The Made in NY® Podcast Certificate Program is a collaboraitve initiative between The Mayor ’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. This cohort is supported by Breaker.

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L O O K B O O K

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S A Y I D A B D U L L

My name is Sayid Abdull (he/him or they/them). Currently I work at YouTube, where I’m managing social impact projects. Prior to YouTube, I worked at the United Nations, where I was coordinating the refugee integration initiatives. Working at the UN allowed me to visit over 60 countries and learn about local advocacy programs.

My passion for audio started in my home country of Kyrgyzstan, where I used to work as a host of a local radio show. However, 9 years ago I came to the US as a refugee and have lost my touch with the audio world. I consider Made in NY Podcasting program as an opportunity to get back into the industry and use my voice to help unfold stories of underrepresented groups.

A N D Y B A U E R

My name is Andy Bauer (he/him/his) and I primarily identify as a citizen (and unofficial diplomat) of earth. I enjoy healthy living and eating, promoting peace and understanding across cultures and continents, and I love collaborating in teams to accomplish initiatives that only the power of a group or community can manifest.

I’m a drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and music producer by trade, and have spent the majority of the past decade and a half touring the world performing in music venues, outdoor festivals, television shows and other branded content collaborations. 4 years ago while on tour I was in an auto accident that stopped my life in its tracks and forced me to make a lifestyle and career shift. Incidentally, this has brought me closer to the podcast world for its a la carte learning opportunities, storytelling power, and now more personally for me as a playground for musical score composition and sound design. I’m interested in moving laterally from my past experience in composing and producing music for television, commercials, short films, theatre productions, installations and recording artists into the podcast world.

L Y N N A E B R O W N

My name is Lynnae Brown (she/her/hers) For the past 8+ years I’ve been leading a work readiness program in Harlem that trains people in mental health recovery to go back to work. I’ve presented workshops across the country about the impact employment has on recovery as well as the strengths we bring from our marginalized experiences.

And most important – I’m a Ravenclaw. Wit beyond measure, people!

I’m so glad to be invited to this podcast program! I’ve been tooling around the podcast scene for almost 3 years. I’ve attended Podcast Movement, Third Coast Audio Conferences and various podcast meet-ups, workshops and programming around the NYC area. Before that, I learned a lot about narrative as a storycoach for The Moth’s Community Outreach Program. Since podcasts have become my greatest source of information and entertainment, I’d like to harness what I’ve learned into podcast form in order change minds and rattle some cages in social services.

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C I N D Y K Y N A R DMy name is Cindy Kynard (she/her) and I’m a native New Yorker, soul/jazz music enthusiast and world traveler in love with the journeys that stories and cultural explorations provide. I’m also a brand marketer, communications strategist and educator. Connecting people and brands to their “why” throughout my marketing career has been a joy for decades and now I’m looking to complement that with my producing passion, in audio. The best way to entertain and teach is through storytelling. And audio is the richest medium for it enables a freedom of topic, imagination and conversation not found in others. It’s very inclusive. I love it and I’m so happy and honored to join you all in my pursuit to bring conversations and stories that reflect us and our dreams, to the forefront.

C O N N O R D I X O NMy name is Connor (he/him). I play music, do improv, and work at a pizza place. I love exploring the city, trying new restaurants, riding Citi bikes, and singing karaoke. I'm taking this class because I feel passionate about audio storytelling and its ability to connect with people on a deeply personal level. I also hosted a radio show in college and it's one of my favorite things I've ever done. I'm grateful for the opportunity to get back into radio and learn through this program.

V I R G I N I A C H UI’m Virginia, (she/her) and a native New Yorker by way of Mulberry Street (a shout out to Chinatown!). I am so excited to be part of this podcast journey with everyone here.

I’ve spent most of my career as a freelance online producer for TV, film, and marketing + PR. Part of that time, I was deeply involved within the startup/entrepreneur space creating live marketing events such as VC pitches, film fests, and environmental sustainability panels. A lot of what I did then inspired me this past year to get back to what was the foundation of those experiences — storytelling. And much of what I found in terms of totally immersive and even transformational storytelling was embodied in podcasts. I was hooked.

I’m new to podcast production but hope to cull some of my past content experiences into an audio medium I feel has this great capacity to deliver authentic and meaningful engagement for audiences. I also hope to learn to be a more nuanced storyteller and interviewer. I’m curious about stories that uncover the hidden truths in everyday musings or ways people pivot in challenging situations be it the entrepreneur or the newly arrived immigrant. Looking forward to learning from everyone and share in each other’s work!

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J O E L A N Z AI’m Joe Lanza (he/him) and I’m looking forward to meeting you all next week! I’m originally from New Hampshire and have lived in the city for the last 9 years, 8 of those in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

I work as an actor — it’s been mostly smaller roles in tv (The Americans, Orange is the New Black, Gotham, House of Cards, etc.) — and as a cater-waiter. It’s like 15% acting, 85% catering. The hustle is real.

Recently I began to wonder how I could expand my job as a storyteller, aside from acting. I love listening to podcasts and I thought that maybe there was a way to enter the world of audio. I took a workshop in March, and really enjoyed the way it worked my brain. So while I feel like I’m still pretty brand spankin’ new to all of this, I’m excited to learn alongside and from you! I love the way that podcasts can educate while entertaining, and how they force us to use our listening skills in such a visual/smartphone-ruled world. My favorite moments are when listening and I happen upon a little nugget of wisdom that correlates to something that’s going in my own life’s journey.

My name is Navani Otero (she/her). I'm a native New Yorker, multimedia journalist and music aficionado. Currently, I'm a web producer by day and freelance writer by night. I've helped out on radio shows in the past as a producer at WNYU and on SiriusXM booking talent and ideating show concepts. Sometimes I would help conduct interviews on air as well. I really enjoy working in that format so I'm hoping to continue to hone my skills in audio production and storytelling here so I can fully transition into podcasting as a career. I look forward to working with all of you!

N A V A N I O T E R O

D I A N A O R O Z C OMy name’s Diana Orozco (she/her). I was born in Mexico. Basketball brought me to the US for college (Buffalo) and later I moved to NYC. I have worked for a bank, a recycling B-corp, brand manager for a movie theater company and currently working remotely for an affiliate marketing platform.I am new to the audio storytelling world but I immediately fell in love with the intimacy and depth that it can achieve. As a former D1 basketball player, I still get excited about underdog athlete stories.

I recently started a podcast in Spanish: https://www.ellasahora.com where we interview authentic women breaking barriers in sports, business and culture, and I have been loving the experience. I definitely want to take it to the next level though, so I am super excited to do some formal learning with you all!

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R E M O Y P H I L I PMy name’s Remoy Philip (he/him/his).

I love knitting and basketball in no particular order. I’ve been working on all sorts of multimedia projects for the past few years while always having some sort of day job to get them bills paid. Really excited to be a part of this cohort and get my skills fine tuned and learn from and with some pros. Youtube and the internet has taught me a lot. But excited and humbled to be in an actual formal podcast setting to do some formal podcast learning.

A B R A H A M P A U L O S

I'm Abraham (him, he). I am Eritrean, born in Sudan but raised in Chicago. I've been in New York City for around 14 years. I've mostly been doing media and human rights work for the last decade. Currently, I'm the national communication director for an organization called Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). Before joining BAJI, I was the Executive Director of Families for Freedom (FFF), a human rights organization that focuses on deportations of New Yorkers who have had contact with the criminal system. It is a position I held after facing deportation while incarcerated at Rikers Island. I heard a lot of stories about people's experiences with incarceration and deportations and was inspired to help share stories through and in the media.

G R E G O T TI’m Greg Ott (he, him) and I’m a writer, producer, and comedian new to NYC. I relocated about six months ago from Chicago, where I spent the better part of a decade performing sketch and improv comedy around the world with The Second City. I also wrote and starred in several original plays like “Shark Tank: The Musical,” which started off as a joke but became a semi-finalist for the real ABC “Shark Tank” show. Today, I work as a full-time freelance video producer, writer, voiceover artist, and commercial actor.

I’ve always wanted to work on a podcast but didn’t get enough audio training in college, when I stopped studying broadcast to focus on theater. Since moving here, I’ve been drawn back towards media and hope to eventually work as a freelance podcast producer, writer, and host.

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M O L L Y S C H U L S O N

My name’s Molly Schulson (she/her) I work at a communications agency full-time and am a freelance writer for Cornell’s medical school, but my passion is for audio storytelling. The first audio story I ever made was a true story about a magic love card that got passed around my friend group — ever since then, I’ve been hooked. Last year I decided to start a little side business creating narrative audio stories for people about milestone moments in their lives — like engagements, birthdays, etc. It’s super fun. I’m pretty much self-taught, so I'm interested to learn about the industry and the art-form from talented folks who have succeeded in the business.

P R I S C I L L A P O S A D A

I’m Priscilla Posada (she/her). I love documentaries and work as a film publicist. For the past five years, I’ve also been translating the work of an experimental Argentinean writer, Pablo Katchadjian, from Spanish into English. I’m especially excited to learn how to sculpt a narrative out of tape, and to do so in a collaborative environment.

S H A N N O N S M I T H

My name is Shannon (she/her). I work as a UX researcher for The New York Times. Before that, I spent eleven years in Berlin, Germany, where I helped found a social business and freelanced as a journalist. If the workplace has taught me anything, it's that under representation in power is the source of innumerable global ills. It was my dream in college to use radio journalism to help rectify that imbalance, so I'm grateful after all these years for the chance to pivot back to audio with formal podcasting training and some amazing peers.

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G A B R I E L L E Y O U N G

My name is Gabrielle (she/her) —you can also call me Gabe.

I come to audio storytelling with a theatre background, acting, training, and teaching in NYC and BK over the last 13 or so years. A lot of my training revolves around experimental approaches to acting and devising new work. I've also worked in restaurants, taught, and done a lot of artistic project management and production stuff. I started listening to podcasts and radio increasingly over the last several years and became taken with the intimacy and specificity of the medium-- TAL, Death, Sex and Money, The Heart, RadioLab and S*Town were some of the first that I listened to hardcore. The things I love most about theatre are a part of the radio making process in a more immediate way--nerding out about a pocket of the world, listening deeply to someone's story, and working with a group of people to bring it to life. So far, I've been interning at WBAI, going to radio club, and 'meeting for coffee' with producers. I'm really looking forward to honing audio storytelling and technical skills in the course. Eventually, I would like to work as a full time reporter and producer.

T E N N E S H A W O O DI’m Tennesha (she/her). Last week I left a long career in sales to purse one of my passions, helping people find love as a dating coach. That was born out of a podcast I started a few years ago about dating and relationships. I love sharing narrative stories that we can all relate to in a meaningful way. When I’m not coaching, I love cooking and experimenting with vegan recipes.

In this program, I’m most excited about getting to opportunity to learn from titans in the industry and people who have turned podcasting into a career. I’m also looking forward to refining my story telling skills and connecting with audiences in a more personal way.

A M Y T I O N GMy name is Amy B Tiong (she/her). I’m a Gates Millennium scholar and graduated last year from NYU Tisch where I studied film & television and minored in psychology and business. I currently intern for Refinery29 on the Shatterbox team. At R29 I got the pleasure of production assisting on the Money Diaries podcast. I am also assisting Michael Alden on the upcoming U.S premiere of The King’s Speech on Stage.

I am a filmmaker that fell in love with film thanks to David Lynch. I believe in exploring the human psyche and asking the impossible questions. I am also a writer and photographer. Some of my work can be seen here : amybtiong.com/film Right now with the assistance of an NYU film grant, I am completing my short film Somewhere in Love which uses waitressing as an allegory to the nature of views on woman.

Aside from all this I love the holistic wellness space and truly believe in the advent of functional medicine. I try to keep myself educated on the powers of nutrition, yoga, and fitness. Ultimately I want to hone all the skills possible to tell the stories that must be heard.

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J O S H G W Y N N

Josh Gwynn is an audio producer who has created work for Pineapple Street Media, The New York Times, Netflix, Essence, Stitcher, Nike, Lenny and others. He received his Masters in Media Management from The New School/Parsons in New York City and is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta. He is passionate about providing platforms for underserved voices and reflecting often overlooked nuances of the human experience.

“Palm trees, confetti, limes, rhythm, vitamin e oil, melanin and bones.”

You can find his work at joshgwynn.com and on social @regardingjosh.Contact info: josh.gwynn@gmail.com

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K E R R Y D O N A H U EC U R R I C U L U M A D V I S O R

In January 2018, I started a new job at PRX as the director of training so a big part of my job is thinking about skills people want to develop and designing trainings to support them. PRX is based in Boston and I live in Manhattan, so I’m getting used to working remotely and appreciate the community at the Media Center. Before PRX, I was the director of the audio program at Columbia Journalism School for five years. I’ve been teaching at Columbia for more than a decade. I’ve also worked at WNYC, Marketplace, WBGO and at Audible in the early pre-Amazon days. I got started in this whole career through community radio and there is a lot about this current moment in podcasting that feels exciting in the same way.

I’m a big fan of The Daily from the New York Times and I’ve listened to this episode from October 18, 2017 Disappearing Factory Jobs many times - I love the way the voices are braided together. On a totally different note, I just finished 36 Questions, a fiction musical podcast - that was a stretch for my usual non-fiction ears and I enjoyed it.