Decoder Ring Creators & Guests

Benjamin Frisch is an audio and documentary producer and an artist. Currently, he is a Senior Producer at Slate.Frisch's first graphic novel, "The Fun Family," was published in 2016.

Willa Paskin is a professional TV critic.

Producer and co-host for Just the Beginning, a new podcast from Kickstarter. Also a producer for Nancy Podcast

Sofie Kodner is a journalist and documentarian. Her interest is in reporting on the nexus of history, design, and culture.Kodner's work has appeared in 99% Invisible, WBUR, KQED, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Kaiser Health News, CalMatters, KALW, Protocol, the Jackson Hole News and Guide, and more.Kodner received her B.A. in International Relations from Tulane University and her M.A. in Journalism from the University of California Berkeley.

Evan Chung is an audio producer. Currently, he is the Senior Producer of Slate’s podcast "One Year," for which he won the Writers Guild Award for Best Radio/Audio Documentary.Previously, Chung made podcasts for CNN and was a staff producer for the PRI show "Studio 360." He also produced the WBEZ Chicago show "Sound Opinions." He began his career as an intern at WBEZ's Arts Desk in 2007.Chung received his B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University.

Jenny Lawton is a freelance audio editor and consultant.Previously, Lawton was the Managing Editor of WNYC Studios.

Max Freedman is a journalist and audio producer with a background in education and theatre. Currently, he produces the Slate podcast "Decoder Ring." He also produces and hosts the podcast "Unsettled."Previously, Freedman was the Education Editor for The Conversation. He also produced series "All the Only Ones" NPR's "Embedded," produced the "Summer School" series for NPR's Planet Money, and reported, produced, and co-hosted two seasons of "School Colors."

Katie Shepherd is a writer and audio producer. Currently, she produces for Slate Studios. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, where she teaches a course on podcasting.Previously, Shepherd has produced podcasts for Slate Studios, Gimlet Creative, and Part2Pictures.Shepherd's work has appeared in The New York Times' Modern Love, Literary Hub, ELLE, BUST, Ploughshares, and The Rumpus. She has produced podcasts for Gimlet Creative, Stitcher, NYU Production Lab, The Listening Booth, and Infinite Potential Media and Cadence 13.Shepherd received her B.A. in English from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her M.A. in Education from The University of Manchester, and her M.F.A. from Columbia University.

Kyle Chayka is a writer, and author of the book Longing for Less.

Dr. Margaret O'Mara (born 1970) is an American historian and professor at the University of Washington. She writes and teaches about the growth of the high-tech economy, and connections between high-tech and the history of U.S. politics.O'Mara's writing on technology, politics, and society has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, and The American Prospect. Her first book, "Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search For The Next Silicon Valley," was published in 2005. Her second book, "Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections that Shaped the Twentieth Century," was published in 2015. Her third book, "The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America," was published in 2019. O'Mara has also appeared on major broadcast television and radio outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, PBS, BBC, CBC, and NPR. She is a public speaker, regularly lecturing before general and academic audiences about Silicon Valley's evolution and the impact of its people, companies, and politics on the United States and the world and about the past, present, and future of the American presidency.Prior to her academic career, O'Mara served in the Clinton Administration, working on economic and social policy in the White House and in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.O'Mara received her B.A. from Northwestern University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jane Fonda is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model whose career spans over six decades. She is a two-time Academy Award winner, known for her roles in classic films such as Klute (1971), Coming Home (1978), and On Golden Pond (1981). Fonda is also recognized for her activism, particularly during the Vietnam War and for women's rights, and more recently, for climate change. In addition to her acting and activism, she became a fitness icon with her popular workout videos in the 1980s.

David McRaney is an author and blogger, he created the blog You Are Not So Smart and also hosts the podcast You Are Not So Smart.

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is an art historian, curator, and professor of American Art at the University of Pennsylvania.DuBois Shaw has curated major exhibitions and published several books on African American art. In 2019, she became director of history, research and scholarship and senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic and author. She is a columnist for Bloomberg CityLab.Lang has been a featured writer at Design Observer, an opinion columnist at Dezeen, and the architecture critic for Curbed. Her essays, reviews and profiles have appeared in Architect, Harvard Design Magazine, and Metropolis, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. She has published several books about architecture and design.Lange received her B.A. in Architecture and Literature from Yale University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

Rebecca M. Herzig is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College, where she teaches courses on the history of science, technology, race, and gender.Herzig frequently contributes to popular media, and her first book, "Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America," was published in 2005. Her second book, "Plucked: A History of Hair Removal," was published in 2015.

Kirk Hamilton is a writer and musician in Portland, OR. He is co-host and producer of the Kotaku Splitscreen video game podcast, and has written about music, games and culture for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and Kotaku, where he was an editor for seven years.

Gustavo Arellano is a writer, author, former publisher, and editor of Orange Counties.

Dr. Janell Hobson is a scholar, writer, educator, and critic. Currently, she is Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany State University of New York.Hobson writes regularly for Ms. Magazine. Her first book, "enus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture," was published in 2005. Her second book, "Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender," was published in 2012. Her third book, "When God Lost Her Tongue: Historical Consciousness and the Black Feminist Imagination," was published in 2021. She has edited two collections of essays. She is the editor Routlege's series "Subversive Histories, Feminist Futures."