This American Life Creators & Guests

Journalist for This American Life

Emanuele Berry is a producer at Gimlet. She currently is with Gimlet podcast "The Nod." The Michigan native wandered around St. Louis with a microphone for St. Louis Public Radio, and taught English in Macau, China as a result of winning a Fulbright scholarship.Berry formerly worked on the podcasts "StartUp" and "Undone."

Ira Glass is an American public radio personality and the host and producer of the radio show, and podcast This American Life. A staple on NPR's schedule, he participated in several programs including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation. He has appeared on several other podcasts and continues to work on This American Life.

Sarah Vowell a historian and writer. She has written seven books on American history. She was a contributing editor for This American Life from 1996 to 2008.

Miki Meek interned and freelanced for This American Life before joining the staff in December 2012. Previously, she worked as an online producer and editor at National Geographic and The New York Times. Miki has won two Emmy Awards for new approaches to documentary programming, and a duPont Award for her immigration coverage.

Laura Starecheski is an audio editor, currently at This American Life.Previously, Starecheski was an editor at Reveal, reporting, producing and editing radio stories for the show. They were lead producer and reporter for Reveal's serialized investigation, "American Rehab." They started their career in public radio at WNYC. They went on to work at the show "State of the Re:Union," and as a health reporter on NPR’s Science Desk.Starecheski received their B.A. in Comparative Literature from New York University and their M.A. in American Studies from City University of New York.

Jonathan Goldstein is an author, humorist and radio producer. Goldstein has worked on radio programs and podcasts such as Heavyweight, This American Life, and WireTap.After graduation, Goldstein supported himself by working in the telemarketing industry for ten years while continuing to write and attend readings.

Journalist for This American Life

Dr. Diane Wu is an audio producer. Currently, she is a producer and Deputy Managing Editor at "This American Life." She co-created and co-hosted the podcast "The Egg Factory."Previously, Wu was at the Gimlet Media show "Science Vs." Before that, she was a scientist.

Bethel Habte is a documentary audio producer and story editor based in Brooklyn, NY.

Ike Sriskandarajah is an Emmy award-winning radio producer, reporter, and senior producer for Reveal Podcast.

Producer for This American Life

Audio Producer at This American Life / It’s “RAY-man,” en español.

Valeriya "Valerie" Kipnis is an immigrant writer, reporter, and Emmy-award winning documentary producer. Currently, she is a Fellow at This American Life.

Emmanuel Dzotsi is a producer at Reply All. Before that, he produced and reported stories for WBEZ, This American Life, and Serial.

James Bennett II is a writer and audio editor, producer, and announcer. Currently, he is a fellow at This American Life.Previously, Bennett was a producer and announcer for GBH. Before that, he was a staff writer for the New York Public Radio station WQXR.

Stephanie Foo is a writer, a radio producer and an editor. She was a producer at This American Life for five years, and helped create Snap Judgment. Her book about healing from Complex PTSD, "WHAT MY BONES KNOW," will be coming out in February 2022. Foo taught high school journalism after college but wanted to make radio. She started the music podcast "Stagedive."Foo was an intern and then a producer at "Snap Judgment," then moved to "This American Life." She has also contributed to Reply All and 99% Invisible.Foo launched her own podcast, "Pilot." She was also the project lead on the "This American Life" app called Shortcut. Her culture criticism focuses on diversity in media.

Eric Mennel is an award winning journalist and podcast producer. He was one of Gimlet Media’s first employees, and spent several years developing and launching the network’s early programming. His reporting has appeared on This American Life, NPR, Marketplace, 99% Invisible, and other programs. In 2013 he co-created the podcast, Criminal.