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 both the 2016 and 2024 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-winning First-Year Writing 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 Brevity, The Shakespeare Bulletin, and The New York Times.

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 Consultant:

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.

Production & Title Consultant

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.

Project Director Assistant & Associate Web Editor

Christina Greene graduated from John Jay with a degree in Forensic Psychology. She was invited to join the show after her Creative Nonfiction piece sparked the interest of Professor Victoria Bond, who brought her work to the attention of Professor Madrazo. Christina’s search history is made up of “synonyms for __” because she is fixated on word choice which makes sense because she minored 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:
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.

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:
Social Media & Publicity Manager

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:
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.

Production Team Member:
Post-Production Sound Supervisor

Doris Ku is a newbie to the Life Out Loud podcast. She is in her second semester of college at John Jay, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in forensic psychology. She hopes to be able to pursue a career as a Mental Health Counselor, specializing in forensic populations. After writing her memoir in Professor Madrazo’s ENG 101 class, Doris felt inspired to join the podcast to continue sharing stories. When she’s not busy doing schoolwork, you can expect to find Doris at home, reading fantasy-romance books with her two cats, or in the gym, working on herself. Most importantly, she wishes to strengthen her skills as a writer through the course of this podcast experience. She hopes that one day, she will be able to publish her own sappy romance novel.

Production Team Member:
Digital Sound Board Director & Sound Files Coordinator

Rowen Holder is a senior at John Jay, majoring in English with a minor in Digital Media and Journalism. She is the sole supporter of pineapple and ham pizza in her friend group and family. When she signed up for Professor Madrazo’s Creative Nonfiction course, she had no idea that it would become one of her favorite genres to write in—nor did she realize how powerful her classmates’ stories would be. This is Rowen’s first year working on the Life Out Loud Podcast. She is so excited to help produce stories that are crafted by individuals who are as passionate about writing as she is and that remain remarkable from the page to the microphone.

Production Team Member:
Photography

Nathalie is new to the LOL podcast production team. Nathalie is an English major with a minor in Digital Media and Journalism. She has a chihuahua, and she likes to think they’re a lot alike—small, but loud. Writing is the one place where she feels completely herself, where she can speak her truth. Lately, she’s been inspired by Virginia Woolf’s idea that “a woman’s daily job is to kill the angel in the house,” and she’s made it her mission to reflect that in her work—to write honestly and unapologetically. To her, writing is a way to preserve life, history, and culture—all while claiming power. When she’s not writing or reading, Nathalie is probably playing pickleball, pinning things on Pinterest, shopping on Depop, listening to her go-to playlist—the Twilight soundtrack—or watching her favorite love story trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight.

Production Team Member:

Karen Díaz is a passionate sophomore at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she is majoring in Criminal Justice. Although her academic path is focused on law and the justice system, Karen has discovered in writing a place that fills her soul and allows her to explore her most human side.

She joined ENG 245: Creative Nonfiction upon the recommendation of her first-semester English professor, and since then, she has worked alongside her on projects that have opened new creative doors. Through these experiences, Karen realized that writing is not only a passion, but also a way to connect with others and tell stories that inspire.

Today, she combines her academic training with her love for literature, with the hope of inspiring people through her stories and becoming an example of how a personal voice can also be a tool for transformation.

Production Team Member:

Anna is a John Jay BA/MA student studying Forensic Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. She’s brand new to the Life Out Loud family, invited onto the show after sharing one of her own stories last semester. She is currently working on her master’s thesis with the help of her three cats. In her free time, Anna enjoys writing (of course), playing video games, painting, and volunteering with the Earthlings.NYC turtle rehabilitation program. Anna is excited to join the podcast so she can learn from other authors, always seeking to better her own writing through broadening her experiences.

Production Team Member:

Miriam Florencio is a junior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice majoring in Cell & Molecular Biology. She was initially undecided, but after taking two science courses with Anna Lerer, she rediscovered her enthusiasm for science. As she continues to explore her professional goals, she plans to pursue an MA and PhD to become a conservation biologist, but she also hasn't ruled out veterinary school. Ultimately, she hopes to be an advocate for wildlife. In her free time, she enjoys reading, going to the gym, and creating charcoal art.