Eight Storytellers From Underrepresented Groups Chosen For Its First Eight-Week Course 

Neon Hum to Offer Staff Editor Position to One Participant at Conclusion of Course

NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES – February 25, 2021 – Neon Hum Media, in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment, today announced the eight talented participants who will attend its free Editors’ Bootcamp, which starts next month. The first group was selected out of more than 250 applicants.

The course is led by Neon Hum’s senior editor Catherine Saint Louis, and was designed to provide a new and unique opportunity for marginalized storytellers who want to become story editors. The finalists will learn and develop relevant skill sets from some of the industry’s top editors and experts, including Emanuele Berry of This American Life, Annie Avilés of VICE Audio, Phyllis Fletcher of APM Podcasts, Nick White of Lost Notes, Ann Heppermann of Audible. Neon Hum founder and CEO Jonathan Hirsch will also co-teach a session.  

At the end of the course, one of the Bootcamp participants will be offered a staff editor position at Neon Hum. The program is designed to develop the selected students into top candidates for other employers to also consider hiring as editors after graduation. Congratulations to the finalists:

• Zakiya Gibbons (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based audio producer and host who is currently a Senior Producer at Audible. In her career, she has taught an introduction to radio journalism class at Columbia University, was selected as an AIR New Voices Scholar, and is a co-founder of the POC in Audio Directory, a resource created to fight the lack of racial diversity in the audio industry. She was a producer at the WNYC podcast Nancy, which centered LGBTQIA experiences. 

• Corinne Gilliard (she/her) began her professional life in television, then discovered a love of audio four years ago. As the Director of Development at Crooked Media, she produced and launched popular weekly podcasts, Keep It and Hysteria. In 2019, Corinne returned to independent producing, launching The Tamron Hall Show for Disney/ABC, The Oprah Conversation for Apple TV+ and freelancing on audio projects with Blue Wire Podcasts and OBB Media.

• Jimmy Gutierrez (he/him) got his start in radio at his local NPR station in Milwaukee more than a decade ago. He went to Transom’s story workshop, then worked at New Hampshire Public Radio, and was a Third Coast Ragdale Artist in Residence. Currently, he’s directing audience at Outlier Media in Detroit, which includes overseeing the local Documenters program. Last year, he filled information gaps in low-wealth neighborhoods in Milwaukee for which he was recognized as a 2020 John S. Knight Community Impact Fellow at Stanford University. 

• Davey Kim (he/him) is a producer, sound designer, and engineer based in Oakland, California. Most recently, he was the creator and senior podcast producer for Adult ISH, an interview and storytelling podcast by YR Media (fka Youth Radio) x PRX’s Radiotopia. Davey has also contributed to NPR, Marketplace, KPCC, KCRW, The World, The Dinner Party Download, and Self Evident, and his stories and scores have been recognized as exceptional by The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, CNN, and more.

• Oliver-Ash Kleine (they/them) is an audio storyteller focused on show development and shaping sound-rich stories. They developed and currently produce the trans news and culture show TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones, and recently launched Cancel Me, Daddy; a podcast that takes a critical look at the public temper tantrums around cancel culture. Oliver-Ash was also instrumental in the creation of the Trans Journalists Association in 2020 and was an AIR New Voices Scholar in 2019. They also worked as a founding producer of The Mother Jones podcast. 

• Jennifer Lai (she/her) is an audio producer, poet, visual artist, and first-generation Chinese American. Her professional experience includes time at American Public Media, Panoply, and Slate, where she’s produced narrative, interview, scripted, and kids’ shows. She currently produces the daily poetry show The Slowdown, which is hosted by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith and received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 2020. And, for the last three years, Jennifer has been a part of a storytelling initiative called Everyday Chinatown, which blends neighborhood engagement, art, and audio.

• Stephanie Serrano (she/her/ella) is an award-winning multimedia bilingual journalist based in Reno, Nevada. Her storytelling works to share the experiences of unserved communities in regards to education, race and affordable housing. Her work was honored with two 2020 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for best sports reporting, which followed a resilient Div. I athlete who lives with type 1 diabetes, and continuing coverage on anti-Semitic incidents on a college campus. She is an alumna of NPR’s Next Generation Radio Project. 

• Afi Yellow-Duke (she/her) is an associate producer on the WNYC Studios podcast Death, Sex & Money. She previously worked at StoryCorps, where she produced two episodes of the Peabody Award-nominated Stonewall OutLoud podcast series. Afi has also contributed to projects for Panoply Media, Audible Originals, and BRIC. She was an AIR New Voices Scholar in 2016, a 3-time AIR New Voices Scholarship Captain, and is one of the five co-creators of the POC in Audio Directory.

“On behalf of Neon Hum, congratulations to our exemplary finalists on everything that they have accomplished so far,” Saint Louis said. “We look forward to working with these talented folks to give them the training they need to work as editors. The industry doesn’t have enough story editors from underrepresented groups. We hope this Bootcamp will help change that.” 

Funding for the bootcamp is made possible by Sony Music Entertainment, Neon Hum Media’s joint venture partner. To learn more about Sony Music’s commitment to supporting communities globally and locally, click here. 

The program will run from mid-March to mid-May.