Meet the SOTRU Dynamos
Al Letson
Host • Executive Producer • Idea Man • Top Dog
Al Letson has received national recognition and built a devoted fan base with soul-stirring, interdisciplinary work. He established himself early in his career as a heavyweight in the Poetry Slam Movement, which garnered artistic credibility and renown. Performing on a number of national, regional and local stages including HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, CBS’s Final Four PreGame Show and commercial projects for Sony, the Florida Times Union, Adobe Software and the Doorpost Film Project, Al has honed his professional voice and artistic sensibilities into a unique brand that is all his own. After winning the Public Radio Talent Quest, Al received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to create 3 episodes of his public radio show concept State of the Re:Union. His company finished their first grant in August of 2009 and has just been awarded one of the largest public radio grants ever given to a single project to produce a full season of shows.
Ian DeSousa
Creative Director • Executive Producer • Problem Solver • Shot Caller
Ian DeSousa has more than a decade of successful management experience, formal design training and displayed ability to seamlessly shift to multiple mediums and medias. A graphic designer by trade, Ian transitioned from print and digital media to multimedia project management and has repeatedly directed projects that involve numerous facets, challenges and personalities to successful conclusion.
During his seven-year tenure at Web.com, Ian moved from Designer to Director of Design Services where he was responsible for the production and output of the company’s flagship product. His position demanded not only maintaining, but elevating graphic standards along with the challenges of managing a large group of people to preserve a fine balance of productivity and quality. Ian’s professional experience and grasp for multimedia solutions that are effective and engaging have made him the perfect fit in his responsibilities as Creative Director, Business Manager, and Multimedia Project Manager.
Taki Telonidis
Content and Story Editor • Guiding Hand • Production Finesse • Voice of Reason
Taki Telonidis has collaborated with host Al Letson since 2007, when the original pilot for State of the Re:Union took top prize in a national talent quest that launched Al’s career in radio. Taki lives in Salt Lake City and is the media producer for the Western Folklife Center, working with the center’s founder Hal Cannon to produce features about the West for public radio and television. Taki came to the West from NPR in Washington, where he was a producer on Morning Edition before becoming Senior Producer of Weekend All Things Considered. He has received the Overseas Press Club Award for Breaking News, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold and Silver Awards, and a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award.
Tina Antolini
Radio Producer · Relentless Reporter · Can-Do Chick · Blues Singer
Since she started making radio at the tender age of 15, Tina Antolini has produced stories on everything from the sex lives of lobsters to Iraqi religious minorities to a secret bunker in the woods of Massachusetts that houses an archive of East German films. She joins State of the Re: Union after several years as a reporter, producer and host at WFCR, the NPR-affiliate for Western New England. She’s also produced for the science and nature program Pulse of the Planet, and for a slew of national NPR and PRI programs. Her radio stories have won numerous awards, including a 2009 Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television for her series documenting the transgender community in western Massachusetts. Antolini received her B.A. in Ethnomusicology and American Studies from Hampshire College, and is also a graduate of the radio program at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. She can bake a mean apple pie, sing a killer cover of “Mustang Sally,” and will happily spend hours in a cafe with a stack of books and newspapers to occupy her.
Laura Starecheski
Radio Producer
Before joining SOTRU, Laura wrangled stories in the wild west of public radio freelancing. In 2010, she covered immigrant communities and mental health for The World and Latino USA as a National Health Journalism Fellow at the USC Annenberg School. She won a Third Coast Silver Award for Best Documentary for her story Goat on a Cow, which aired on WNYC’s Radiolab in 2006. Laura got her start in radio learning from the incredible team at WNYC’s (now-defunct) The Next Big Thing. As an educator, she has shared her love for radio and file organization with students ages 12 to 65 at absolutely delightful places like North Country Public Radio, the City University of New York, NPR’s Next Generation Radio and outLoud Radio in San Francisco. Formerly an athletic sort who rode her bike across the country for adventure, Laura is ecstatic to satisfy her wanderlust digging up stories with the SOTRU crew. Currently, Laura whiles away her free time with a well-worn library card and a guitar. She lives in the Bronx with her red nose pit bull Rhonda Jane.
Brie Burge
Business Manager • Multimedia Producer • Information Hub • Lady of the House
Brie Burge’s career has been a media medley, a delicious stew if you will. She started in broadcast journalism at WFOR, the CBS owned-and-operated TV station in Miami. She rose from Associate News Producer to 6pm News Producer in her 4+ years there. After the never-ending 2005 hurricane season (Rita, Katrina, Wilma) took its toll on her sanity (some claim that she has never fully regained), she decided to try something new. Brie moved to Jacksonville and began as a website copywriter and designer for Web.com, and worked with both Ian and Brenton where it was a regular party! She was promoted to Quality Control Supervisor, then to Quality Control Manager – working as the company’s managing editor. From there, Brie transitioned to Vizergy, an industry leader in online hospitality marketing and website design. She honed her marketing skills as Client Marketing Services Manager, managing internet marketing campaigns for some of the big names in the hospitality industry, including Marriott and Pacifica Hotel Company. Brie is obsessed with Canes and Dolphins football, loves traveling with her husband Jeff and son Kellan, enjoys hitting the high notes during Bon Jovi songs in karaoke and frequently adds -tastic and uber- to random words.
Jan Bennett
Digital Content Editor and Social Media Coordinator
Jan Bennett, a Jacksonville, Florida native, spent many years collecting vocational talents and skills from various work environments. After realizing that her natural curiosity of human interactions was not a title for hire, she pursued higher education at the University of North Florida, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication, concentrating in the PR and Advertising fields. With her title in tote, she came on board at State of the Re:Union as the Digital Content Editor and Social Media Coordinator, where she married her love of being nosey, writing and making sure everyone heard the word.
Jan enjoys traveling, socializing, reading and learning the does and don’ts of culture, and is always intrigued by just how the resilient the human spirit is.
Ian Latchmansingh
Interactive Director
Having attended Flagler College, Ian is now an User Experience Director in Jacksonville, FL. He specializes in web design, user ergonomics and posters. On any given weekend, he’s probably DJing somewhere for free.
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Patrick Barry
Videographer
While attending Florida State University as an art major, Patrick began to pursue film and video production. He soon shifted the focus of his studies to media production and began shooting and editing his own short films. After graduation, he continued to pursue his own projects, as well as working in the industry on larger scale productions. Patrick’s short films have gone onto screen at film festivals around the country, with one recently licensed by Movieola, Canada’s short film channel, after screening at the Cannes Short Film Corner. He is currently in post-production on his first feature length film, VEER!
Marietta Synodis
Senior Researcher
After receiving her B.A. in International Studies and French from Southern Methodist University, Marietta joined Teach for America and was placed in a school in the South Bronx. Her life outside of the classroom has been filled with filmmaking, storytelling, and advocacy – particularly for the California High-Speed Rail, which she spent 16 months in California researching, documenting and developing a website aimed at educating voters. Marietta began focusing on radio in 2009 and enjoys the thrill of capturing the sounds of a great story and sharing them with others.
Willie Evans Jr.
Beats • Episode Score Composition
Willie Evans Jr. is the physical manifestation of Hip-Hop and one of the funkiest cats to ever touch a microphone and an MPC. You see, not only will Willie rap circles around your favorite rappers, favorite rapper, he can also craft a beat, so funky that Clyde Stubblefield himself would be proud. The Jacksonville, Florida bred MC/Producer/Visual Artist is at the forefront of a collective of artists that have single handedly managed to put Northeast Florida on the map as a cauldron of Hip-Hop and artistic expression and is now set to show the world that some of the funkiest cats in Hip-Hop call Duval County home. The son of a self taught jazz musician, Willie counts James Brown, Wu Tang Clan, Weird Al Yankovic, Stevie Wonder, Jam Pony Express, DJ Magic Mike, Screamin Jay Hawkins and Geto Boys as some of his favorite artists and influences.
Brenton Crozier
Website Contributor • Guest Author
Brenton Crozier started as a print journalism major and shifted to website copywriting and content editing early in his career. With experience as a Head Copywriter, Design and Copywriting Supervisor, Music Journalist and Editor. He has worked with both Al and Ian for a number of years in various capacities, mainly lending his prose and opinions.
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Samantha Michaels
Website Contributor • Guest Author
Samantha Michaels is a senior at Northwestern University with a double major in journalism and international studies. A Chicago native, she hopes to become a foreign correspondent or travel writer someday, and during college has tried to see as many new places as possible. She spent a year at Middlebury College in Vermont; studied abroad in Paris, France; worked as a health reporter in Washington, D.C.; visited student journalists in Doha, Qatar; conducted an international reporting project in India; and is currently happy to be back at school in Evanston, Ill. She’s thrilled to join State of the Re:Union, so she can keep learning about new places and the people that make them so unique.
Meet the SOTRU Interns
Jessie Wright-Mendoza
After graduating from Boston University with a degree in Photojournalism, Jessie traveled around the United States with her dog/co-pilot, Pooper, exploring the diverse characters and landscapes that make up this sometimes bizarre and always fascinating country. Out of that grew a passion for telling stories about people and places that often go unnoticed. She has helped produce stories for WWNO in New Orleans on topics ranging from the BP oil spill to ladies arm wrestling. A native Midwesterner, Jessie lived in Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Brazil, Ghana, and France before landing in Portland, Maine where she is studying radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. After finishing her semester at Salt, she will be taking off again, this time for the hustle and bustle of New York City. As an aspiring radio and multimedia producer, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to explore storytelling further with the SOTRU team.
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JP Davidson
JP has long harbored feelings of deep admiration and jealousy toward radio storytellers. In early 2010 he decided to do something about that, and started a podcast called I Like You with a friend. The show tells often-silly, sometimes-sweet, and occasionally-traumatic tales of modern love, like, dating, and relationships. JP’s radio skills took a huge leap forward in Fall 2011 when he participated in the first ever Transom Story Workshop. There, he fell even harder for the joy of crafting stories, and the privilege of listening. JP holds a degree in Urban Studies from York University. He’s originally from Ottawa, Canada – home to the world’s longest skating rink, and his parents.
Julie Rawe
Julie accidentally fell into radio work in 2007 when she interned with the passionate journalists of Manooré FM, a community radio station in Dakar, Senegal. The experience left her with an addiction to super-sweet Senegalese tea and a love for audio storytelling. Since then, she has reported for WFIU public radio in Bloomington, Indiana, recorded the stories of Baghdad college students, and written about the Tibetan community in Indiana. She recently completed a Master’s program in African studies at Indiana University during which she documented the experiences of African political activists in Cincinnati, Ohio. Julie loves public transportation and collecting different versions of the same family story.
Katrina Roi
Katrina has lived in a variety of locations, including Kansas City, Damascus, London and Ann Arbor. After graduating from college, she worked as a health care consultant in Seattle for three years. This summer she quit her job and went to the Salt Institute. It turns out she likes jeans and converse a lot better than suits. She’s planning to become a doctor, and she’d like to combine medicine and storytelling. She loves being outdoors, preferably hiking up a mountain or running along a snowy trail.
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Nick Gunner
Nick is the founder of an online magazine called WNY.FM, which tells stories of Western New York through multimedia. He graduated from SUNY Fredonia with a degree in TV/digital film and audio/radio production. During his time at Fredonia he ran his college radio station and interned at WNED, an NPR affiliate in Buffalo. Nick hopes to adapt storytelling to fit the demands of the future with his web development skills, audio/video production skills, and his high standards for journalism.
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Sara Brooke Curtis
Sara loves radio. She loves the musicality of words, the swapping of stories, and the experience of projecting personal and collective narratives out into the world. Sara revels in any opportunity to exercise her fierce curiosity. Sheʼs fascinated by the intimacy of audio and the power of deep listening. After a stretch of traveling, Sara immersed herself in academia, receiving her B.A. in theater from UMass Amherst and her M.A in interpretation performance studies from Eastern Michigan University. Most recently she studied radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Her audio work has aired on KUOW, KUT, and Public Radio Remix. For the past five years sheʼs lived in San Francisco in an astronomical observatory from the 1800s with her boyfriend and 10 chickens. She takes pictures wherever she goes and puts together image poemʼs here: todayspecial. She is thrilled to be a part of the SOTRU community!
