Andrea Muraskin

Tehran-based journalist Reza Sayah helps us make sense of what’s going on in Iran. I pitched this episode, booked the guest, wrote the questions, edited and mixed the episode.

Colombian journalist Daniel Salgar just finished work as an editor on the Colombia Truth Commission Final Report – a national reflection on fifty years of civil war. I produced this episode: booked the guest, helped conduct a pre-interview, and prepared questions for the host. I also wrote narration, edited and mixed the episode.

Construction work is one of the few careers left in the US where a person can make a good living without a college degree. However, it’s also one of the few fields available to high school graduates with a work force that’s still predominantly white and male. So what will it take for women and people of color to get a bigger piece of the pie, and to land union jobs? I reported, scripted, edited, mixed, and hosted this episode of the podcast South Coast Working, a project of the UMass Arnold M. Dubin Labor Education Center.

Guest Stephanie Russell is a Clarity Coach: that means she helps clients figure out their purpose and goals, and break the patterns that hold them back - both inside and outside the salon industry. Stephanie and host Blake Reed Evans get into the roles we often take on without realizing it, plus advice on how to build confidence and accept change.

For this episode of SUMM IT UP, the podcast from Summit Salon Business Center, I edited the interview, wrote a script for the host, mixed the episode, and wrote the show notes.

The world needs more sensitive creators. That doesn’t have to come in the form of some epic narrative. Enter Ian Coss. For this episode of 3 Clips, Ian and host Jay Acunzo break down one episode from Ian's podcast, Forever is a Long Time. Ian explores the topic of marriage by interviewing members of his family who are divorced, which is most of them. These candid and poignant conversation with his relatives are both deeply personal and relatable at the same. 3 Clips is a podcast that explores the craft of podcasting. I booked the guest, selected clips from his podcast, and prepped the host.

In this episode of The Dose, a podcast from the Commonwealth Fund, we talk about interventions that can help break the cycle that traumatizes people over time. Fatimah Loren Dreier, executive director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, talks about how trained violence interruption specialists can help people navigate conflict, and how the national protests around police brutality toward Black Americans has created an opportunity for communities to rethink the role of the police. I helped the host prepare for the interview, monitored the recording, and mixed the episode.

In this episode of SUMM IT UP, the podcast from Summit Salon Business Center, host Blake Reed Evans speaks with Twylla Jane, a stylist, social media influencer and the owner of Lumos Nox Salon in Naperville, IL, in the greater Chicago metro area. Twylla talks with Blake about their salon culture, which promotes gender inclusivity, personal expression, and respect for boundaries among guests and staff.

I engineered the interview using Riverside.fm, wrote a script for the host, edited and mixed the episode, and wrote the show notes.

The podcast featured in this episode of 3 Clips, The Secret Adventures of Black People, has a beautiful premise: that the everyday lives of Black people are extraordinary. But extracting and telling everyday stories in a way that sounds extraordinary takes intention, skill, and practice. Host and producer Nichole Hill’s storytelling style combines elements of fantasy, voyeurism, and comedy to create a show that peeks inside intimate moments in Black lives, and leaves the listener wanting more. I pitched the idea, pre-interviewed the guest, prepped the host, edited and mixed the episode.

Chances are, you either live in a state that already has medical marijuana laws, or soon will. So this episode, our friendly neighborhood cannabis specialist Dr. Peter Grinspoon is answering some of our listener’s questions about medical marijuana and cannabis research. Host Brit Smith asks audience questions about the difference between inhaling, edibles, and cannabis tincture, how to dose marijuana without getting too high, how THC and CBD could interact with prescription medications, and what we know about THC-8. I pitched this episode, solicited listener questions, edited and mixed.

How does pot impact teenage brains and lives? How can young people make good choices in the era of legal marijuana? And how can parents talk to their kids about cannabis?

This episode host Brit Smith talks to Sarah Coughlin and Mswati Hanks of the Charlestown Coalition, an organization connected to Mass. General Hospital that supports youth in central Boston going through drug and alcohol recovery. A far cry from the days of "Just Say No," Mswati and Sarah take a harm-reduction based approach.

I pitched the idea, booked and pre-interviewed the guests, and edited the episode.

A handful of courts have started to treat people charged with prostitution differently from the rest of the system. Their goal is not to punish the women, but to help them heal from the trauma that often lead them to the streets and holds them there. The CATCH program in Columbus, Ohio, supervised by Judge Paul Herbert, runs one of the most comprehensive programs in the country for victims of sex trafficking. Program graduate Stephanie Rollins, a victim of childhood sexual assault and a former drug user who sold sex to support her addiction, tells the story of her transformation.

An episode of my original podcast LADYPARTS: Taking a Wide View on Women's Health. Two midwives from different backgrounds make cases for how better integration of midwifery into the US medical system could help lower the country's high rate of maternal mortality, cut down on unnecessary interventions, and make birth a more dignified, healthier experience for moms.
April 2019

This episode of NEXT, the radio show about New England won a 2018 award for best news/public affairs program from the Public Media Journalists Association.

In Vermont, suicides account for 89 percent of gun-related deaths. Why is that percentage so high, and what’s being done to lower the risk? (Interview produced by me) And we explore the wide variety of accents that color the speech of New Englanders and how those sounds are changing (produced by me). Finally, we visit a summer camp with a colonial flair (reported and produced by me).

For this episode, I produced a discussion between two women from an affluent Western Massachusetts town, two from Kentucky coal country, and guest host Shannon Dooling. The women were part of a project to bridge the political divide between these two communities. Topics included the election of Donald Trump, immigration and rural economies. Listen at 13:05.

I also reported on an exhibition at the Boston Center for the Arts about the business of art-making. My feature incorporates insights from curator Lucas Spivey and selections from his podcast "Culture Hustlers." Listen at 41:00