Jenna Weiss-Berman (born 1983) is a podcast producer and co-founder of Pineapple Street Media.[1] Formerly she was director of audio for BuzzFeed.[2]

Early life

Weiss-Berman is a native of Massachusetts and graduated from Oberlin College in 2005.[3]

Career

BuzzFeed

After almost a decade working in public radio on such shows as The Moth, WNYC's Death, Sex and Money, and The Longform Podcast,[4] Weiss-Berman started the podcast department at BuzzFeed where she was "responsible for the ground-up development of the wildly successful company’s audio arm,"[5] creating shows like Another Round[6] and Women of the Hour with Lena Dunham.[7] While there she was responsible for every aspect of the podcast department from legal contracts, finding sponsorships and the content itself as a producer.[8]

Pineapple Street Media

In 2016, she left BuzzFeed to launch Pineapple Street Media, a Brooklyn-based full-service podcast production company, with her friend, Longform co-founder, Max Linsky.[9] Weiss-Berman has said that the goal was to be able to make podcasts for non-audio companies and the decision to launch Pineapple Street came after both her and Linksy turning down many such requests.[8]

Pineapple Street's early clients included The New York Times,[10][11] Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter and ad agency Wieden+Kennedy.[12] In the summer of 2016, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign hired Pineapple Street to produce a podcast (the first ever for a presidential candidate).[8][13] Clinton and Linsky co-hosted the show, called With Her.[14]

Pineapple Street Media has partnered with brands like Coach, Nike, Morgan Stanley, Mailchimp, Mastercard and Google, and produced critically-acclaimed original series like Missing Richard Simmons, Running From COPS, The Clearing, The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow, Wind of Change, Back Issue and Welcome to Your Fantasy.[15]

In 2017, she was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.[16]

Pineapple Street was sold to Entercom in 2019.[17]

Other

Weiss-Berman currently sits on the advisory board of The Moth.[18]

Awards

Weiss-Berman was a winner of the Gracie Award Grand Award for Podcast in 2016,[19] for her collaboration with Lena Dunham on podcast Woman of the Hour, initially produced at BuzzFeed, now a Pineapple Street production.[20]

In 2020, Pineapple Street Media led all podcast companies with two Peabody Award nominations for The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow and Running From COPS.[21]

Personal life

Weiss-Berman is married to writer Kira Garcia.[22]

References

  1. ^ Dale, Brady (18 May 2016). "Table Stakes for Podcasts Rising: Edit Shows or Don't Bother". New York Observer. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  2. ^ Benton, Joshua (August 26, 2015). "Press Publish 14: Jenna Weiss-Berman on BuzzFeed's podcast strategy and moves into audio news". Neiman Lab. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Tune In to Pineapple Street's Podcasting Revolution". The Village Voice. 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  4. ^ Rose, Leah (January 12, 2016). "EARFUL: 'Another Round' Producer On Why Diversity in Workplace is Essential". KQED Arts. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  5. ^ Iversen, Kristin (January 25, 2016). "People in Your Neighborhood: Jenna Weiss-Berman". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  6. ^ Dale, Brady (2015-12-06). "Why Buzzfeed and the Financial Times Chose Acast to Host Their Podcasts". Observer. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  7. ^ "About". Pineapple Street Studios. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  8. ^ a b c Dodson, P. Claire (2016-09-09). "Jenna Weiss-Berman: "I'm Proud Of Making Stuff Not Just For White Guys"". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  9. ^ Dodson, P. Claire (2016-09-09). "Jenna Weiss-Berman: "I'm Proud Of Making Stuff Not Just For White Guys"". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  10. ^ Dodson, P. Claire (9 September 2016). "Jenna Weiss-Berman: "I'm Proud Of Making Stuff Not Just For White Guys"". Fast Company. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  11. ^ Doctor, Ken (September 6, 2016). "The New York Times gets serious about podcasting". Politico. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  12. ^ Perlberg, Steven (23 May 2016). "Podcasts Experiment With Paid Subscriptions". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  13. ^ Grinapol, Corinne (August 12, 2016). "Hillary Clinton Has a Podcast". FishbowlDC. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  14. ^ Carpentier, Megan (12 August 2016). "Clinton becomes first presidential candidate to launch campaign podcast". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Our Shows". Pineapple Street Studios. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  16. ^ "Meet Jenna Weiss-Berman, one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People 2017". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  17. ^ Spangler, Todd (2019-08-07). "Entercom Buys Podcast Companies Cadence13, Pineapple Street Media". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  18. ^ "The Moth | Board & Committees". The Moth. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  19. ^ Cablefax Staff (25 May 2016). "PHOTOS: Gracie Awards 2016". Cablefax. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  20. ^ Quah, Nicholas (May 31, 2016). "Hot Pod: A podcast ranking that misses a lot, new listenership data, and funny Australians". Neiman Lab. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  21. ^ "Peabody Awards Short-Lists A Dozen Podcasts For 2020 Awards". Insideradio.com. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  22. ^ Cheung, Alexis (7 April 2016). "Brides Say Yes to the Pants". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
Categories