HLN, Nightline, CNN, 25 Words or Less, Punchline, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Tonight Show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and more.

She has two New York Times Bestselling memoirs, titled YOU’LL NEVER BLUE BALL IN THIS TOWN AGAIN and MY INAPPROPRIATE LIFE.

Jess McKenna is an actress and comedian. She trained with The Groundlings and at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where she regularly performs. McKenna was one of the stars of Fox’s Party Over Here, alongside Nicole Byer and Alison Rich, and currently hosts the podcast Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast.

Kia Miakka Natisse is the co-host of NPR’s Invisibilia. A trained journalist turned artist, her love for storytelling is a driving creative force that’s led her to many unexpected places. She’s worked on a number of just-okay reality shows; wrote hot takes on pop culture, jokes for teens, and comics for moms; substitute taught kindergarten and did a bunch of artist residencies, most namely the Third Coast Radio Residency, which unarguably changed her life.

Since joining NPR, she’s helped cover a summer camp that’s confronting race, helped produce a story about a woman who can smell disease, been the voice of Dorothy Height and revisited the legend of the most famous super-spreader in America.

A native of Buffalo, NY, Kia is a graduate of Howard University and New York University.

Marty Michael is the CEO/Co-Founder of Headgum and Gumball. With a background in sales at CollegeHumor, selling and growing revenue has been at the core of his career.

A British international film and television star who starred as the Hobbit “Merry” in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, Charlie Pace on ABC’s hit series LOST, a quantum physicist in the TV mystery FLASHFORWARD, an electrical-powered mutant known as “Bolt” in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, and most recently “Beaumont Kin” in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER directed by JJ Abrams. Dominic just wrapped the feature film RAJAH opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and he recently wrapped Tim Kirby’s WALDO opposite Mel Gibson and Charlie Hunnam. Dominic has also found major success in the independent space with films like I SELL THE DEAD, which he also helped executive produce alongside Guillermo Del Toro. Recently, his indie PET debuted in one of SXSW’s coveted Midnight Screening slots to enormous critical acclaim. Dominic’s record-breaking Emmy-nominated show WILD THINGS (which he also hosts and produces)is currently airing on the Travel Channel and BBC. The first season of WILD THINGS premiered on BBC America, and the show was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Reality series. In the show, Dominic Monaghan takes viewers on heart-pumping adventures to the most remote corners of the globe in search of the biggest, scariest and most exotic animals on the planet. Season One saw Dominic on the hunt for the Giant Huntsman Spider in the caves of Laos, searching for millions of flesh-slicing army ants in the steamy rainforests of Ecuador, and facing off with a deadly scorpion in the arid deserts of Namibia. Monaghan has been one of the most in-demand actors in the episodic world after playing fan-favorite ‘Charlie Pace’ in J.J. Abrams’ LOST. He also starred opposite Joseph Fiennes and Courtney B. Vance in FLASHFORWARD for HBO and ABC, and the newest season of his record-breaking show WILD THINGS (which he also hosts and produces) is currently airing on the Travel Channel and BBC. You can also catch him in Microsoft Studios’ groundbreaking new video game QUANTUM BREAK and its companion series from director Ben Ketai.

KC Murphy is the Director of Performance Marketing at Barstool Sports and oversees the development and growth of direct response campaigns across Barstool’s portfolio of performance advertisers activating on podcasts, social media, and integrated video. Before Barstool, KC worked in brand strategy and digital advertising execution & optimization for VaynerMedia.

Tig Notaro is a stand-up comic, writer, radio contributor, and actress, and has been nominated for both Emmy and Grammy awards. Her series One Mississippi ran for several seasons on Amazon Prime. Tig hosts “Don’t Ask Tig” and co-hosts the documentary review podcast “True Story” with Cheryl Hines.

Chiney Ogwumike is a full-time, multi-platform ESPN commentator and forward for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. In August 2020, she began hosting Chiney and Golic Jr., becoming the first Black woman to host a national, daily sports-talk radio show. Ogwumike and co-host Mike Golic Jr. engage with fans while discussing topics of the day and looking ahead at the night’s events. The show, which airs from 4 – 7 p.m. ET., is also simulcast on ESPN+.

The Texas native of Nigerian descent joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa and served as a part-time WNBA and NBA in-studio analyst. In 2018, she became one of the only full-time professional athletes to hold a full-time national sports media position. Ogwumike regularly appears on SportsCenter, The Jump, Get Up and First Take. Prior to ESPN, Ogwumike worked as an analyst for Pac-12 Network and NBATV.

The two-time WNBA All-Star (2014, 2018), and current WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) vice president, was the first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, coming out of Stanford University, and the league’s Rookie of the Year. Chiney and her sister Nneka Ogwumike joined Peyton and Eli Manning as the only siblings ever selected number one overall in a professional sports league. At Stanford, Ogwumike was a three-time First Team All-American, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, four-time All-Pac 12 First Team, and finalist for multiple national Player of the Year awards, each of the last three seasons. Ogwumike led Stanford to three Final Fours while distinguishing herself in academics, earning multiple honors for her academic success, including the 2014 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year and the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Ogwumike earned gold medals with USA Basketball at the FIBA 3×3 World Championships in August 2012 and with the USA Basketball World University Games team in 2011.

Ogwumike is passionate about giving back and empowering the next generation. She spent the spring of 2013 studying abroad in Nigeria where she successfully raised $30,000 to build a basketball court for underprivileged youth in an effort to break down barriers for girls in sports and instill confidence in the next generation.

Shima Oliaee is a first generation American, born and raised in Nevada.

She is the co-creator of the nine-part podcast series Dolly Parton’s America, which received several national awards including a George Foster Peabody Award, an Edward R Murrow Award, and the National Headliner Award for Radio. This year her story The Flag and the Fury won a 2021 duPont-Columbia Award for best audio documentary.

After studying music and cinema-television at USC’s Thornton School of Music, she received her graduate degree in cross-cultural psychology, worked as a teacher, translated for the UN, volunteered to raise young women revolutionaries, and worked in comedy television, including the Golden Globe award-winning Brooklyn Nine-Nine before returning to her first love, audio.

Shima reported Radiolab’s sexual consent series In the No, and produced and reported the remix of Kerning Cultures’ Lebanon USA, along with the Stitcher mini-series UnErased: A History of Conversion Therapy in America, which KQED News called the best podcast of 2018.

She is currently creating two new audio documentary series. The first will premiere June 2021.

Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez is an author and journalist covering the many ways ambition touches women’s lives — from money to power to career. She explores topics like the cost of undermining ambition, the relationship between ambition and identity, and the way ambition penalties differ across age, race and gender. She is also the host of Real Simple’s podcast, Money Confidential. In 2017, Stefanie co-founded Statement Event, dedicated to connecting the dots between gender equity and financial power — featuring speakers like Ashley C Ford, Jessica Bennett, Morgan Jerkins, Veronica Dagher and Gaby Dunn. And in 2019, she founded Statement Cards, a line of greeting cards that celebrates milestones beyond marriage and motherhood.

A seasoned veteran of comedy clubs and late night television, Jimmy Pardo has appeared on such shows as The Tonight Show, Conan, The Late Late Show, and his own half hour special on Comedy Central. Most recently he was the host of the critically acclaimed Science Channel show Race To Escape. Jimmy regularly appears on TBS’ Conan as a panel guest, but he has also been Conan’s go-to warm-up, field correspondent, sketch player and even fill-in cohost. He’s hosted his podcast Never Not Funny for more than fifteen years.

Chandresh Patel is the COO of Blue Wire. Leveraging his experience across media and technology, he oversees the day-to-day management of the company, while also driving the long-term growth strategy.

Prior to Blue Wire, Chandresh led media and business development across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, for the National Football League. Preceding his time at the NFL, Chandresh led the distribution strategy team for the Walt Disney Company’s Media Networks in the US. He focused on growing ESPN, ABC, Disney Channels and Freeform within the everchanging US media landscape. Before joining Disney, Chandresh was a part of the finance and strategy team at Apple, focusing on growing overall sales worldwide.

Twitter: @ChandreshHPatel

Andy works on the downloads pipeline at Podsights. He has run into more podcast apps than you would believe, second only to the unreal number of true crime podcasts out there. He’ll stick to economics podcasts. Before Podsights Andy was an Analytics Engineer at Embedly.

Stacia Philips Deshishku is the Vice President and General Manager of ABC Audio, which includes ABC News Radio and ABC’s award-winning podcast library. She is responsible forstrategic planning, business development, programming and operations for all ABC-branded audio content covering news, entertainment, lifestyle and sports.

Prior to joining ABC Audio, Stacia was Deputy Bureau Chief for the ABC News Washington Bureau where she managed the day-to-day operations and led a team of award-winning journalists covering the White House, Congress, global affairs, transportation and justice beats.


Before joining the Walt Disney Company, she served as Director of News Planning in the CNN Washington Bureau. Prior to that, she ran CNN’s White House team during the Obama Administration and served as Director of Coverage responsible for coordinating the network’s newsgathering resources and overseeing the National Assignment Desk at headquarters in Atlanta.

Stacia has covered a wide range of major breaking news and historic events, including the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, the ValuJet crash in Florida, Hurricane Marilyn in St. Thomas, the Columbine shooting, and the Timothy McVeigh trial.


In 2001, she moved to Prishtina, Kosovo, where she worked for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo as a Public Information Officer and Chief of Television. She returned to CNN’s Dallas bureau in 2004 as Supervising Producer for the Midwest region and led the network’s Peabody award-winning team coverage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She has also received the Peabody award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign and its 2010 coverage of the Gulf oil spill.

Adam Pincus is an award-winning creative executive with a diverse background that includes scripted and nonfiction television, narrative and documentary film, audio and digital content. He has been an independent producer, a network executive and head of an independent studio. Along the way he’s been awarded a Peabody, an Emmy, a BDA Gold for broadcast design, and the Cannes Lion; his projects have been nominated for Gotham, Independent Spirit, and Academy Awards. In 2019, Pincus founded Best Case Studios, a producer of narrative audio series, film and TV. Prior to Best Case, Pincus helped found Topic Studios, the entertainment brand of First Look Media. While at First Look Media, as Executive Vice President, Programming & Content, Pincus built the creative team responsible for the studio’s numerous successes, including: The Laundromat, directed by Steven Soderbergh for Netflix; Debra Granik’s critically revered feature film, Leave No Trace; Roman J. Israel, Esq. which earned Denzel Washington an Academy Award nomination; Cannes Film Festival prize-winner The Climb; the #1 podcast and bona fide cultural phenomenon, “Missing Richard Simmons”; the Showtime original documentaries, XY Chelsea and Emmy winner 16 Shots; the Netflix innovative documentary series, “Losers”; Wyatt Cynac’s Emmy- nominated digital series, “AKA Wyatt Cynac”; and the star-studded original musical podcast by John Cameron Mitchell, “Anthem”, among others. Previously he was Senior Vice President, On-Air, Original Programming & New Media at Sundance Channel, and founder of independent production company Hour One. He is an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and in the Entertainment, Media and Technology Program at NYU’s Leonard H. Stern School of Business.

James Pitaro was named Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content on October 12, 2020, as part of The Walt Disney Company’s strategic reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses. His focus is the entirety of ESPN’s multimedia offerings – including live sports programming, sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, audio, digital and social endeavors – plus all sports-related content for Disney’s cable channels, ESPN+, and ABC.

He was named ESPN president and co-chair, Disney Media Networks, on March 5, 2018, after serving eight years as a top Disney executive. In making the announcement, Bob Iger, then The Walt Disney Company chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Jimmy’s appointment was the result of more than 20 years spent at the intersection of technology, sports and media.”
Pitaro’s record of success leading businesses focused on consumer products, digital initiatives and sports made him the quintessential selection for ESPN at a pivotal point in its then 38-year history: a time of unprecedented technological advancements and rapidly changing consumer habits.
A visionary leader, Pitaro has identified and consistently communicated internally and externally four business priorities — Direct to Consumer, Innovation, Storytelling and Programming and Audience Expansion — to keep ESPN poised for future success.

Since Pitaro was named ESPN’s leader, his collaborative leadership style has led to impressive employee engagement and results, clearly evident in ESPN’s performance during the pandemic and social justice movement in 2020. The innovative and hard-working culture of ESPN led to: moving up “The Last Dance,” which shattered ESPN records for documentary viewership and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series; a ground-breaking collaboration with the NFL for a totally virtual NFL Draft telecast; critical contributions to the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando; the successful presentation of Major League Baseball’s “Fall Frenzy;” and many other accomplishments in event and news programming. Under Pitaro, ESPN has: reached creative new rights agreements with the NFL, UFC and SEC encompassing Disney-wide assets; remained cable’s leader in the key male and adult demos; achieved several ratings successes with a variety of shows and series, including ESPN’s signature show, SportsCenter, and Get Up; and fueled consistent growth in ESPN+’s distribution and offerings since the April 2018 launch of Disney’s multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service. Also, ESPN further strengthened its hold as the sports leader on digital and social platforms, standing as No. 1 among U.S. digital sports properties for 36 straight months (through February 2021); the ESPN App widened its margin as the No. 1 U.S. sports app; ESPN enjoyed its best year in streaming; and ESPN Social climbed to the No. 1 sports media publisher for engagement with 4.2 billion total actions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – the highest among all sports publishers in 2020.

From February 2016 through March 2018, Pitaro had served as chairman of Disney’s consumer products and interactive media division, the world’s largest licenser of consumer products. Among his many responsibilities, he oversaw the creation of branded digital and physical products, including a robust digital game slate. He and his team brought to life the characters and stories of four iconic brands – Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel – across toys, apparel, home goods, the world’s largest children’s publisher, hundreds of Disney store locations worldwide, the e-commerce destination ShopDisney, and the Disney Digital Network of social and digital channels that reach one out of every three U.S. social media accounts.
Pitaro originally joined The Walt Disney Company in 2010 as co-president, Disney Interactive, where he successfully led the turnaround of the digital media and gaming division.
Pitaro came to Disney from Yahoo, where he rose to head of media. He was in charge of, and set strategy and executed growth-driving initiatives for, Yahoo’s media properties, including Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Music. In 2009, he was named to Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” annual list of top achievers in sports for his dynamic leadership and “breathless flurry of market-moving pacts” with major sports rightsholders and media companies. Pitaro was also honored as 2018’s Multichannel News Sports Executive of the Year. Sports Business Journal named him Sports Executive of the Year for 2019-20, citing that the biggest company in sports media continued to grow, highlighting the expansion of its linear footprint with ACC Network, growth from ESPN+, moving further into the sports betting space and continued aggressive moves in the digital and social arenas, which saw significant growth.

He serves on a variety of industry and charitable boards, including the NCTA, the Paley Center for Media, The V Foundation, The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, Pacer and CoachArt. Pitaro also serves as Co-Committee Chair of the March of Dimes, and is a Board Observer at Draft Kings. He is a member of the Cornell Athletic Alumni Advisory Committee.
Pitaro earned a bachelor of science degree in economics in 1991 from Cornell University. He earned his Juris Doctor from St. John’s Law School in 1994. After practicing law in New York for five years, he was named head of business affairs for Launch.com in 1999 before joining Yahoo.

A native of Westchester County, N.Y., Pitaro, 51, is ESPN’s eighth leader.

Laurie Pracher is Head of Podcast Ad Sales at Wondery, where she has overseen the company’s ad sales team since its inception. Prior to Wondery, Laurie managed the sales team for New York Public Radio, WNYC Studios and led the national radio sales team for CBS and Intercep.

Former NFL Quarterback, CBS Sports HQ Analyst
Brady Quinn is a former American football quarterback and current college football and NFL analyst for CBS Sports HQ and game analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at Notre Dame and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Quinn also played for the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets and St. Louis Rams.

Entrepreneur and producer, writer, director Michael D. Ratner founded OBB Pictures in 2016 and under his leadership the company has grown into OBB Media, a leading media company with divisions in film, TV, digital, podcasts, branded content, and social good, amassing an audience of over 2 billion. Since its inception, OBB has carved out a stronghold in the new media space creating award winning content. In addition to running OBB and expanding the business, Ratner continues to act as a multi-hyphenate leading creative on OBB’s marquee projects. Ratner recently directed and executive produced the SXSW 2021 opening night headlining film Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil for YouTube Originals, as well as the music video for the lead single on Demi’s new album Dancing with the Devil, which collectively have accumulated over 100 million viewers. He also directed and executive produced the Justin Bieber: Seasons docuseries, which broke the record for YouTube Originals as the most-viewed premiere ever globally, tallying over 32.65 million views in its first week alone and reaching 97 countries worldwide, as well as the special documentary event follow up Justin Bieber: Next Chapter.

Donnell Rawlings is a comedian, actor, and host of his signature comedy podcast, The Donnell Rawlings Show. He is best known as a cast member on Chappelle’s Show, the Comedy Central sketch comedy TV series, and on The Wire, the HBO drama.

GUY RAZ is Tinkercast’s Chief Strategic Officer and Co-Creator of Wow in the World. When Guy is not tinkering, he is the founder of Built-It productions and host and creator of NPR’s How I Built This and Wisdom from the Top on Luminary. Guy has been called “one of the most popular podcasters in history” by the New York Times and has been on the radio for more than two decades, serving as a foreign and war correspondent and as a host of All Things Considered. Previously, Guy co-created and hosted NPR’s TED Radio Hour and The Rewind on Spotify. Guy is a two-time New York Times bestseller for Wow in the World: The How and Wow of the Human Body and How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World’s Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs. Guy has received the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, the National Headliner Award, and the NABJ Award, among many others and was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard. Guy is the father of two boys and lives in the Bay Area where he can often be seen riding his bike in red pants and eating raw kale.

She’s an actor and writer, best known for playing a scientist on the procedural drama, NCIS and writing for Adam Ruins Everything. Diona is a lover of teachers, board games and D&D.

Casey joined Blue Wire most recently from Hulu, where she worked on award-winning digital campaigns for Original title launches The Handmaid’s Tale, The Mindy Project, Castle Rock and PEN15.

She developed brand, culture, and innovation campaigns largely focused on D&I initiatives and earned a “Breakthrough Marketing” award for launching Hulu’s first immersive virtual event during COVID-19.

She has spoken on leadership panels on innovation and empowering women in the workplace, and created a workshop for LGBTQ+ youth at the LGBT Center on representation and identity.

She’s worked with top brands like the Los Angeles Sparks, WNBA, Toyota USA and Team Toyota athletes, Microsoft devices, NFL on XBOX, Getty Images and Hulu.

Zach Reino is an actor, writer, and comedian. He cohosts Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast with Jess McKenna.

Tomas works on the Accounts team at Podsights. He helps clients from the brand side and publishers run awesome campaigns. Before Podsights Tomas spent some time as Buy Sell Ads working with publishers. His love of podcasts comes from his time at NPR where he was a campaign manager for four years.

Tara Roberts is a National Geographic Storytelling Fellow and a Fellow at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab. She spent the last few years following, diving with and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they search for and document slave shipwrecks around the world. In the fall of 2021, Tara will share the divers’ stories and her personal journey of exploration in the National Geographic podcast, Stories From the Depths. Tara has also worked as an editor for CosmoGirl, Essence, AOL, EBONY and Heart & Soul magazines, edited several books for girls and founded her own magazine for women ‘too bold for boundaries.’

Tara Roy is a development executive at Endeavor Content, based out of the Beverly Hills office. Prior to Endeavor she managed Development and Production at AGBO, the film and television studio founded by Joe and Anthony Russo.

Editor-at-Large, PEOPLE Magazine and Host of PEOPLE Every Day

Janine Rubenstein is an Editor, writer and on-air correspondent for breaking news, entertainment, human interest and style content at leading national magazines and digital news sites. Author and conveyor of compelling content that drives high-volume reader interest and engagement. 

Janine earned Bachelor of Arts degrees from U.C. Berkeley in English and Theater, and a Master of Arts in Print Journalism from University of Southern California

Lauren is a powerhouse and is changing the game when it comes to the audio marketplace and measurement. As one of the most vocal advocates in the industry, she has been recognized numerous times for her leadership and 1st to market innovation. ​

In 2009, she spearheaded the Audiohorizon rebranding concept & strategy for Horizon, which audits emerging technology, identifies its impact on audio consumption, and develops media campaigns that leverage these insights and platforms. Lauren has received several accolades being honored as Media All-Star of the Year in Radio by Adweek, an invention award by Adweek as a recipient of the Project Isaac Award in Media in the Radio category and Cynopsis Top Women in Media in the “Innovator & Disruptor” category

Most recently, Lauren led the revolutionary change in how audio is measured, and she has received numerous accolades for leveraging ad product innovation, new/emerging technology, & attribution solutions on behalf of her clients to drive significant business results.

Jon Salm leads brand partnerships at SpokenLayer, where he is responsible for driving and growing revenue through sponsorship and branded content. In his prior role at SpokenLayer as Head of Business Development, Jon helped bring publishers into the world of short form audio and launched the brand partnerships business. Before SpokenLayer, Jon worked in strategy and business development at Univision’s Fusion Media Group. His favorite podcasts are Shutdown Fullcast, Recode Media, and NowThis Brief, and hobbies include hiking, reading, squash, and seeing live music performed really, really loud.

Yolanda Sangweni is NPR’s Senior Director for Programming. In this position, she is a key member of the programming leadership team, helping drive NPR’s strategy to reach new audiences, including developing new programs and initiatives. She also serves as the executive sponsor for several podcasts, including Throughline and Code Switch, and acts as programming’s senior liaison with the Marketing division.

Sangweni came to NPR in 2020 from Luminary, where she was responsible for enhancing podcast discovery to users through a variety of methods as the Director of Programming and Editorial. She was also the programming lead for “Hear to Slay” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom and of a limited series with “Guys We F****d” co-hosts Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson.

Sangweni also spent nine years working for Essence, where she began as an entertainment editor and eventually became Digital Content Director leading the company’s multi-platform digital content strategy. She prides herself on being part of the core team that brought live events like the Essence Festival and Black Women in Hollywood to life. Sangweni co-created and co-hosted “Yes, Girl,” Essence’s 2x Webby-nominated podcast. She is also the founder of African Women Create, a collective and forthcoming newsletter highlighting African women in the creative arts.

Sangweni was born in South Africa and has a degree in English.

Jen Sargent is a successful entrepreneur and executive with 20 years of digital media experience. She is currently the CEO of Wondery, an Amazon company, is a premium podcast studio known for character-driven, binge-worthy stories including Dr. Death, The Shrink Next Door, Even the Rich and Business Wars, and distribution of hit partner shows SmartLess, My Favorite Murder, and How I Built This.

Previously, Jen was the President of Uproxx, a Comscore Top-100 digital publisher and award-winning content studio programming cultural content for Millennials. As President, Jen led the strategy, revenue generation, partnerships, and operations across the organization. Uproxx was acquired by Warner Music in Summer of 2018. Prior to Uproxx, Jen was the CEO and co-founder of HitFix, a multi-platform entertainment news brand focused on helping consumers discover and experience movies, TV and pop-culture. HitFix featured entertainment’s most celebrated tastemakers and a cross-platform reach of 300 million monthly viewers. HitFix was acquired by Uproxx in 2016. Previous roles include head of Online Marketing & Development for Reed Business Information (parent of Variety); the International Media Group of top ad-serving technology company DoubleClick; venture capital experience from BV Capital in Hamburg, Germany; and finance experience from JP Morgan investment banking in New York. Jen earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Andrea is a Senior Account Strategist with Ad Results Media – Houston. She’s been at ARM for 8 years helping clients leverage the power of audio for their brands. In college, she was head of an all girls a capella singing group that were known for wearing overalls and playing kazoos.

Yowei Shaw is co-host and editorial lead of NPR’s Invisibilia. Her work on the show has taken listeners into the uncomfortable world of racial preferences in dating and whether you can change them, an unlikely love story in martial law era Taiwan and a Midwestern town sharply divided in how it sees wild black bears.

Shaw got her start in audio by teaching youth media (when she barely knew how to put together a story herself). Her work has been featured on This American Life, Pop Up Magazine, The World and Studio 360, and once upon a time, she made really good elevator music in Chinatown, Philadelphia.

She is a proud 2011 AIR New Voices scholar, auntie, daughter of Taiwanese-American immigrants and member of multiple girl gangs.

Jason Sheeler is PEOPLE’s Deputy West Coast Editor, where he writes and edits across all verticals, helms the annual Pride Issue, helps manage the West Coast bureau in Los Angeles, and will host the forthcoming podcast, PEOPLE in the 90s. Previously, Sheeler served as Style Director at Departures magazine, where he managed the fashion department and advertiser relationships, while also editing the style section. A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, Sheeler has served in senior editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly and Condé Nast’s Glamour. Sheeler grew up in Arkansas and, incidentally, his first job was answering fan mail for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s cat, Socks, in the White House.

“Goli Sheikholeslami is the President & CEO of New York Public Radio.

Previously, Sheikholeslami served as CEO of Chicago Public Media, where she led dramatic growth in listenership and revenue. Under her leadership, the group increased its focus on local news coverage by nearly doubling its newsroom, while launching new digital properties and podcasts reaching audiences around the world. Sheikholeslami has held senior leadership roles across public and private media over her extensive 25 year career, helping both legacy institutions and new players grow and thrive.

As a senior executive for The Washington Post, Sheikholeslami led the historic integration of the Post’s digital and print operations which led to the transformation of the company from a print-centric culture to a digital news organization. Prior to joining Chicago Public Media, she served as the chief product officer for Everyday Health, and has also held leadership roles at Conde Nast and Time Warner. She serves on the Board of Patreon, the membership platform for artists and creators, and as a Director for DHI Group, Inc., a provider of data for specialized hiring and professional communities. In February 2016, she was elected to the Board of National Public Radio (NPR) where she served until October 2019.”

Kristin Hensley & Jen Smedley are two moms with four kids and two husbands between them. Not to mention six dogs and, minimally, two glasses of wine. The comedians have sold-out two national tours, written a New York Times Best Selling book, landed branded deals with Fortune 100 companies such as Wal-Mart and Unilever, and taped a standup comedy special for Amazon Prime Video.

Marc Smerling is an Emmy Award winning and Academy Award-nominated producer, writer, director and cinematographer. He opened Truth Media, a TV and podcast production company in 2018, out of an old factory building in Brooklyn. In an exclusive partnership with Sony Music Entertainment, his team will create investigative podcasts, including the upcoming Morally (In)Defensible, a companion to Smerling’s nonfiction television series, A Wilderness Of Error, with Errol Morris, and produced in partnership with Blumhouse Television for FX Networks.

A pioneer in true crime, Smerling made the landmark documentary Capturing the Friedmans, (2003) which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won 18 major international prizes including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Non-Fiction Film award. He produced and shot The Jinx – The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, a six-part series about Robert Durst for HBO (2015), which received six Primetime Emmys nominations – including Best Cinematography for Smerling – and won for Outstanding Nonfiction Series. “The Jinx” also won a Peabody Award and lead to the arrest of Mr. Durst for the murder of his best friend in California. Smerling also co-wrote and produced the narrative feature All Good Things (2010) starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and Frank Langella. He produced the acclaimed documentary Catfish (2010) released by Universal Pictures and CatfishTV, now in its ninth season on MTV.

Smerling’s first podcast, Crimetown: Providence landed on many 2017 top ten lists, including The New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly. The Ringer called it “cinema for your ears.” Interview Magazine said it was an “ambitious, anthropological epic.” The second season of Crimetown (2019) featured Detroit’s controversial mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28 year sentence in federal prison. Smerling produced The Ballad Of Billy Balls, ranked No. 2 on Atlantic Monthly’s top 100 podcasts of 2019, and The RFK Tapes (2018). Both Crimetown Providence and The Ballad Of Billy Balls are being developed for television series at major studios. For his collective contributions to the podcast industry, iHeartRadio named Smerling the “Podcast Innovator of the Year” in 2019.
Smerling began in documentaries as the associate producer of Gangs, Cops & Drugs and The New Hollywood, both with Tom Brokaw for NBC News. He is a graduate of the film school at USC, where his thesis documentary, Driving The American Dream, won a Nissan Focus Award and a Golden Eagle. He went to the Newhouse and Maxwell Schools at Syracuse University, where he earned a dual degree in written journalism and international relations.

ALIX SOBLER is a writer and performer who lives in New York. She has worked in theater and radio as a playwright, actor, and contributing writer to CBC, and Voice of America. Recently, the solo show she wrote for Margaret Trudeau, Certain Woman of an Age, was recorded for Audible at the Minetta Lane Theater in NYC, after successful runs at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival in July of 2019, and Second City in Chicago in the spring. Her plays have won or been finalists for multiple awards including the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the Jane Chambers Award, among others. She has had work produced in theaters across North America and England. BA: Brown University, MFA: Columbia University. Her plays have won or been finalists for multiple awards including the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the Jane Chambers Award, among others. She has had work produced in theaters across North America and England. BA: Brown University, MFA: Columbia University.

Jen Soch, Executive Director of Channel Solutions at GroupM, oversees Audio & Local Video, DR, Publishing, and AdvancedTV. Her extensive career spans over three decades in media agencies, where she has consistently driven innovation and excellence. 

Previously, as Integrated Global Investment Lead at Mindshare, Jen spearheaded the Facebook Business, managing all investment channels including Video, Audio, Programmatic, Image, Search, Social, and Digital. Her strategic oversight ensured cohesive campaigns and seamless integration across channels and tactics. 

Jen’s impressive track record includes roles as EVP, Commercial at The Guardian, where she led U.S. Commercial Operations, and a strategic position at Domo focusing on analytics and investment. Her agency experience encompasses leadership roles at Ammarti-Puris, Dentsu-Aegis, MEC, and MediaVest, where she guided planning, strategy, and investment for diverse client portfolios. 

Jen spent over a decade defining the first addressable and digital marketplaces and launching inaugural advertising on video on demand, including OTT, CTV, and mobile platforms. 

Jen holds an MBA from Fordham University and a degree from Lehigh University. Beyond her professional achievements, she is a proud mom who enjoys ski jumping, and playing the saxophone. 

Jay holds a unique role in the corporate world. As an Activism Manager at Ben & Jerry’s, he is responsible for building impactful and actionable activism campaigns which support the company’s progressive values. While many companies steer away from controversial issues, Jay is tasked with doing quite the opposite, leaning into key issues faced by our society and not only bringing the voice of business to the table, but creating engaging fan-facing campaigns that support grassroots activism.

Veronika Taylor is Senior Vice President of the Creator Network at Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, which has a portfolio of more than 100,000 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.

MINDY THOMAS is Tinkercast’s Chief Creative Officer and Co-Creator of Wow in the World. Mindy has been living out her childhood radio dreams for almost two decades by creating radio and audio programs for kids. She’s the co-creator, co-host, and head writer of the award-winning Wow in the World and Two Whats?! And a Wow! podcasts. She is the Gracie award-winning host of the Absolutely Mindy show and a New York Times bestseller for Wow in the World: The How and Wow of the Human Body. Mindy believes that childhood thrives at the intersection of imagination and curiosity and finds that her best work does too. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two kids, and has no plans of ever growing up.

Colin Thomson founded Kast Media in 2016, and grew it into one of the top 20 podcast networks, as measured by reach, in the world. Colin’s career began in music composition, where he developed a set of skills that contributed to his success in podcast development and production. In his 5 years as CEO of Kast, Colin has overseen its growth from small podcast production house to one of the last major independent entities in the podcast industry. Colin maintains a focus on the creative development of Kast Original podcasts and intellectual property, while also overseeing the rest of company operations in his role as CEO. Kast develops and represents premium story and conversation-based podcasts that have launched to wide acclaim and developed large, engaged audiences worldwide.

As the Associate Director of Podcast Ad Operations at NPR, Sarah helps develop and implement new podcast ad products, manages ad tech, and helps run day-to-day podcast sponsorship operations. She focuses on podcast attribution and ad-targeting products to help improve and measure performance for brands. Sarah has been part of the NPR team for 6 years.

Eve Troeh is Senior Editorial Producer of ESPN Daily Podcast, leading production with host Pablo Torre and crew. In a career centered on audio, journalism and narrative, Eve has reported, edited and produced for national news programs and podcasts of all kinds. She’s launched projects big and small (before ESPN, perhaps most proudly the newsroom at New Orleans Public Radio). Eve used to run. A lot. Now she’s more inclined to hike. And then make gumbo.

Alexis is the CEO of AdsWizz, a global audio ad-tech and podcast publishing company. Alexis brings over 15 years of experience incubating, building, and managing the growth of emerging technology businesses, with a focus on internet and mobile industries. Under his leadership, he has guided AdsWizz through two powerful acquisitions – in 2018, Pandora acquired AdsWizz, and in 2019, SiriusXM acquired Pandora and AdsWizz. Prior to joining AdsWizz, Alexis was at eBay for nearly 6 years, where he served as the Director of Global Advertising Innovation and the Managing Director of ProStores, an eBay company. Alexis studied Engineering at Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and has an MBA from INSEAD. In his free time, Alexis enjoys outdoor activities, such as sailing, kiteboarding, snow skiing and rock climbing.

Sarah van Mosel is Senior Vice President of Podcast Strategy at SiriusXM. She is also on the board of Death by Duck Games. She was previously a Strategic Advisor and Executive Vice President of Podcast Revenue at iHeartMedia. Prior to joining iHeart, she was the Chief Revenue Officer of Stitcher.


A long-time champion of the industry and creator community, van Mosel held multiple executive roles within the podcast space. As Chief Podcast Sales and Strategy Officer at Market Enginuity, van Mosel built the monetization engine for podcasts from PRX, Radiotopia, The Moth, and TED Talks Daily. Prior to Market Enginuity, van Mosel launched the U.S. sales operations of Acast. Under her leadership, Acast signed partners such as Buzzfeed, Mic, First Look Media, Conde Nast, and many other independent creators. Before joining Acast, van Mosel was VP, Sponsorship at WNYC.


There, she built the ad tech and revenue infrastructure around podcasts including Radiolab, Freakonomics, and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, and launched public radio podcast network, WNYC Studios. She was a founding member of the IAB Podcast Working Group in 2013, which established best practices in podcast measurement, and served as the working group co-chair for many years.

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money. She’s also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she’s traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country’s dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she’s spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.

Prior to coming to NPR, Smith worked for Marketplace, where she was a correspondent and fill-in host. While there, Smith was part of a collaboration with The New York Times, where she explored the relationship between money and marriage. She was also part of Marketplace’s live shows, where she produced a series of pieces on getting her data mined.
Smith is a native of Idaho and grew up working on her parents’ cattle ranch. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature and creative writing. She also holds a master’s in broadcast journalism from Columbia University.

Janet Varney is an Emmy-Nominated actor, comedian, writer and producer. In the animation world, she’s the award-winning voice of Korra on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra. On Hulu, she can be seen fighting dark forces opposite John C. McGinley in Stan Against Evil and as the entitled Becca on FXX’s You’re the Worst. She also created, wrote, produced and starred in the critically-acclaimed IFC online series Fortune Rookie. For the past 8 years, JV has hosted her podcast The JV Club with Janet Varney, where she interviews celebrities about their awkward teenage years. JV can also be heard as the AI “Sorry” on the improvised sci-fi comedy podcast Voyage to the Stars. On the development and production side, Janet co-created, co-wrote and co-produced Neil’s Puppet Dreams, a series featuring Neil Patrick Harris and his puppet-filled dreams. She is co-founder/creative director/producer of one of the largest and most acclaimed comedy festivals in North America, SF Sketchfest: the San Francisco Comedy Festival, now in its 20th year.

Shankar Vedantam founded Hidden Brain Media in 2019, and is the host and executive editor of the Hidden Brain podcast and radio show. From 2011 to 2020, he was a social science correspondent with NPR. Before that, he was a national correspondent at The Washington Post. Between 2007 and 2009, he authored the weekly Department of Human Behavior column in The Washington Post. In 2010, he published The Hidden Brain: How our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives. Shankar is the winner of several journalism awards and was a 2009-2010 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

Tom Webster is a Senior Vice President of Edison Research, a custom market research company best known as the sole providers of exit polling data during US elections for all the major news networks. He has over 20 years of experience researching consumer usage of technology, new media and social networking, and is the principal author of a number of widely-cited studies, including The Podcast Consumer, Twitter Users in America, and the co-author of The Infinite Dial, America’s longest running research series on digital media consumption. He is also the co-author of The Mobile Commerce Revolution, and a popular keynote speaker on data and consumer insights. He writes about all of these topics at www.brandsavant.com and on Twitter at @Webby2001.

Jenna Weiss-Berman is the co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios, an Audacy company, which has made such podcasts as Missing Richard Simmons, Still Processing, Wind of Change, The Clearing, Welcome to Your Fantasy, and the Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow/ Pineapple Street Studios is the longtime podcast partner of brands including HBO, Netflix, and Nike, and had had 12 #1 shows on the Apple Podcast charts to date. Before starting Pineapple Street, Jenna worked in public radio for a decade, and started the podcast department at BuzzFeed. She currently sits on the advisory board of The Moth and co-chairs the Google Podcast Creator Program.

Lizzie Widhelm is the SVP, Ad Innovation & B2B Marketing at Pandora | Stitcher. In her present executive role, she leads B2B marketing, ad product innovation, The Insights Lab research division, as well as in-house audio creative consultancy, Studio Resonate. Lizzie is an Advertising Hall of Achievement inductee, where she was celebrated for her professional successes bringing impactful audio ad products to market throughout her 15-year tenure at Pandora.



Under Lizzie’s focused leadership since the company’s early formative years, the company has grown into the industry-leading audio platform it is today, offering advertisers the largest addressable audience nationally, 150-million monthly listeners across SiriusXM Holdings’ properties. Lizzie has led the launch of all major audio ad capabilities across the platform — enabling greater personalization across formats, as well as monetization efforts for Pandora’s Podcast Genome Project. From the rise of the connected home surging listenership in podcasting, Lizzie continues to push the boundaries of digital advertising by focusing on the future.

Rainn Wilson may be best known for his starring role in the long running NBC Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award winning series for “Best Comedy,” “The Office,” alongside Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fisher. Over the years, he has endeared himself to millions and earned three Emmy nominations with his portrayal of ‘Dwight Schrute,’ an eccentric paper salesman whose ego knows no bounds, dreams of being “#2,” and fervently torments his colleagues in his own lovable, pathetic fashion.

In 2009, Rainn founded SoulPancake to create a space where people from all walks of life could discuss and question what it means to be human—a place to wrestle with the spiritual, philosophical, and creative journey that is life. Today SoulPancake, through the leadership of CEO Shabnam Mogharabi, spans multiple distribution channels, from web to print to video to live events. In 2010, the SoulPancake book, SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions, was released with thought-provoking essays, bold questions, and
mind bending art.

Wilson currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn, their young son Walter, and their three pit bulls, Oona, Barry, and Pilot.

Roy Wood Jr.’s comedy has entertained millions across stage, television, and radio. In addition to stand-up comedy, producing and acting, during his tenure on The Daily Show, Roy has used the show’s brand of satire to shed a light on serious issues like Chicago gun violence, police reform, LGBTQ+ discrimination, ICE deportations and PTSD in the black community. He also recently appeared in a guest-starring role on the AMC series Better Call Saul and will be seen on The Last O.G. on TBS and on the Netflix comedy Space Force.

Mandi Woodruff is an award-winning financial journalist, editorial leader, speaker and podcast producer. As a journalist, she has covered personal finance news and anchored video series for sites such as Yahoo Finance and Business Insider.

From 2016-2021, Mandi served as Senior Content Director for LendingTree.com and its subsidiaries, where she steered a team of 30+ staff editors, writers and dozens of contributors to produce hundreds of articles monthly as well as newsletters, webinars, e-books, social media content and video content.

In February 2021, Mandi became the Chief Consumer Advocate for Ally Financial, one of the nation’s leading digital banks, where she serves as the bank’s spokesperson on all things personal finance.

Mandi has appeared as an expert guest on numerous media outlets, including Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, CBS This Morning, Business Insider, NY1, and Pix 11. She is also one of the founding members of the Newsweek Expert Forum and previously wrote a personal finance column for Teen Vogue.

As SVP, National Audio Practice Lead, Chris Yarusso oversees the national audio practice and investment across Publicis Groupe in the US. Focusing on a holistic buying approach that incorporates all facets of the audio ecosystem, Chris brings the best of Publicis’ offerings to bear for some 40+ clients across the network. Chris has been with the Publicis family for over a decade, having joined Spark Foundry in 2011 and rising through the ranks in various positions across strategy and investment prior to earning his current title at the helm of the organization’s audio practice. Chris additionally sits on the Media Rating Council’s Radio Committee.

Outside of work, Chris can most likely be found skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, or in the kitchen testing out new recipes. He lives in Chicago and is the father of three teenagers.

Ginger Zee is the chief meteorologist at ABC News, reporting on the nation’s weather on “Good Morning America” and across ABC News broadcasts and digital platforms.

Since joining ABC News, Zee has covered almost every major weather event and dozens of historic storms. She broadcasted from the devastated Jersey Shore during Hurricane Sandy, the Colorado floods and wildfires, and covered the aftermath from tornados in Moore and El Reno, Oklahoma. In 2013, she covered extreme weather conditions ranging from the Boston blizzard to the record-breaking heat in Death Valley. In 2016, Zee covered Hurricane Matthew and its path along the east coast.


Zee’s passion does not stop with storm chasing. Her love of adventure has taken her and ABC News viewers across the world. She has gone para-hawking in Nepal, flown a drone into the fissure of a volcano in Iceland, hiked the largest cave in the world in Vietnam, para-glided from the Himalayas to the Andes, dove with sharks in the Bahamas, rappelled 27 stories down the exterior façade of the Wit Hotel in Chicago. Plus, skydiving, ice boat racing and surfing live on GMA.

Previous to her role as chief meteorologist she was the meteorologist for “Good Morning America Weekend.” Additionally, Zee hosted an ABC News original digital series “Food Forecast.” Prior to joining ABC News, she was a meteorologist at NBC station WMAQ-Channel 5 in Chicago from 2006-2011, also filling in for several NBC and MSNBC News programs. Before that assignment, Zee worked at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, MI where she part of the Storm Team 8, also covering the environment, science and the impact of weather throughout West Michigan. From 2003-2005, Zee worked at WEYI NBC 25 in Flint, MI. She began her career at WLAV FM/ WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Zee, who has storm chased since college has a genuine passion for the atmosphere and a dedication to getting young people interested in science. Zee lends her voice to “Dr. Zephyr Skye” the storm chasing alien of Disney Junior’s hit show “Miles from Tomorrowland.”

Zee is the author of New York Times bestseller “Natural Disaster. I Cover Them. I Am One.” And the young adult trilogy “Chasing Helicity.” Additionally, Zee and her husband, Ben Aaron starred in “Renovation Realities: Ben & Ginger” on DIY Network.

The Emmy Award-winning meteorologist attended Valparaiso University and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in meteorology. She also served as an adjunct professor at the University from 2008-2011. Zee also holds the CBM Seal for Meteorology. She resides in New York City.