The Team

Project Director:

In fall, 2015, Professor Christen Madrazo introduced her creative nonfiction workshop students to several popular storytelling platforms with the following caveat: the genre was sorely missing the voices and stories of our city's vastly diverse young people. "Let's fill that gap!" she said. While she’d secretly hoped that they'd be as excited as she was to archive their truths and better represent whole bodies of people’s lived experiences, she never imagined they’d take it this far! Though the project is largely student-produced, Madrazo directs production and handles the story text editing process with each writer; helps to arrange collectively-curated story selections for episodes; and operates as the in-studio director for all story and interview raw recording sessions. In the past several semesters, she's expanded the podcast work to other nonfiction courses (including a self-designed "Travel Writing: Storytelling in Tanzania" workshop course she taught on-location) as well as in her Research Writing courses, in which her students now practice developing research inquiries based on contemporary social issues reflected in real life stories. Her work on Life Out Loud recently led, in part, to her winning the 2016 John Jay College Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2017 Service to Students Award. When not in the recording studio or in a writing workshop, Christen can be found directing John Jay’s award-winningWriting Program; curating a live travel storytelling series; or facilitating storytelling workshops around the world with DAT, an international service arts organization with whom she has designed and implemented storytelling workshops in more than 32 communities on four continents. Her own original work has been shared at the Renegade Reading Series, Projective Spaces, New World Stages, and in The New York Times, Brevity and The Shakespeare Bulletin.

Digital Art Director:

As one of the original founding members, Samuel Tapia volunteered to be the podcast's web developer, and soon realized that this would become one of his most ambitious passion projects. Sam has been at the studio since day one, and has ran the soundboard multiple times, as well as sound edited numerous stories and episodes from all seasons. His own story "WWMD", a quirky tale that takes place during a backpacking trip in Mexico with his girlfriend Lau (an honorary Life Out Loud member), can be heard on episode 1.4 "En Route." "WWMD" was also shared live at Travelogue at the New World Stages' Tony Lounge. During his last year at John Jay, Sam was part of an Independent Study that allowed him to create all the promotional content for Life Out Loud. Sam has a passion for the arts, specifically story telling, whether it's written, visual, or audio. His photograph of the "Orbs" has become Life Out Loud's most recognizable image. Sam graduated John Jay in the spring of 2016 with a degree in International Criminal Justice. He is currently working on a photography series about the children of Mexican immigrants living in New York City. Outside of Life Out Loud, Sam can be found creating the dankest of memes, and going after the longest road card in Settlers of Catan.

Digital Sound Director:

Velislava Bozhinova is one of the original founding members of Life Out Loud. In addition to running sound board, conducting sound editing, and designing underscoring, as the podcast's Digital Sound Director, one of Velislava's main jobs is to train others to edit, underscore, and run sound, too, so that the podcast has lots of helping hands working seamlessly together in order to produce a full episode; team work makes the dream work! As the Digital Sound Director for Life Out Loud, Velislava is also responsible for managing, delegating, and scheduling all of the work that happens on the raw recording tracks. She then compiles all the edited pieces; produces the full episode for review; and conducts all final sound editing on each version of the "final" product before it's launched on iTunes; sound cloud; the website; or on RADio568. Her personal passion is underscoring design, an idea that she initiated and developed here at Life Out Loud. Her own underscoring work can be heard in stories such as The Rabbit, In the Dark, and many more. When not behind the scenes, Velislava also shares her own work from time to time, such as “On the Run," featured in episode 1.2 “Our Father.” In the past year she has taken one Independent Study and one Faculty Mentored Research Group for the podcast during which time she teamed up with beautiful people to create beautiful work for Life Out Loud. When not in the studio or editing one of at least 17 of these incredible stories, Velislava--as a double major--can be found in a Political Science or Economics classroom or spending time with her three kids – a cat, a parrot, and a hermit crab. She’d like to thank her Life Out Loud family for their great work, passion and dedication. She couldn’t ask for a better team!

Episode Script Coordinator;
Outside Resources Team Member;
Production Team Member:

In a world of cat people and dog people, Karen Argueta considers herself more of a bird person. Lover of manatees and seasoned feeler of the feels, Karen has been hosting for Life Out Loud since the Spring of 2016 and never wants to stop. Seriously, she will not leave. This is her 4th consecutive month camping out in the studio. Karen also writes episode scripts; coordinates with the other script and interview writers and has taken to sound editing stories and interviews despite technology's seemingly fierce determination to work against her. Karen also runs the official 'Life Out Loud' Facebook and Instagram (@lifeoutloudpodcast) pages alongside Rebecca Singh. Born in El Salvador, Karen is an escapee from Long Island to beautiful New York City, and she wants nothing more than to thrive and die there. As a Criminology BA and recent Human Rights MA graduate, getting to learn about the inner (and outer!) workings of the people that inhabit this world is the blessing she treasures the most. Her work with storytelling is an organic extension of this. Karen also has a budding passion for education, as well as a fire for speaking out against injustice in pursuit of an equitable world for all marginalized people. You can frequently find her in ice cream shops or on bridges despite her fear of heights. She hopes this speaks volumes about who she is as a human.

Advertising Design and Strategy Coordinator;
Social Media Director;
Production Team Member:

Rebecca is a 2019 John Jay BA/MA graduate who, in the fall of 2016, found interest in a genre she couldn't master. The CNF class left Rebecca wanting to learn more about the writing genre that did not come as easily to her as academic writing, fantasy writing, and fiction writing did. In the following spring semester, Rebecca joined Life Out Loud to play support in the roles of advertising design coordinator, social meda director, and production team member, assisting with basically whatever was needed of her at any given time. However, writing a CNF piece proved to be the last trick she needed to really earn the self proclaimed title of "jack of all trades." Finally, in between singing and preaching for Church, leading Bible study classes, and working a full time job as a paralegal, Rebecca managed to write and submit a CNF piece called "Enough" featured in Season 5 Episode 7 four years after the inital start of her journey. Rebecca continues to work with Life Out Loud, and plans on continuing to do so for as long as she is able to assist and as long as time permits.

Production Team Member:
Associate Web Editor

Christina Greene is a new addition to the Life Out Loud Podcast team. She is a sophomore Forensic Psychology major at John Jay. Christina was invited to join the show after her Creative Nonfiction piece sparked the interest of Professor Victoria Bond who brought her name to the attention of the show. Christina’s search history is made up of “synonyms for __” because she is fixated on word choice which makes sense because she is minoring in Writing and Rhetoric. Outside of writing, she spends her free time stress baking, advocating for therapy, and collecting items for her junk journal.

Production Team Member:
Associate Digital Sound Director

Maximus Jay Andujar is a Junior English major with a passion for writing. During his Creative Non-Fiction in the Fall semester of 2022 with Prof. Rosenthall, he learned about how powerful nonfiction writing can be for giving a voice to those who feel voiceless. Through his professor's recommendation, Max was able to join the Life Out Loud team; he fits in perfectly due to his experience with writing and sound-editing podcasts throughout his high school and college career. He plans on becoming an author in the future and wants to use this experience to further his dream. If he's not studying or writing essays, Max can be found in the city- exploring tasty cuisines and searching for new hang out spots where he can play games with his friends.

Production Team Member:
Digital Sound Assignment Coordinator

Briannah Sachdev is a sophomore. She is majoring in law and society, and minoring in English. After taking professor Madrazo English 101 course, she realized her love for creative non-fiction. She plans on attending law-school upon graduating. If she is not studying for exams or attending classes, you can find her engrossed in a good book or watching a great movie.

Digital Art Assistant:

A New York City native, Brianna Harrell is a 21 year old studying Forensic Science at John Jay. Where science and art collides is where Brianna resides - in the lab performing an experiment or working with PR/Marketing in Snug Harbor. When Brianna isn't writing, procrastinating work or singing her head off, she can be found binge-watching her favorite television shows, attending concerts or snuggling up to a really great book with hot cocoa on the side. After graduating college she hopes to find herself in grad school, in a job she loves, occasionally traveling to different parts of the world or a mix of the three.

Production Team Member:
Digital Art Assistant

Tatiana Lugo Aquino is a new member of the Life Out Loud Podcast team. She is a sophomore at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is majoring in Criminal Justice and will possibly minor in Psychology. After taking Professor Madrazo’s English 101 class, Tatiana has taken a deep interest and learned to have an admiration for writing. During her free time, she enjoys listening to music, spending time with family and friends, binge-watching tv shows, baking, and going to the gym. She hopes to either become an FBI Agent or homicide detective in the future. She also wishes to travel the world and meet new people. Tatiana is extremely excited to be a part of the team!

Production Team Member:
Director of Outside Resources

Lindsey Hwang is a newbie to the life out loud podcast. She is a 19 year old sophomore majoring in Emergency Services Administration. She plans on pursuing the first responder field as a career (she’s currently a volunteer). After taking ENG 101 with Professor Madrazo, she developed an interest in story telling and sharing. While writing her own personal narrative, she realized the significance of telling our stories. During her free time, she enjoys playing with her dog, playing video games, hiking, and reading.

Production Team Member:

Laila Mansour is a new addition to the Life Out Loud Podcast team. She is a sophomore at John Jay and is double majoring in Forensic Science and English. Laila joined the team after taking Creative Nonfiction with Professor Madrazo in the spring. When she’s not conducting DNA research in Dr. Prinz’s lab or writing her own stories, you can find her immersed in a good book or singing her heart out at a concert. She’s excited to be a part of the team and to uplift student stories.

Production Team Member:

Alan Dokovic is a senior and one of the newest members of the Life Out Loud Podcast. He became eager to get better in the writing practice of creative nonfiction, especially because of his clear improvements through a sixteen-week semester with Professor Madrazo. Although he has a specific interest in the sports world (sports journalism), he loves to improve in all worlds of writing, believing that it will improve his overall skills as a writer. He's excited to learn more about what it takes to make all these stories happen--not just the writing portion, but the mechanics of the interview, editing, etc.

Production Team Member:
Digital Art Assistant

Reana is a junior at John Jay and a transfer from Kingsborough Community College. She is an English Major, hoping to work as an editor for novels at a publishing company. She never considered herself a writer--more someone who helps other people with their writing--but after taking Professor Madrazo’s Creative Nonfiction class, she found herself enjoying writing her own stories and wanting to continue writing herself. Growing up, she was not really a big reader--more of a movie/tv watcher-- but her love for movies has transferred to a love for storytelling and she's recently found more of that in books.