Starting as an unpaid intern at The Moth when it was still a local storytelling group in New York City, Lea Thau rose up to become the Executive & Creative Director, where she remained for a decade. During her time there, she co-created The Moth Podcast and The Moth Radio Hour, helping to launch the "brand" into a global phenomenon. Thau has since become a Peabody Award-winning producer and director, now hosting her own popular podcast Strangers, which won the 2015 Public Radio March Ma...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joél Leon is a storyteller, performer, poet, musician, and author. Born and raised in the Bronx, from the earliest age, art, performing and music became both a refuge and a source of creative expression. He’d eventually land a spot at the famed New York High School for Performing Arts, where Joél continued to hone his theatrical chops. But driving it was always a fierce devotion to language and writing that led him to deepen into the craft and become a powerful voice and public storyteller exp...
Jul 20, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast T Kira Madden is a writer, photographer, amateur magician, and a powerful voice and editor, earning fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Hedgebrook, Tin House, the MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo. She is the founding Editor-in-chief of No Tokens, a journal celebrating work that is "felt in the spine, run entirely by women and non-binary individuals, dedicated to featuring the words and artwork of all voices of the past, present, and future, here to keep stories alive and to make a ...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Gervais is a high-performance psychologist working in high-stakes environments with some of the best in the world, training the mindset skills and practices essential to pursuing and revealing one’s potential. His clients include world record holders, Olympians, internationally acclaimed artists and musicians, MVPs from every major sport and Fortune 100 CEOs. A published, peer-reviewed author and recognized speaker on optimal human performance, Dr. Gervais has been featured by NBC, ABC, ...
Jul 13, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Arielle Duhaime-Ross is the host of Reset, a podcast that re-evaluates the role of technology in our lives, from Stitcher and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Passionate about a breadth of topics from science and the environment to health and LGBTQ issues, Duhaime-Ross examines technology’s impact on humanity and reveals the ethical pitfalls of our connected lives, the power structures driving, or stalling innovation, and the dubious scientific claims that can creep into our collective psyche. Pre...
Jul 09, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mia Birdsong is a pathfinder, community curator, and storyteller who engages the leadership and wisdom of people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American life. She has a gift for making visible and leveraging the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and political change, and create wellbeing for everyone. In her book How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community , (https://amzn.to/30WJWX9) Birds...
Jul 06, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Dan Heath is the co-author, along with his brother, Chip, of four New York Times bestselling books: Made to Stick, Switch, Decisive, and The Power of Moments. The Heath Brothers’ books have sold over three million copies worldwide and been translated into 33 languages. But, interesting, separated by 10 years, the two weren't super close until they began to collaborate later in life. Their work has transformed not only the lives of millions of readers, but along the way, two brothers as well. Dan...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Iconic artist, designer, and New York Magazine cofounder, Milton Glaser's (http://www.miltonglaser.com/) work has been seen everywhere from the halls of global industry to, social movements to local pubs, the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. He was the visionary behind the legendary I ♥ NY logo, designed and given for free as an offering to the city he loved when it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy in the 70s. The generation-defining, rainbow-haired Bob Dylan poster? Glas...
Jun 29, 2020•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Ann Patchett is the multi-award-winning and New York Times Bestselling author of eight novels, including The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto , Run, Commonwealth. and The Dutch House , along with nonfiction works, including Truth & Beauty , about her friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy, What Now? an expansion of her graduation address at Sarah Lawrence College, and This is the Story of a H...
Jun 25, 2020•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elaine Welteroth is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and a producer and judge on the new Project Runway. She is known for her groundbreaking work at the helm of Teen Vogue, where she was appointed the youngest ever Editor-in-Chief at a Conde Nast publication in 2017, transforming the magazine into a platform for advocacy and social activism. She's now a leading expert and advocate for the next generation of change-makers. Welteroth was recently appointed Cult...
Jun 22, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast James McBride is an accomplished musician and author whose books have been translated into 19 languages and sold millions of copies around the world. He's toured with jazz legends, written songs for everyone from Anita Baker to Grover Washington, Jr. McBride also penned the National Book Award-winning and New York Times -bestselling The Good Lord Bird , which Showtime is turning into a television series, authored bestselling American classic The Color of Water, along with Miracle at St. An...
Jun 18, 2020•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up outside Newark, NJ, Judge Victoria Pratt found herself in the role of translator, advocate, and champion at a very young age. That deep desire to serve at the sweet-spot between justice and humanity never left her. Rising up through government and educational institutions, she eventually became Chief Judge in Newark Municipal Court in Newark, NJ. But she was not your ordinary judge. For her, it was all about serving the broader humanity and needs of both those who appeared in her cour...
Jun 15, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1987, John O’Leary was a curious nine-year-old boy. Playing with fire and gasoline, he created a massive explosion in his home and was burned on 100% of his body. He was given less than a 1% chance to live. John not only survived but, with the support of an incredible family, friends and community, found a way to reclaim a sense of wonder, joy and service that has led to a stunning career inspiring millions, writing books, while marrying the love of his life and raising four kids together. Hi...
Jun 11, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Graduating Oberline, Alix Spiegel landed in Chicago and stumbled upon a help-wanted ad that would lead to an internship with soon-to-be-legendary radio producer, Ira Glass. A year later, Spiegel became one of the founding producers of This American Life, where she, Ira, and a small, devoted team would change the face of public radio, storytelling, journalism, and, eventually podcasting. She eventually left to work on NPR's Science Desk for a decade and build more of a life outside radio. Then, J...
Jun 09, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lance Allred was born legally deaf in a polygamist commune in rural Montana. When he was 13, his family escaped and eventually came out of hiding in Utah, where for the first time, he had to step into a world that he had no experience navigating. Lance had always loved writing, but at nearly 6’4” in middle school, and looking for a new way to belong, his height caught the eye of the basketball coach. The game became his life and he'd eventually become a star athlete that led to college, then yea...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Austin Channing Brown is a writer, speaker and media producer providing inspired leadership on racial justice. She is the author of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness (https://amzn.to/2X8qyEc) and the Executive Producer of The Next Question : A Web Series Imagining How Expansive Racial Justice Can Be (https://www.tnqshow.com/). Austin started her career in the nonprofit world, focusing on homelessness and housing, youth engagement, and church operations before blazi...
Jun 03, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast James Nestor has written for Outside, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Dwell, The New York Times, and more. His book Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves was a finalist for the 2015 PEN/ESPN Award For Literary Sports Writing, an Amazon Best Science Book of 2014, and more. Nestor has appeared on dozens of national television shows, including ABC's Nightline and CBS Morning News, and on NPR. He lives and breathes, surfs and writes in San Francisco. Nest...
May 28, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jameela Jamil an actor, writer, podcaster, and activist. Leaving behind a high-profile life as a host and DJ on two of the UK's most iconic TV and radio shows, a health scare led her to make a radical change that delivered her into a new life in Los Angeles with the intention of shifting into writing. But, fate had a different plan. Never having acted before, she auditioned for and landed a starring role as Tahani on NBC's The Good Place, opposite Ted Danson and Kristen Bell. Seeking to lev...
May 26, 2020•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dani Shapiro is a New York Times bestselling author and gifted examiner of life, especially her own. Her latest book, Inheritance , (https://amzn.to/2WOiVT6) drops you into a surprise revelation about who her dad was or, more accurately, wasn’t and the familial earthquake this discovery led to. When the book published, Dani learned something else. She wasn't the only one with big family secrets. That realization became the inciting incident Dani's podcast called Family Secrets (https://podcasts....
May 21, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stephanie Danler is a novelist, memoirist, and screenwriter. She is the author of the international bestseller, Sweetbitter , and the creator and executive producer of the Sweetbitter TV series on Starz. The book and series were based on her own experience being swept up by the intoxication of the New York City restaurant scene in her twenties. Danler's work has appeared in the Sewanee Review, Vogue, The New York Times, and The Paris Review. Her new memoir, Stray , (https://amzn.to/361FOpf) is a...
May 19, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Simultaneously parenting her daughter while caring for a mom who was vanishing into dementia, Maya Shanbhag Lang, found herself reexamining nearly every part of her life, and reimagining how she wanted to tell her own story to her daughter. May's writing has been featured in The Washington Post, In Style, The Millions, and The Rumpus, among others. Her book, The Sixteenth of June was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, was an Audie Award Finalist for Best Audio Book. Her wo...
May 14, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Caglione, Jr. is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-Winning Makeup Artist. Obsessed with monster movies as a kid, he began studying makeup and special effects. A not-so-chance meeting with makeup legend, Dick Smith, turned him from a fan into a devotee of the craft. Graduating high-school, Smith then recommended John to the NBC Makeup Program where he ended up working with the original cast of "Saturday Night Live" for six years, before going out on his own. Having now built a decades-lon...
May 12, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jacqueline Novogratz co-founded Rwanda’s first microfinance institution, Duterimbere, before launching the groundbreaking impact-investment and activist platform, Acumen. Nineteen years in, Acumen has helped build more than 128 social enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States, bringing affordable education, health care, clean water, and energy to more than 300 million people. Novogratz sits on the Advisory Councils of the Harvard Business School Social Enterpris...
May 07, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Acclaimed comic, Adam Cayton-Holland, has appeared on Conan, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Comedy Central Presents, @midnight, and was named one of Esquire’s “25 Comics to Watch,” as well as one of “10 Comics to Watch” by Variety. Along with his cohorts in The Grawlix, he created, wrote and starred in “Those Who Can’t,” which aired for three seasons on truTV. His albums, “I Don’t Know If I Happy,” “Backyards,” and “Adam Cayton-Holland Performs His Signature Bits,” (voted one of Vulture’s...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Macy Gray's unmistakable rasp, soul, and powerful spirit established as a 21st-century music icon with her triple-platinum album On How Life Is in 1999, featuring the generation-defining song "I Try." She's sold over 25 million albums, winning a GRAMMY, two BRITs, and collaborating with everyone from Ariana Grande to Galactic, and sold out venues in nearly every corner of the globe. Macy’s talents resound beyond music as well. She starred in Tyler Perry’s Black Reel Award-wi...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brad Montague is the co-creator of Kid President, the internet sensation featured on Soulpancake Youtube channel. As a writer and director his work has garnered more than 900 million views, been translated into countless languages, and captured the attention of people like Tom Hanks, Beyonce’, and even the Obamas. As an illustrator, his encouraging work is seen and shared daily online. It can also be found on newsstands in Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Journal. Brad is the force behind ‘Socktober’ the...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Jennifer Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the concept of self-care with her first bestseller, The Woman’s Comfort Book. Since then, she’s written seven additional books on well-being and whole living, including The Woman’ s Retreat Book and The Life Organizer , with close to a million copies of her books in print in nine languages. Jennifer has lead retreats and workshops internationally since 1992, written a national magazine column for a Martha Stewart magazine, and been p...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stephen Haff is the founder of Still Waters in a Storm , a one-room school serving mostly Spanish-speaking immigrant children in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Previously, he taught English at a public school in Bushwick for nearly a decade, before leaving to recover from the effects of extreme psychological stress that led him to re-evaluate how he would return to serve kids as an educator and activist. In his new book, Kid Quixotes ( https://amzn.to/34zxPit). Stephen shares a powerful story about the kid...
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pete Holmes is a comedian, writer, cartoonist, spiritual seeker, and the host of the You Made It Weird (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-made-it-weird-with-pete-holmes/id475878118) podcast. He was the creator-star of the hit HBO show Crashing . From standup comedy to screens, large and small, Pete is constantly examining and commenting on life. You can see this in his performances on stage on screens of all sizes, as well as his latest memoir. Part autobiography, part philosophical inqu...
Apr 16, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Sayantani Dasgupta has a foot in three worlds: medicine, teaching and writing. Growing up the daughter of Indian immigrants, she fell in love with writing at an early age. But she decided to focus on medicine as her early career, eventually becoming a pediatrician and then a professor, teaching med-students and others about the power of listening and peoples’ stories as a faculty member in Columbia University’s Master’s Program in Narrative Medicine (http://www.narrativemedicine.org/), and c...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
