Webby Award-Winning Podcast Host and Producer
Misha Euceph: Biography at a Glance
- Misha Euceph is a Tribeca-winning podcast producer and Webby-winning podcast host, journalist, author and founder and CEO of storytelling studio, Dustlight Productions.
- Euceph is best known for her groundbreaking work on Tell Them, I Am, a Spotify original podcast which she created and hosts, where she helps guests such as Malala Yousafzai, Tan France, Ramy Youssef, and others tell stories they’ve never before shared publicly.
- She also produces and hosts award-winning Hello, Nature, an REI and Subaru show that imagines a resilient, inclusive relationship with the environment, specifically making space for Black and indigenous people, people of color, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ people.
- Euceph was behind the breakout hit, The Big One: Your Survival Guide, an NPR podcast that helped millions of listeners approach disaster preparedness with realistic information and practical, optimistic tips.
- She is currently writing her non-fiction debut for Little Brown, building off of her work on Tell Them, I Am. It will unveil a progressive, largely ignored vision of faith, and how Misha’s understanding of Islam is not only compatible with modern ideas around climate change, environmental stewardship, politics and everything in between, but informs them in ways we’ve never considered before.
- As the CEO of Dustlight productions, the studio behind Michelle and Barack Obama’s podcasts, Misha is regarded as a leading expert and advocate for creator-led, ethical and representative storytelling.
- Her podcasts have garnered over 50 million downloads and inspired people from all over the world to tell their stories authentically and unapologetically and to build resilient communities.
Videos
Biography
Misha is a Pakistani-American, Tribeca, and Webby Award-winning writer, host, and audio doc maker, and is on a mission to create things that inspire awe.
She’s most well-known as the creator, host, writer, and director of the Webby-winning audio series Tell Them, I Am. The show is about the small defining moments in our lives— the voices are all Muslim; the stories are universal. It has been called “quietly revolutionary” by the LA Times and “hypnotic listening” by the New York Times. The audio series was also named one of the best podcasts by TIME, The Atlantic, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, and the NYT Podcast Club and featured in Rolling Stone, Vogue, All Things Considered on NPR, It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders and The Tamron Hall Show.
She’s currently show running and hosting season 2 of Hello, Nature and writing her first non-fiction book, which will be published by Little Brown. It will unveil a progressive, largely ignored vision of faith, and how my understanding of Islam is not only compatible with modern ideas around sex, politics, and everything in between but informs them in ways we’ve never considered before.
She’s previously written for McSweeney’s and the Wall Street Journal, show-run, directed or executive produced audio series like Renegades: Born in the USA with Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, The Michelle Obama Podcast, Mother Country Radicals, The Wilderness Season 3, How to Citizen Seasons 2 and 3, The Big One: Your Survival Guide; and created and hosted Quran Book Club and Beginner.
Topics
The Rise of Islamophobia (And How to Stop It)
Islamophobia - a word that describes racism and bias against Muslims and perceived Muslims - is the idea that a group of 2 billion people that share a spiritual practice are all the same, evil, violent, oppressive or oppressed people. It is a form of bigotry and hatred that is rooted in thoughts, ideas, and feelings that do not represent real Muslims. It also is a dangerous world view that results in the killing and harm of real people.
In this talk, Misha Euceph helps people understand what Islamophobia is, its history, and the most common tropes. Misha also breaks down how they show up in the workplace, in media and at home; and how to challenge these narratives. She takes real world examples and shares how to spot hatred and also how to empower your Muslim friends and employees to heal from trauma and celebrate their own culture. From building awareness around Ramadan and other religious holidays, taking visits to local Muslim institutions (restaurants, mosques, etc.), inviting a diverse group of Muslims to speak at your workplace to creating a space for conversations, celebration, and Muslim-led initiatives, she shares specific frameworks to build solidarity.
Islamophobia & Anti-Semitism
Misha Euceph works with Jewish collaborator Brandon Kaufer, creator of the Dog Whistle Dictionary of Anti-Semitism, to share the historical connections, the present-day similarities and the intertwined fight of Muslims and Jews against hate and bigotry.
Misha and Brandon structure the talk in a variety of formats, with workshops, Q&A’s and other voices. They touch on history; generatonal trauma; reframing the narrative towards celebration, joy and affirmation; and what it looks like to build deep trust between two communities being pitted against each other.
A Way Forward: How Storytelling and Humor Can Build Resiliency
One of the biggest challenges for executives and community leaders is building resilience-- an individual and relational grit. It makes sense: we live in a world that feels like it’s falling apart, with polarization, impending disasters, and a lack of trust in traditional institutions.
Misha understand that resilience is a cornerstone of high-functioning teams and impact-driven lives. In this thoughtfully curated talk, Misha teams up with comedian Esteban Gast to explore how solutions-oriented storytelling motivates people to act and how humor is the most useful tool in building resilience. Drawing from their breadth of experience telling stories across mediums-- as podcasters, writers, speakers, entrepreneurs, and comedic storytellers-- they share a framework and help audiences develop their own resilience muscles through highly interactive exercises.
