SENIOR PRODUCER

Kelly Hardcastle Jones

Kelly is an audio producer and editor based in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was a producer for BackStory, which she joined after a brief and sordid affair with graduate-level philosophy in Guelph, Canada. While studying, she started a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast called Pioneer Radio, won a Third Coast Short Doc award for a three-minute piece about poutine, and produced a documentary for the BBC about firearm suicide. As a freelancer, she developed, produced, edited, and hosted a podcast through NPR’s Storytelling Lab called Do Over, about regret and the strange terror of the choices we make. In 2020, Kelly also produced and edited two other VPM podcasts: Resettled and Social Distance Assistance. She currently edits documentaries from UVA’s Race, Religion, and Democracy Lab and is working on the third season of Blue Wire’s American Prodigy series about gymnastics.

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NARRATIVE PRODUCER

Ronald Young, Jr.

Ronald is an audio producer and storyteller based in Alexandria, VA. He is the host of the Pushkin podcast Solvable. He is the Senior Producer and owner of ohitsBigRon studios, which produces such shows as the critically acclaimed and award-winning Time Well Spent and movie review podcast Leaving the Theater, both of which he also hosts. As an avid pop culture enthusiast, Ronald is a frequent contributor to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour as a guest panelist, as well as WAMU’s 1A. He is passionate about social justice and equity and is excited to tell the untold stories of black folks who used their agency to take their freedom.

INTERVIEW PRODUCER

Lushik Lotus Lee

Lushik is an independent audio producer and editor who has worked for NPR’s Hidden Brain, MSNBC’s Into America, LAist’s WILD, FreshEd, ASU and KCRW. At 16, she earned a scholarship to study at the United World College in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She graduated from Bennington College with a concentration in Media and Social Justice. Lushik is passionate about producing podcasts and documentaries that focus on issues affecting marginalized populations around the world.

NARRATIVE EDITOR

Jess Jupiter

Jess is an LA-based producer and editor. Jess’ podcast production work includes Netflix’s Strong Black Lead and Okay, Now Listen, The Stoop, HBO’s award-winning podcast, Lovecraft Country Radio, and The New York Times’ Still Processing. Jess is committed to fostering and creating stories that focus on gender and sexual identities in queer communities, as well as elevating stories by and for black women.

INTERVIEW EDITOR

Afi Yellow-Duke

Afi is an audio producer and editor based in Brooklyn, NY. She’s an associate producer on the WNYC Studios podcast Death, Sex & Money, and previously worked at StoryCorps, where she helped produce the Peabody Award-nominated Stonewall OutLoud podcast series. Afi has also contributed to projects for Panoply Media, Audible Originals, and BRIC. She was a 2016 AIR New Voices Scholar, a 3-time AIR New Voices Scholarship Captain, an inaugural member of Neon Hum Media Podcast Editors’ Bootcamp, is one of the co-creators of the POC in Audio Directory, and was recognized in the 2019 “Bitch 50” from Bitch Media as among the “most impactful creators, artists, and activists in pop culture.”

SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER

James T. Green

James (he/they) is an audio documentarian by trade and an artist by practice. They are the founder of Molten Heart, a creative studio in Brooklyn, New York. Their works have been featured in places such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Mass MoCA, 99% Invisible, and Pop Up Magazine.