Lea Thau (born 1971) is a Peabody Award-winning producer and director.
She is the host and producer of the podcast Strangers and the former
Executive and Creative Director of The Moth.Originally from Aarhus,
Denmark, Thau moved to Paris at the age of 18, and then to New York at
the age of 23 as a visiting scholar in Comparative Literature at
Columbia University.While living in New York as a graduate student,
Thau discovered the then-fledgling live storytelling show The Moth.
She began working for the organization in 2000 as a part-time
employee, starting the organization's Community Outreach Program. In
December 2001, she became the Executive and Creative Director, a
position she held for a decade before departing in April, 2010. While
in that position, she created the short-form Moth Podcast in 2008 and
The Moth Radio Hour in 2009 with a broadcast launch to more than 70
public radio stations. The show won a Peabody Award in 2010.In 2011,
Thau created the podcast Strangers, which she describes as "stories
about people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we
suffer, the kindness we encounter, and the frightful moments when we
discover we aren't even who we thought we were". Strangers was started
with the support of KCRW's Independent Producer Project in 2012, and
it joined the Radiotopia podcast network in 2014. Strangers left
Radiotopia in December, 2017, to go independent.
She is the host and producer of the podcast Strangers and the former
Executive and Creative Director of The Moth.Originally from Aarhus,
Denmark, Thau moved to Paris at the age of 18, and then to New York at
the age of 23 as a visiting scholar in Comparative Literature at
Columbia University.While living in New York as a graduate student,
Thau discovered the then-fledgling live storytelling show The Moth.
She began working for the organization in 2000 as a part-time
employee, starting the organization's Community Outreach Program. In
December 2001, she became the Executive and Creative Director, a
position she held for a decade before departing in April, 2010. While
in that position, she created the short-form Moth Podcast in 2008 and
The Moth Radio Hour in 2009 with a broadcast launch to more than 70
public radio stations. The show won a Peabody Award in 2010.In 2011,
Thau created the podcast Strangers, which she describes as "stories
about people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we
suffer, the kindness we encounter, and the frightful moments when we
discover we aren't even who we thought we were". Strangers was started
with the support of KCRW's Independent Producer Project in 2012, and
it joined the Radiotopia podcast network in 2014. Strangers left
Radiotopia in December, 2017, to go independent.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.