The EarBuds Story.

Arielle Nissenblatt was stuck in LA traffic one day, and realized that podcasts helped ease her through the commute. Though she loved her five favorite podcasts, she wanted more.

She asked friends to share their favorites, and quickly, the movement grew. Now, we send a weekly email with a theme and five podcast episodes around the theme, curated by a different person, and read by thousands around the world.

The EarBuds Team

Arielle Nissenblatt

Founder & Curator

Arielle started EarBuds in 2017 and has since worked in many aspects of the podcast industry, including as a studio manager, an in-app curator at Castbox, a festival organizer at Outlier PodFest, and more. Currently, she is the Community Manager at SquadCast, a remote recording software company. Arielle is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. She is on the organizing team behind the Podcast Taxonomy project, an international, multidisciplinary collaborative standard for recognizing roles and credits in podcast production.

Abby Klionsky

Editor-in-Chief

Abby has been editing the EarBuds weekly email since its inception, and has spent many years editing academic papers, too. She loves well-told history, good interviews, hikes with views, working with kids, and the Oxford comma.

Devon DiComo

Newsletter & Podcast Coordinator

Devon DiComo is an audio and video journalist based in New York City. She currently works in documentary filmmaking for an Imagine Entertainment production. Previously, she worked on a Barnicle Brothers documentary as an archival production assistant and interned as a podcast editing intern at Stitcher, where she worked on the podcasts Atlas Obscura and The Sporkful. Devon received a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School and received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology at the University of Maryland.

Our Board of Advisors

  • Shira Moskowitz

    is one half of the dynamic duo that creates and hosts Counter Programming with Shira & Arielle. She currently resides in Manhattan and her favorite podcasts are Unlocking US with Brene Brown and Modern Love. Shira is also a Customer Success Lead at Violet, a marketplace enablement platform that allows brands to connect to distribution channels to meet their customers where they shop.

  • Mark Asquith

    is a serial entrepreneur who has built several globally successful businesses since he quit his real job in 2005. Mark is CEO & co-founder of Rebel Base Media, a podcast tech and strategy company that owns Captivate.fm, Poductivity, Podcast Websites, Podcast Success Academy & Rebel Base Studios, and is well known as an insightful, thought-provoking and actionable podcast industry keynote speaker.

  • Bethany Berger

    has been a supporter of EarBuds since 2017. She lives in Jackson with her dog Daisy, and loves podcasts about science, fat activism, and storytelling. Bethany has an MBA in nonprofit management from Brandeis University.

  • Jay Connor

    is a Los Angeles-based writer, producer, consultant, speaker, and founder of Extraordinary Ideas, where he serves as the co-host and producer of the popular podcast “The Extraordinary Negroes,” in addition to serving as a staff writer at The Root. His work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Root, Huffington Post, South by Southwest, Bitch Media, and CBS, to name a few.

  • Christine Hong

    is the CEO of Auby, a company on a mission to fix podcast discovery. Outside of Auby, Christine also hosts The New School Podcast. Previously, she worked as a product manager at Tinder and Yahoo, and graduated from Yale with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science.

  • Abby Klionsky

    has been editing the EarBuds weekly email since its inception, and has spent many years editing academic papers, too. She loves well-told history, good interviews, hikes with views, working with kids, and the Oxford comma.

  • Cindy Okereke

    is the Founder and CEO of Essence of Cin, a podcast marketing agency, and is the producer for Therapy for Black Girls podcast. She’s led content initiatives for Netflix, Andreessen Horowitz, and Wonder Media Network. Cindy was part of the founding team of Impact Theory, where she developed digital strategies for Tom Bilyeu and Impact Theory brands. In her free time, she enjoys museums, reading, yoga and painting.

  • Skye Pillsbury

    is a podcast journalist. In 2019, Skye created and hosted Inside Podcasting, which was nominated for "Best New Podcast" by Discover Pods. Skye’s work has also appeared in a variety of publications including Bello Collective and Eater SF. In her prior life as a technology publicist, Skye crafted digital communication and media strategies for brands like Yahoo, Microsoft, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and NPR.