PRX Welcomes Seven Podcast Teams from Around the World to the Google Podcasts creator program

Producers from France, Colombia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the U.S. will participate in the global training program for creators seeking to level up their productions across topics and genres including personal finance, true crime, fiction, the environment, experimental storytelling, and parenthood

Public media organization PRX — one of the leading podcast publishers — today announced participants in the 2022 Google Podcasts creator program, a podcast accelerator and intensive 20-week training program for audio producers around the world. Participants will also receive up to $15,000 in funding for production costs and one-on-one mentorship.

The Google Podcasts creator program first launched in 2018 with a mission to help build a global, empowered audio community. The program has welcomed creators from Brazil, India, Kenya, Spain, Lebanon, Canada, Cuba, the United States, and elsewhere.

The Google Podcasts creator program is an opportunity for creators to build skills to sustain their audio productions in a competitive podcast market and to forge a growing global audio community,” said Stephanie Kuo, Director of Training at PRX. “We’re excited to help producers unlock the power and potential of their podcasts not only as meaningful crafts but as viable businesses as well. Thank you to our partners at Google for helping to make this program possible for independent creators worldwide.”

Led by the podcast training team at PRX, this year’s program will focus on areas including content and creative development, business development, audience growth and long-term sustainability, and new strategic pathways, such as video. Applications for this year’s program opened in late March to mid-career podcasters seeking to level up their productions. Training will begin in June.

The 2022 cohort for the Google Podcasts creator program includes:

“Moneda Moves” — Chicago, Illinois — English. At the intersection of money and culture, hear stories about Latinos, their BIPOC peers in business and how they are transforming the American economy. The podcast also delves into our personal relationships with money and how they impact our financial decisions. “Moneda Moves” is created and hosted by award-winning journalist Lyanne Alfaro, whose work has also appeared in CNBC, Business Insider, Refinery29 and at Nasdaq, where she has served as a producer and social media content director.
“Tant Que Je Serai Noire” (“As Long As I Am Black”) — Paris, France — French. Hosted and produced by podcast consultant and marketing professional Tsippora Sidibé, this podcast provides a space for Black women to share intimately personal reflections and deeply honest conversation around the topic of motherhood and the decision to have or not to have children.

*Tsippora Sidibé of “Tant Que Je Serai Noire” (“As Long As I Am Black”) and Lyanne Alfaro of “Moneda Moves”*

“The Wind” — Reno, Nevada — English. Made at a handmade desk in the mountains outside Reno, “The Wind’’ is a podcast about listening. Episodes to date have explored western film music, the cultural role of coyote howls, gender neutral language, and wildfire. Fil Corbitt (they/them) is a radiomaker and writer whose audio work has appeared on podcasts including “The City’’ from USA Today, “Dirtbag Diaries,” “Twenty Thousand Hertz,” “Nocturne,” and “The Organist.”

“Pensamiento Espiral”(“Spiral Thought”) — Bogotá, Colombia — Spanish. This interview podcast unearths Mother Nature’s voice by focusing on the diffusion of indigenous knowledge that is both urgent and useful for countering today’s global climate crisis. “Pensamiento Espiral” is created by co-host and editor Juan Diego Beltrán González, who has a background in the fields of education and international affairs, and co-host and editor Angélica María Daza Romero, a former educator part of the Teach for All Network, which aims to provide quality education in regions impacted by armed conflict in Colombia.

*Juan Diego Beltrán González and Angélica María Daza Romero of “Pensamiento Espiral” (“Spiral Thought”)*

“Dirty Datuk” — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — English. A fiction podcast from Matthew Durai of ZAG Media, an independent podcast company building a slate of IP focused on Southeast Asian stories and voices. Their flagship audio drama features an eccentric investigator and obstinate detective paired to investigate the tangled, mysterious case of a murdered business mogul, highlighting a corrupt Malaysian underbelly. The series has been nominated at the Asian Podcast Awards and Asia TV Forum & Market 2021.

“她說犯罪” (“She Tells True Crime”) — Taipei, Taiwan — Mandarin. “She Tells True Crime” is one of the first true crime podcasts from Taiwan, spoken in Mandarin. Producer and host Lily Wang is dedicated to spreading awareness around issues of social impact and to telling stories from underrepresented communities.

*Lily Wang of “她說犯罪” (“She Tells True Crime”)*

“Literacy Kings” — Houston, Texas — English. Musician Corey Paul and entrepreneur JaMorcus Trayham grew up in a neighborhood with a 30% school drop-out rate, and didn’t start reading books until adulthood. Together, and with a mix of education and entertainment, Corey and JaMorcus break down popular financial books in a way that resonates with people of color and marginalized communities while also sharing their own life experiences. “Literacy Kings’’ participated in the 2021 Google Podcasts creator program and this year will continue their journey of further developing the show.

Corey Paul and JaMorcus Trayham of “Literacy Kings” as well as Matthew Durai of “Dirty Datuk”

Google Podcasts creator program alumni include “City of Women” (Bangalore, India), “AfroQueer” (Nairobi, Kenya), “Las Raras” (Santiago, Chile), “De Eso No Se Habla” (Madrid, Spain), “On Spec” (Istanbul, Turkey), “Letters to BoyZ” (Lagos, Nigeria), and “Self Evident” (New York, New York).

Visit here for more about the Google Podcasts creator program and here for more information about PRX’s training team and initiatives.

PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling, working in partnership with TED, PBS, the Smithsonian, Futuro Media, GBH, Religion of Sports, and more. PRX is also home to Radiotopia — known as one of the most creative and successful podcast networks — and distributes public radio programming to hundreds of stations nationwide, including “The World,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “This American Life,” “Snap Judgment,” “Reveal,” “The Takeaway,” and “Latino USA.” PRX programs have won honors from the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes.