Working

This week host June Thomas learns about all the work that goes into making YouTube food videos. Her guest is online cook Adam Ragusea, who explains how he was able to monetize something that started as a fun side project. He also offers tips on how to make engaging videos that get to the point and respect the audience’s intelligence and time. Then, he talks about how he overcame the awkwardness of...

This week, host Isaac Butler talks to documentary theater makers Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, whose plays include The Exonerated, about the criminal justice system, and Coal Country, about the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia. Blank and Jensen explain how documentary theater works, from interviews with subjects to a live performance where actors perform interview excerpts verbatim...

Host Rumaan Alam talks about art curation with Sheena Wagstaff, who leads the Metropolitan Museum's program of modern and contemporary art for the Met Breuer and the Met Fifth Avenue. First they discuss the curator’s role of deciding which works of art are culturally important. Then Wagstaff makes her case for why people should see art in person and why it’s such a tragedy that no one is able to s...

Host June Thomas digs into the craft of acting with Alison Wright, who portrayed Martha on The Americans and now plays Ruth on the new TNT adaptation of Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 movie Snowpiercer (which itself was based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige ). Wright explains how she developed Ruth’s unique accent in Snowpiercer , how she utilizes the tools of Method acting to tap into emotion...

This week, host Isaac Butler talks to crime novelist and TV writer Megan Abbott, who describes her creative-writing rituals, her go-to story structure, and the challenges of adapting one of her novels for television.   After the interview, Isaac and co-host Rumaan Alam talk about the surprising origins of the terms story beat and character beat .  Send your questions about creativity and any other...

This week, host Rumaan Alam talks to TV and movie director DeMane Davis about what a working director really does. According to Davis, it requires a huge amount of collaborative problem-solving. Davis traces her journey from advertising copywriter to filmmaker and explains the importance of making art with a purpose.  After the interview, Rumaan and co-host June Thomas discuss their takeaways from...

This week, June Thomas talks with opera singer Jamie Barton. Barton is a critically acclaimed American mezzosoprano who performs at major opera houses all around the world and maintains an active social media presence that serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, diet culture, social justice issues, and LGBTQ rights, You can hear her on Studio 360 and watch her on YouTube . They ta...

This week, host Isaac Butler talks with the jazz composer, arranger, and orchestrator Miho Hazama. Hazama’s latest album Dancer in Nowhere was nominated for a Grammy award. Miho talks to Isaac about how her grandfather presented her with a Wikipedia article about cyclic numbers and how that became one of the biggest influences for her new album.   Afterward, Isaac and June Thomas talk about what t...

When it comes to closing a deal, generating client referrals, or getting repeat business, understanding how to elevate the customer’s experience can make all the difference. So how do you go above and beyond to deliver extraordinary experiences? To find out, host JulieGurner talks to customer experience guru and former Head of Customer Experience Programs at JetBlue Airways, Liliana Petrova. Toget...

This week, host Rumaan Alam talks with the multitalented artist Maira Kalman. Kalman is an illustrator, writer, artist, and designer known for her playful and witty illustrations in children's books like Fireboat and Why We Broke Up as well as her work for the New York Times and the New Yorker. They talk about what the perfect day of work looks like for the artist, how to stay creative in times of...

Welcome to the revamped Working. We’re pivoting to creativity! New hosts Rumaan Alam, Isaac Butler, and June Thomas will be talking to writers, musicians, designers, YouTubers, and other people with creative jobs about how they spend their days.  This week, June talks with author Veronica Roth, who wrote the first draft of her novel Divergent when she was a senior at Northwestern University. She h...

For Jordan’s last episode as host, he won’t be asking the questions. Instead, Slate’s June Thomas will be talking to him about how he’s covering the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. They also discuss what it takes to be an economics correspondent, where he gets his story ideas from, and how to read dense papers and legislation. Plus Jordan and June talk about the transition of the show and...

In this special episode recorded live at the CENTURY 21® Leadership Summit in Palm Springs, Dr. Julie Gurner tackles these interconnected topics with Margo Downs, an expert in creating empowering company culture and the importance of coaching. Over the course of her career, Margo was integral in developing the people and culture strategies at three iconic brands: Starbucks®, Lululemon Athletica, a...

This week, Jordan talked to Sister Mary Catharine Perry, a Dominican nun at The Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in New Jersey. As more people have begun social distancing to help flatten the coronavirus curve, Sister Mary Catharine shared some tips on how to stay home with NJ Advance Media reporter Cassidy Grom and began circulating around the internet. Jordan talked to Sister Mary Catharine a...

This week, Jordan talks to Molly Baz, Senior Associate Food Editor at Bon Appétit. Molly is part of the team of chefs who create and test recipes for the magazine--which you may already know if you're one of the millions of people who watch Bon Appétit's videos on Youtube. Molly talks life in the BA Test Kitchen, how a recipe makes it to the pages of the magazine, and her secret for a perfect bowl...

This week, Jordan kept his feet on the ground but talked with Daniel Darby about intentionally falling through the air. Daniel is a professional wingsuit pilot who competes on the international level. He also teaches adventure-seekers how to skydive and wingsuit. Daniel tells Jordan how he learned to fly, what hurdles he faces when trying to communicate mid-flight, and how he accidently interrupte...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, from professional athletes to coaches to people who do all manner of things to help other people run. In the final episode of the season, Shannon speaks to Monica Devreese, co-owner of Santa Barbara Running , co-founder of the running apparel brand Rabbit and self-described "gear head". Monica tells S...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, from professional athletes to coaches to people who do all manner of things to help other people run. This week, Shannon talks to Amy Begley, an Olympic runner and the Head Coach of the Atlanta Track Club. Amy tells Shannon about her experiences as an elite runner, why she spoke out about Alberto Sala...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, from professional athletes to coaches to people who do all manner of things to help other people run. This week, Shannon talks to Jim Heim, the Race Director of the TCS New York City Marathon. The now 50 year old marathon is the largest and most popular in the world and it’s Jim’s job to make sure the...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, from professional athletes to coaches to people who do all manner of things to help other people run. This week, Shannon talks to Dr. Amy Sanchez, a biomechanics researcher at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science. Amy and her team have been working on the eternal...

Whether we realize it or not, negotiation comes up a lot in everyday life. From buying a house to negotiating your salary or even compromising with your partner, it can trigger a rollercoaster of emotions. To get a holistic sense of negotiation, host Julie Gurner talks to someone with experience on both sides of the table: Andrew Brandt. Over the course of his career in professional sports, Andrew...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, from professional athletes to coaches to people who do all manner of things to help other people run. This week, Shannon talks to Thomas Panek, president and CEO of Guiding Eye for the Blind, a nonprofit training school for guide dogs. Thomas is also a lifelong runner. But, as he tells Shannon, when h...

For her first season hosting Working, Slate’s own Shannon Palus is delving into the world of running, talking to professional athletes and people who do all manner of things to help people run. This week, Shannon talks to Mirna Valerio, professional ultra runner, speaker and author of the book A Beautiful Work in Progress . Mirna started her journey toward becoming a professional athlete with her...

This week, Working revisits its special five-episode mini-season with people who have had “second acts,” that is people who made a dramatic career pivot at some point in their working lives. Nicole Auerbach worked as an attorney for 10 years, first as a federal public defender in the Southern District of New York and then as a media lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues. Realizing she was...

This week, Working is bringing you unaired episode from October 2019’s Working With Code mini-series, where Slate’s own Greg Lavallee talked to people who write the software that makes your digital life possible.  In this episode, Greg sits down with Laura Beaufort, a backend engineer for the Federal Elections Commission. Laura talks about her experiences working as a coder for a government agency...