Embedded Creators & Guests

Meribah Knight is a journalist who relocated to Nashville from Chicago, where she covered business, the economy, housing, crime and transportation. She is the host of The Promise podcast. Most recently she was a staff reporter with Crain’s Chicago Business covering manufacturing in the Rust Belt, aviation and transportation. Prior to Crain’s she was a staff reporter with the Chicago News Cooperative, producing the Chicago section of The New York Times. There she covered a wide range of topics from arts & culture to education to poverty. She was an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Chip Brantley is the cofounder of Cookthink, a cooking and recipe Web site. He is a former food writer for the San Francisco Examiner, and he has written for Slate, the Boston Globe, the Oxford American, and Gastronomica. He was the head cheesemaker at Westfield Farm. A native of Alabama, he lives with his wife and son in western Massachusetts.

Tom Bowman is a defense correspondent and at NPR.

Rose Eveleth is a producer, designer, and writer. Currently, they are the Executive Producer of the podcast network Flash Forward Presents. They host the podcast "Flash Forward Podcast."Previously, Evelyth was a columnist for WIRED, BBC Future, and Motherboard, the producer of the Story Collider podcast, the special media manager at Nautilus, the managing editor for LadyBits, an editor of all things animated at TED Education, and a contributing editor at Smart Planet. They also edited the Smart News blog at Smithsonian Magazine, and filled in for the Atlantic’s science editor.

Kelly McEvers is the host of Embedded and NPR's podcast.

Veronica Simmonds is an audio producer. Currently, she is a Senior Producer of Podcasts for the CBC.Simmonds began her career as an independent audio artist, and she created an experimental radio show called "Braidio." She went on to produce several radio documentaries, which have aired on the CBC, ABC, and BBC.

Phoebe Wang is an independent artist and audio producer.Wang has produced live events at The Moth, was a member of The Heart, and was Senior Producer of The Shadows podcast.

Andrew Mambo is a journalist and podcast producer. Currently, he is a reporter and producer for NPR, where he produces for "The Sunday Story" from Up First.Previously, Mambo was a podcast producer at ESPN, where he worked on the "30 for 30" podcast. Before that, he was an associate producer for the NPR show and program "Radio Rookies."

Alison MacAdam is a freelance story editor for audio journalism. Currently, she is Senior Editor for the NPR show "Embedded."Previously, MacAdam was a Senior Editorial Specialist with the NPR Training team, where she focused on audio storytelling. Prior to that, she edited the NPR show "All Things Considered."

Alex Kotlowitz is an American journalist, author, and filmmaker. His 1991 book There Are No Children Here was a national bestseller and received the Christopher Award and Helen Bernstein Award. He is a two-time recipient of both the Peabody Award and the Dupont Award for journalism.

Daniel Girma is a reporter and audio producer. Currently, he is an assistant producer for NPR's Enterprise Storytelling Unit.Girma joined NPR in 2021 as an intern for "Planet Money." Before that, he spent five years working in the gem industry as a gemologist.Girma received his B.A. in Earth Science and Creative Writing from Columbia University and his M.A. in Journalism from New York University.

Ariana Gharib Lee is an audio producer. Currently, she is a producer for NPR, where she produces podcast episodes and series for the show "Embedded."Previously, Lee produced for Dustlight Productions. She senior produced the ten-part Crooked Media series "Mother Country Radicals." Before that, she produced the second season of the podcast "Tell Them, I Am." She also worked on "Hello, Nature," an audio documentary about belonging and the United States' national parks.

Lauren Hodges is a reporter and audio producer. Currently, she is a producer for the NPR show "All Things Considered." She also hosted the "Consider This" video series.Previously, Hodges was a producer and editor in the NPR newsroom.

Simone Weichselbaum is a journalist who focuses on issues pertaining to federal law enforcement and local policing. She is also The Marshall Project’s co-chair of diversity & inclusion.Weichselbaum has spent more than 15 years reporting on a variety of urban criminal justice systems, previously working as a staff writer for the New York Daily News and the Philadelphia Daily News.Weichselbaum received a graduate degree in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Emily Feng is a reporter, currently working as an International Correspondent in Beijing for NPR.Prior to joining NPR, Feng was the Beijing correspondent for The Financial Times. Before that, she was a researcher for The New York Times.

Chris Benderev is a reporter, currently working at NPR in Washington as a producer on Embedded.Benderev's freelance reporting has appeared on NPR's Embedded, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition, PRI's The World and the BBC World Service.Benderev has also produced for Weekend Edition, Hidden Brain, TED Radio Hour and NPR's Election Unit.

Tom Dreisbach is a Los Angeles-based producer & reporter for the NPR's Embedded podcast.

Julieta Martinelli is an investigative journalist and co-producer of Suave, a Pulitzer Prize and International Documentary Association winning podcast.

Zach Mack is a podcast producer and host. Currently, he is a Supervising and Executive Podcast Producer at Vox Media, where he produces their video podcast "Power User." He co-developed and produced podcasts like "The Rewatchables," "The Big Picture," and "Binge Mode" for The Ringer.In the past, Mack has worked at The Ringer.