Humo: Murder and Silence in El Salvador connects a gruesome story of mass murder in El Salvador to a larger shift in the country's society with the election of Nayib Bukele. Daniel Alvarenga (@pipianspice), host of the English-language version of the podcast, brings years of experience reporting on El Salvador as well as his experience as a Salvedo…

“If someone were going to make this story into a movie, I want to hear about the scenes that would be in it.” Notable scenes of Jen Wieczner's career include commuting from Boston to New York while juggling a juice bar job and a journalism internship, scrambling for interviews in Japan, and attending the Goldman Sachs CEO's late night DJ set. Now a…

"To tab. Verb. To rewrite a news article in a tabloid-style." We learn a new word in this episode of the podcast from Sean Collins Walsh, a City Hall reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sean looks back on his first job at the tabloid Philadelphia Daily News and a career that has landed him reporting back in his hometown of Philly. Countries feat…

A promising journalism career briefly takes a dark turn down the path of Instagram influencing. Alden Wicker, a freelance journalist and author, managed to come out the other side. Her career as a sustainable fashion journalist - as the editor of EcoCult and freelancer for numerous big name publications - culminated with her book To Dye For. We als…

In this episode, Woodmere’s Director and CEO Bill Valerio talks with Philadelphia-based, Venezuela-born artist Henry Bermudez and curator Gaby Heit about the exhibition Henry Bermudez in Philadelphia. The conversation takes a deep dive into Bermudez’s rebuilding of his life and career since arriving in the “City of Brotherly Love” 20 years ago.…

Born in Mexico to American parents, David Luhnow (@davidluhnow) returned to report on the country for decades. Luhnow talks about the tectonic shifts in Mexico and yet, how through all this time, the country's institutions continue to fail. The mental toll of years reporting on Mexico's drug war contributed to his leaving to become the current Unit…

Leaving school at age 16 for a technical apprenticeship, Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) would stumble into his first journalism job while traveling in Mexico. Within five years he'd be working for The New York Times in Haiti. After decades of covering Latin America, Andrew now lives in Spain where he is working on a biography of soccer legend Pelé.…

Business is a lot like sports. It's competitive and stock prices keep the score. Also keeping score is one of the world's highest powered business journalists: Liana Baker (@LianaBaker), managing editor for the Bloomberg deals team in the United States. She talks about how dabbling in sports, foreign reporting and environment eventually led her dow…

Can you name the world's eight bear species? Gloria Dickie (@GloriaDickie), a London-based Climate & Environment Correspondent for Reuters, has documented them all in her book Eight Bears. Gloria tells the improbable story of how she conceived and reported the book while working as a freelancer and living on the road as she traveled the world in se…

In this episode, Bill Valerio has a conversation with Adam Waterbear DePaul, Storykeeper of the Lenápe Nation of Pennsylvania, and Shelly DePaul, Clan Mother and Language Director of the Lenápe Nation of Pennsylvania about land recognition, stewardship, and forging community relationships to heal the past, give direction for today, and brighten the…

There are no happy endings in Syria after more than a decade of war. Lina Sinjab (@BBCLinaSinjab), a BBC correspondent based in Beirut, talks about covering the civil war from the start and the terrible toll it has taken on her and her home country. As a multi-format journalist, she regularly produces radio and video documentaries as well as writte…

Climate change reporting often means documenting some of the worst events that ever happen to people. But Kendra Pierre-Louis (@kendrawrites), whether reporting for the podcast How to Save the Planet, or posting pictures of bear sex, manages to make it not totally depressing. Kendra, an independent climate reporter, talks about gradually finding he…

Woodmere Art Museum’s Director and CEO Bill Valerio talks with Stephan Salisbury about his career at The Philadelphia Inquirer on the occasion of his retirement. They discuss some of the major events he covered over the years and the future of arts and culture journalism in the city of Philadelphia.Av Woodmere Art Museum

The day the war broke out in Ukraine, Valerie Hopkins (@VALERIEinNYT) was in Kiev unsure of what was about to happen. Only a few months into working for The New York Times, she was at the center of the biggest story in the world. She now reports on the war as one of a dwindling number foreign correspondents in Russia, interviewing Russians who see …

Woodmere has a vibrant past on display in a 19th-century mansion and hosting a robust historical Founders' Collection; in this episode, Woodmere’s CEO & Director Bill Valerio explores the history and future of the museum and its upcoming curatorial directions.Av Woodmere Art Museum

A chance meeting with some French journalists in a New Delhi park led Will Brown (@_Will_Brown) to quit his job as a teacher to become a reporter. After freelancing doesn't work out, he finds himself back in London working at The Economist, eventually being dispatched as a stringer to Senegal. He also talks about covering the outbreak of the Tigray…

The Society of News Design's best designer in the world, Marco Hernandez (@TmarcoH) tells us how he grew up in Costa Rican coffee country and has been recruited to a series of jobs that took him around the world. Ever humble, he also talks about how he likes to draw insects to relax and maintains a website dedicated to his failed projects. Countrie…

The kidnapped Chibok girls were the identifiable victims of Nigeria's war with Boko Haram islamist insurgents. Drew Hinshaw (@drewhinshaw) talks about reporting around Europe and Africa for the Wall Street Journal while co-writing an award-winning book about the Chibok girls on nights and weekends. We also find out what happens when you wear the wr…

Russia invaded Ukraine and the next day Thomas Peter was crossing the border from Poland to cover the war. Tom, a Reuters photographer, thought he understood Russia after spending his 20s living in the country. But little could prepare him for the indiscriminate brutality he saw there. He’ll also talk about his childhood in Soviet East Germany, cov…

Turns out Russian mercenaries stand ready to troll journalists and produce big-budget action movies in war-torn African countries. Neil Munshi, West Africa Editor now for Bloomberg, went to the Central African Republic to report on that mercenary group, while writing an award-winning series of stories seeking to explain the conflicts raging in most…

In this additional bonus content, Jon Lee Anderson talks about what has gone wrong with democracy in Latin America and discusses what it's like to work for the hallowed magazine The New Yorker. Jon Lee's story about Chilean President - https://bit.ly/3ukSKE5 Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChanc…

Have Hugo Chavez and Barack Obama read your book? Jon Lee Anderson of The New Yorker can say that they have. Jon Lee tells us about his early years chronicling rebel groups and insurgents from Latin America to Asia, culminating in writing a book about the quintessential guerrilla Che Guavara. Working for The New Yorker, he has gotten to know many w…

A solo podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sportstvratings.comAv Robert Seidman

The open ocean is about as foreign as it gets. No country can claim it. And as a result, a whole lot of bad stuff happens there. Ian Urbina (@ian_urbina) talks about his series of stories for The New York Times about lawlessness at sea, that later became a book and now a non-profit journalism initiative called The Outlaw Ocean Project. Urbina will …

In the spirit of Warren & Jane Rohrer’s collaborative artistic practice, Woodmere’s CEO & Director Bill Valerio sits down with two artist couples: Syd Carpenter & Steve Donegan, and Mariel Capanna & Tyler Goldman. Together, they discuss the characteristics that shape and support their relationships and their artmaking before turning to Warren & Jan…

History matters to Julie McCarthy (@JulieMcCarthyJM). She’s gone around the world with National Public Radio to Tokyo, London, Rio de Janeiro, Jerusalem, Islamabad, New Delhi and Manila, trying to understand each place through its history. Her reporting brings to life events like the Hiroshima bombing and the partition of India, explaining how they…

Richard Deitsch unintentionally inspired me to test something out with podcasting production workflow, so after nearly 3 years a podcast. Helping with the test was former regular Ryan Glasspiegel, now a sports/entertainment writer for the New York Post. Topics covered include NBA ratings and USA Network as a big sports channel. And we had an in-dep…

Little Uruguay, we don’t hear from many correspondents based there. Lucinda Elliott (@lucinda_elliott) - who covers South America's Southern Cone of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for the Financial Times - tells us how she ended up there in the middle of the pandemic. That’s just one way Lucinda has come full circle, having also been laid o…

The foreign country in this episode is the United States. Guga Chacra, a Brazilian journalist based in New York City, is one of the most recognizable faces of Brazilian TV news. With his signature shaggy hair and a legion of Twitter followers, he is known for his work with Globo TV, the 24 hour news channel Globo News, his column for newspaper O Gl…

In this episode, Woodmere's CEO & Director Bill Valerio takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of our newest exhibition, "Don't Feed the Art: Woodmere's Animal Menagerie." You'll hear from four museum staff members as they dive into the creation of an art exhibition. What does a curator do? How can a museum inspire visitors to engage with artwork? Ho…

Reporting the Arab Spring is the story of a lifetime. Evan Hill (@evanhill) tells us how a blog got him hired by Al Jazeera in the Middle East where he was sent to cover the Arab Spring, witnessing the Egyptian Revolution first hand from Tahrir Square. He discusses almost quitting journalism, only to later join the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York T…

What drew so much media attention to Venezuela only a few years ago and why has it fizzled out? Stephen Gibbs (@STHGIbbs), a freelancer based in Caracas, tells us about covering the unrest and his encounters with Hugo Chavez and Maduro. As a former longtime BBC correspondent, Gibbs also talks about covering Cuba - including Castro revealing his rel…

Writing a book isn’t easy, but James Griffiths (@jgriffiths) of Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail sure makes it look that way. Griffiths talks about getting his start in journalism in Shanghai and Hong Kong just as the Chinese government was ratcheting up censorship of the internet. That became the subject of his first book, which he wrote whil…

When Gabriel Escobar was a young boy, he immigrated from Colombia to America without knowing a word of English. What follows is the story of how Gabriel went from working as a local paperboy to becoming one of Philadelphia's most seasoned journalists, He has been involved in the coverage of some of the most challenging news stories of the 21st cent…

Chris Hytha is a digital artist and photographer whose work focuses on architecture and the built environment. Before that, he was an aspiring architect at Drexel University. While he was a student, Chris began urban exploring, which led him to discover his passion for photography. What follows is the story of how Chris's photos have sold for thous…

Mitch Moxley (@mitch_moxley) talks about the world of book writing, agents and getting your magazine stories optioned by Hollywood. Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Mitch's Rent a White Guy story for The Atlantic - https://bit.ly/39YlbwO His book Apologies to My Censors - https://amzn.to/3B64BqR His true crime story Knives Outb…

Eli Kulp is an award-winning Philly chef and podcaster who has overseen local restaurants such as Fork, and a.kitchen. One night, while he was, was at the top of his game, Eli was in an Amtrak derailment that led them that left him unable to walk, unable to use his hands, and unable to cook. What follows is the story of how, despite his severe inju…

Going viral. North Korea. Anthony Bourdain. Beijing Olympics. Long-form magazine journalism. Narrative non-fiction. Stage plays. Executive editor at Maxim. Mitch Moxley has done a lot of stuff. As a magazine editor and freelance writer, previously in China and now in New York City, Mitch tells us about his careers highs and disappointments, as well…

Due Quach is the founder and CEO of Calm Clarity, a social impact organization that helps people overcome adversity through nurturing a mindset of growth, leadership, and resilience. She's also the founder of Collective Success Network, a nonprofit that provides support to low-income first-generation students. When Due was a toddler, her parents mo…

The journalist’s holy trinity: the right time, the right place, the right beat. You’re lucky if you find it once in your career. Sue-Lin Wong (@suelinwong) tells how she thinks she hit it in the Hong Kong protests in 2019. Now working as a China correspondent for The Economist based in Hong Kong, she also has the unusual distinction of having been …

Terrill Haigler is the Founder and face of Ya Fav Trashman, which is an online brand and Instagram account with over 30,000 followers. However, Terrill's story begins when he was working as a Philadelphia sanitation worker at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He originally created the Instagram account in 2020 when trash was piling up in the city…

On this episode, we’re diving into the masterful work of the late Philadelphia artist, Larry Day. He was known as “The Dean of Philadelphia Painters” and was very much the “Art-Historian Artist.” Day lived from 1921 – 1998 and spent most of his life in Cheltenham Township just outside of Philadelphia. Woodmere has been an avid collector of Day’s wo…

Financial journalists don’t get the respect they deserve. Scottish journalist Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) has traveled the world covering financial markets, including NYC, London, Madrid and all over Brazil and Europe. His work at Reuters put him at the center of the chaos of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Also discussed: bullfighting, Celtic…

Jeannine A. Cook is the Founder and Shopkeeper at Harriett's Bookshop, named after Harriett Tubman. In February 2020, Harriett's was born to celebrate women authors, artists, and activists. The space was immediately beloved, but when the Coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, everything Jeannine had worked for was in jeopardy. What follows is the …

Abdi Latif Dahir, The New York Times' East Africa Correspondent, talks more in-depth about his coverage of Rwanda and shares a special moment reporting in Mogadishu. This is a bonus content from FoCo's interview with Abdi. For the full interview, please check out episode 54. Note: Apologies that this is not the usually scheduled full episode that I…

Madeline Bell is the President & CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Children’s Hospital-- more commonly known as CHOP-- receives more than 1 million visits every year. And Madeline is the one making many of the big decisions: like whether to try and complete the world’s first double hand transplant. But when she first walked into C…

The long road to a Pulitzer. Now a Mexico-based reporter for Vice, Emily Green (@emilytgreen) has had a couple career booms and busts. The WSJ job that doesn't pan out leads her into radio reporting. The pandemic leads her to flee Mexico. But you never know, maybe you'll be sitting in your childhood bedroom and feeling sorry for yourself, when you …

Chill Moody (@chillmoody) is a HipHop artist, entrepreneur, and activist. Born and raised in West Philadelphia, he started by making beats in his parents' basements and quickly rose to the top of the Philly hip hop scene. He was named 'Best Rapper' by PhillyMag and is the official Philadelphia Music Ambassador as named by City Council. He also foun…

Rakia Reynolds is the Founder & CEO of Skai Blue Media, a public relations agency that's worked with clients such as Serena Williams, Ashley Graham, and M. Night Shyamalan. In the mid 2000s Rakia was a TV producer whose life was turned upside down when she was unexpectedly laid off. With a child on the way and the economy in recession, she decided …

Childhood journals lead to journalism. Abdi Latif Dahir (@Lattif) started journaling as a way to process the violence around him when, at 8 years old, his family returned to Somalia from Kenya. He tells us how that experience influences his reporting on conflicts as East Africa Correspondent for The New York Times. He also talks about his reporting…