Industry | Podcasting |
---|---|
Founded | 2019 |
Founder |
|
Website | lemonadamedia |
Lemonada Media is an American podcast network. [1] The company was founded in 2019 by Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. [2] [3] In 2019, Lemonada Media debuted their first podcast, Last Day, offering a personal view on the opioid crisis in the U.S. (Kramer and Wachs both had younger brothers who died from an accidental opioid overdose.) [1] [2]
As of 2023, Lemonada has launched more than 40 podcasts, [4] including Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which was named the 2023 Apple Podcast of the Year, [5] and Being Trans/ Being Golden, which pioneered an unscripted format similar to reality TV, [6] and won three Webby Awards in 2023. [7]
In 2018, Cordova Kramer and Wittels Wachs met after discovering they had each lost a brother to accidental overdoses. [1] Cordova Kramer reached out to Wittels Wachs after hearing her in an interview. Wittels Wachs initially said no to a podcast partnership with Cordova Kramer but later changed her mind. [8] In 2019, they launched Lemonada Media and their first podcast, Last Day which explores the final days of people who have died to opioids, suicide, and gun violence. [1] [3] The company set out to make the hard things in life a little easier for listeners to cope with. [8] The company's name refers to the adage "turning lemons into lemonade" as well as the famous Jerry Seinfeld standup routine where he says "(the car) better not be a lemona, or I'll call my lawya" [3]
Last Day is Lemonada Media's flagship podcast. The first season focused on the opioid epidemic. The first episode covered the last days of Cordova Kramer's brother prior to his fatal overdose. [3] The second season of Last Day focused on suicide [3] and was sponsored by The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention.
In 2019, Lemonada Media debuted two additional podcasts, Good Kids and As Me with Sinéad. In April 2020, In the Bubble hosted by Andy Slavitt debuted. In March 2022, Lemonada Media had more than 20 original shows. These include The Cost of Care, The Untold Story: Policing and Good Sex. [9]
In 2020, Lemonada show In the Bubble won the "Favorite Shows" award of Apple Podcasts "Shows of the Year". [10] Last day also won iHeartRadio's Podcast Award for Best Wellness and Fitness Podcast. [11] Lemonada shows received an average of two million listens in each month of 2020. [12]
Lemonada partnered with Neighborhood Villages in late 2020, an organization that advocates for policy reform for early childhood education and care, to create No One Is Coming to Save Us hosted by former ABC news correspondent Gloria Riviera. [1] The podcast discusses the U.S. childcare system. Kristin Bell has made guest appearances. [13]
In 2021, Lemonada added 10 podcasts to its network including, Written Off and Believe Her. Believe Her debuted at the top of the podcast ratings charts. [14] They launched, BEING Studios, a new division to develop a new audio genre called Audio Reality, a cross of reality programming and podcasting. [6] Their debut show, BEING Trans was executive produced by Kasey Barrett who has previously worked on Keeping Up with the Kardashians , The Real World , and Born This Way. [15] Wittels Wachs stated that creating Being Trans was intended to build the empathy. [6] The second season of BEING studios features senior citizens and is called BEING Golden. [6]
In 2022, Add to Cart won the iHeartRadio Podcast Award for Best Beauty and Fashion Podcast. [16]
Lemonada has a global presence with its two shows in Europe: As Me with Sinéad (Ireland) and In Giro Con Fra (Italy). [17] [18]
Jessica Cordova Kramer is the company's CEO. She previously served as the executive producer of Pod Save the People . Stephanie Wittels Wachs is the company's chief creative officer. She previously published the book: Everything is Horrible and Wonderful. [3]
In 2020, the company reported $1.5 million in revenue. [1] In 2021, they reported nearly $5 million in revenue. [12] In January 2022, Lemonada Media announced they had secured $8 million in Series A funding and had 43 full-time employees. [12]
Title | Host(s) or Starring | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
Add to Cart | SuChin Pak and Kulap Vilaysack | Focuses on consumerism | [19] |
After 1954 | Aimée Eubanks Davis | Explores Brown v. Board of Education Case | [20] [21] |
As Me With Sinéad | Sinéad Burke | Discusses self-acceptance, self-love, empathy, and biases | [22] |
BEING Golden | Discusses life as a senior in the golden years. From BEING Studios Audio Reality® | [23] | |
BEING Trans | Explores life experiences of transgender individuals. First show in the new Audio Reality genre from BEING Studios Audio Reality® | [6] [17] [24] | |
Believe Her | Justine van der Leun | Discusses the story of Nikki Addimando and examines domestic and sexual violence and trauma | [25] [26] |
Blind Plea | Liz Flock | Examines the American criminal justice system | [27] |
Burnout | Connor Franta | Examines burnout | [28] [29] |
Call Declined | Melissa Beck | Explores resilience, friendship, the power of creativity, mental health, and the American prison system | [30] |
Call For Help | Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Zak Williams | Explores mental health and the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline | [31] |
Choice Words with Samantha Bee | Samantha Bee | Examines navigating the real world, life choices, and decision making | [32] |
Discarded | Gloria Riviera | Examines the health and environmental impacts of plastic use | [33] |
Everything Happens with Kate Bowler | Kate Bowler | Explores success, failure, suffering, happiness, and humor | [34] |
Fail Better with David Duchovny | David Duchovny | Explores the topic of failure | [35] |
FIRST! with Kareem Rahma | Kareem Rahma | Discusses people who have had groundbreaking impacts on racial barriers, society, and culture | [36] |
Good Grief | Explores grief, coping, love, and loss | [37] | |
Good Kids | Discusses parenting | [ citation needed ] | |
Good Sex | Discusses sex | [38] | |
Hard Feelings with Jennette McCurdy | Jennette McCurdy | Explores difficult life experiences | [39] |
Here Lies Me | Hillary Frank, Michael Chernus, June Diane Raphael, W. Kamau Bell, Rob Huebel, Stephanie Wittels Wachs | Lemonada's first scripted podcast. Discusses the adolescent experience with realism. Explores harassment, classism, sexism, racism, trauma, consent, and finding your voice | [40] |
I Need To Ask You Something | Dr. Monica P. Band | Explores difficult conversations, emotional health, and relationship building | [41] |
I'm Sorry | Mohanad Elshieky, Kiki Monique, and Hoja Lopez | Discusses cancel culture and apologies | [42] [43] |
In Giro Con Fra | Francesca Lazzarin | Lemonada's first non-English language podcast, hosted in Italian. Discusses culture, lifestyles, and personal challenges | [18] [17] [44] |
In Recovery with Dr. Nzinga Harrison | Dr. Nzinga Harrison | Explores psychiatry, mental health, and addiction medicine | [45] [46] |
In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt | Andy Slavitt | Covers the COVID-19 pandemic | [47] |
Last Day | Stephanie Wittels Wachs | Flagship podcast on Lemonada's podcast network. Explores grief, the opioid epidemic, suicide, and gun violence | [2] [3] [11] [48] |
Mouthpeace | Michael Bennett and Pele Bennett | Discusses parenting and football | [49] |
New Day | Claire Bidwell Smith | Covers coping strategies | |
No One Is Coming to Save Us | Gloria Riviera and Kristin Bell | Covers childcare in America | [1] [14] |
Our America with Julián Castro | Julián Castro | Discusses politics | [50] |
Raised by Ricki | Ricki Lake | Covers cultural issues | |
The Cost of Care | David Smith | Problems within America's healthcare system | [51] |
The Sarah Silverman Podcast | Sarah Silverman | Covers cultural issues | |
The Untold Story | Jay Ellis | Covered policing issues | [52] [53] |
Written Off | Walter Thompson-Hernandez | Covers social justice and features formerly incarcerated writers | [14] [54] |
V Interesting with V Spehar | Vitus Spehar | ||
Uncared For | SuChin Pak | ||
The Letter | |||
Let's Tawk with Jaime Primak Sullivan | Jaime Primak Sullivan | ||
Funny Cuz It's True with Elyse Myers | Elyse Myers | ||
FIRST! with Kareem Rahma | Kareem Rahma | ||
Wiser Than Me | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Interviews with wise women on their life experiences |
Lemonada has plans to expand the number of shows to more than 30 in 2022. [9]
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v Board of Education that the segregation of white and Black students was unconstitutional. [55] The After 1954 podcast, hosted by Aimée Eubanks Davis, explores this historic event and its unintended consequence–the firing of approximately 38,000 Black teachers in the Southern states. [20] Davis also explores the importance of Black educators as key figures in the lives of Black children. [56]
Add to Cart is co-hosted by journalist SuChin Pak and writer, comedian, and director Kulap Vilaysack. [57] Their podcast focuses on shopping and consumerism, exploring trending products and discussing whether those products are worth the cost. [19]
As Me is hosted by teacher, fashion enthusiast, and disability activist Sinéad Burke. Burke has also given a TED Talk on design accessibility, and was a guest speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos. [22] Burke has a suite of high-profile guests on her podcast including Victoria Beckham and Jamie Lee Curtis. [58] [59] Burke has also made a guest appearance on Lemonada Media's podcast Good Kids.[ citation needed ]
Launched in 2023, Wiser Than Me features host Julia Louis-Dreyfus interviewing women older than her on their lived experience and earned wisdom. Guests have included Jane Fonda, Carol Burnett, Isabel Allende and Amy Tan. The show was named Apple's Best Podcast of the Year in 2023. [5]
Lemonada and its podcasts have received positive reviews in a wide range of press. The New York Times describes Lemonada as "a podcast network that creates feel-good stories about feel-bad issues (...) Their roster of sweet-tart shows is deeply personal, mission-driven and solution-minded." [1]
Lemonada has been nominated for more than 15 podcast industry awards, including:
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress and comedian. Often described as one of the greatest performers in television history, she is widely known for her roles as various characters on Saturday Night Live (1982–1985), Elaine Benes on Seinfeld (1990–1998), Christine Campbell on The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010), and Selina Meyer on Veep (2012–2019). Her list of accolades makes her one of the most award-winning actresses in American television history, and she has received more Primetime Emmy Awards and more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other performer.
Stephanie Rose WittelsWachs is an American voice actress, activist, and author. She is the co-founder and executive director of the theatre company Rec Room Arts in Houston, Texas and the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the podcast network Lemonada Media. Wachs serves as the host of the podcast Last Day.
Alison Ann "Alie" Ward is an American writer, actress, and television and podcast host. Born in California, Ward graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in cinema. In 2016, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing Special Class for the CBS series Innovation Nation. In 2022, the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards named her podcast Ologies “Best Science Podcast”, and the Webby Awards honored Ward as “Best Podcast Host.”
Harris Lee Wittels was an American comedian. He was a writer for The Sarah Silverman Program, a writer and executive producer for Parks and Recreation, and a recurring guest on Comedy Bang! Bang! He coined the word humblebrag in 2010.
Wendell Ramone "Jay" Ellis Jr. is an American actor. In 2013, Ellis received his first major role on BET's series The Game. His role as Martin "Lawrence" Walker in the HBO series Insecure (2016-2021), earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. He later starred in the horror film Escape Room (2019), and appeared in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Sinéad Burke is an Irish writer, academic and disability activist, popular for her TED talk 'Why design should include everyone'. She is the director of the consulting organisation Tilting the Lens, working to raise the baseline standards in accessibility, to design an equitable and accessible world. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Irish Council of State.
Comments by Celebs, or CBC, is a brand consisting of several social media accounts and a weekly podcast created by Emma Diamond and Julie Kramer that focuses on pop culture and entertainment news. The brand curates a collection of social media interactions between celebrities, emphasizing lighthearted interactions while trying to humanize celebrities. The account gained popularity through Instagram, although they also have Twitter, and Facebook accounts.
This Podcast Will Kill You is an American podcast hosted by disease ecologists and epidemiologists Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke. Its first full-length episode was released on October 31, 2017. New episodes were released weekly until the second season, when they were released every two weeks. Each week a different disease is covered, the majority of which are infectious diseases with some exceptions, such as scurvy in episode 19.
Laci Risë Mosley is an American actress, comedian and podcaster. She performs improv comedy at UCB Los Angeles and co-starred in the Pop comedy series Florida Girls. Mosley is best known for her podcast Scam Goddess, which focuses on historical and contemporary scams and cons. She was a cast member on Florida Girls, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Lopez vs Lopez, and the iCarly revival series.
The 2020 Webby Awards ceremony was posted online on May 19, 2020, and was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Named Webbys From Home, it recognized the best of Internet content. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award ceremony was held virtually at the organization's official website with pre-recorded material at remote locations. The ceremony included guest appearances from Michelle Obama, Kristen Bell, Tom Hanks, Demi Lovato, Anthony Fauci, Jill Scott and Questlove, among others. The awards were dedicated "to honoring individuals and organizations who are using the internet in response to the coronavirus pandemic".
Were You Raised By Wolves? is an independent podcast about etiquette and manners hosted by Nick Leighton and Leah Bonnema, which debuted on September 9, 2019. The podcast features Leighton and Bonnema exploring various historical and contemporary etiquette topics and answering questions sent in by listeners.
The Slowdown is a radio show and podcast about poetry produced in collaboration between American Public Media, the Poetry Foundation, and the Library of Congress. The first two seasons of the show was hosted by Tracy K. Smith.
The Jump with Shirley Manson is a music podcast hosted by Garbage's singer Shirley Manson and co-produced by Mailchimp Presents and Little Everywhere, with executive producers Dann Gallucci, Jane Marie and Hrishikesh Hirway. Each episode of The Jump features a guest musician talking about a defining song that represented a breakthrough in the artist's own career and “the moments in an artist’s career where they decide to take a leap into something new.”
If I Go Missing the Witches Did It is a horror podcast written by Pia Wilson and starring both Gabourey Sidibe and Sarah Natochenny. The podcast consisted of nine episodes and was produced by Realm.
Edith! is a historical fiction podcast written and created by Gonzalo Cordova and Travis Helwig, produced by QCode and Crooked Media starring Rosamund Pike about Edith Wilson. It was directed by Maureen Bharoocha.
Missing and Murdered is a true crime podcast investigating the disappearances of Indigenous people in Canada, also known as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. It is produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and hosted by Cree journalist Connie Walker.
Wiser Than Me is a podcast hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. On the show, launched in 2023, Louis-Dreyfus interviews women older than her on their lived experience and earned wisdom. The show was named Apple's Best Podcast of the Year for 2023 and the Webby Podcast of the Year in 2024. Wiser Than Me is produced by Lemonada Media, a podcast company cofounded by Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
The 11th is an experimental podcast by Pineapple Street Media composed of miniseries by independent collaborators. Each miniseries was released on the 11th of each month.
Jessica Cordova Kramer is an American media producer and entrepreneur. She is CEO the podcast company Lemonada Media, which she cofounded with Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Kramer is also executive producer for many of Lemonada's podcasts, including Last Day, Everything Happens with Kate Bowler, and Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Kramer was also the founding executive producer of the podcast Pod Save the People, from Crooked Media.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)