EXCLUSIVE: Proximity Media, the company behind Judas and the Black Messiahpushes further into podcasts with the hiring of Pushkin Industries’ Paola Mardo.
Mardo joins the company, which is run by Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis and Peter Nicks, as SVP and Head of Audio.
She was previously executive producer at Malcolm Gladwell’s company, where she produced the Apple Fitness + sound series Time to go. Prior to that, she produced podcasts, including The Los Angeles Times’ Asian enoughKCRWs Good food and KPCCs The frame and she created and hosted Long distance, a series of stories in the Philippine diaspora, and
Mardo will build a complete audio team with the goal of producing more original podcasts as well as podcasts designed to complement and support its movies and TV series. The company is behind it Official Judas and the Black Messiah podcast, which was produced in collaboration with Roman Mars’ 99% Invisible and has had 720,000 downloads since its launch in 2020.
She will develop and produce all podcast and audio projects and will report to Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian as well as work closely with Proximity’s Non-Fiction boss Pete Nicks, who recruited her to the company.
“We are big fans of podcasts here at Proximity and are so excited to have Paola join the company to lead our audio division. Paola’s unique and fresh voice as a storyteller reflects our company’s vision to break new ground in audio storytelling.” , said Nicks.
“The Proximity team’s mission to bring their powerful storytelling to audiences everywhere has long inspired me as a creator,” Mardo added. “Building Proximity Audio is an exciting opportunity to not only work with this phenomenal team, but to expand their vision and bring new and compelling voices and stories to podcasting and audio. I can not wait to get started. “