Lea Thau (born 1971) is a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

-winning producer and director. She is the host and producer of the podcast ''

Strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown to another person or group. Because of this unknown status, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, character can be ascertained. Differ ...

'' and the former Executive and Creative Director of

The Moth The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring ...

Biography

Originally from

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, Thau moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

at the age of 18, and then to New York at the age of 23 as a visiting scholar in Comparative Literature at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. While living in New York as a graduate student, Thau discovered the then-fledgling live storytelling show ''

''. She began working for the organization in 2000 as a part-time employee, starting the organization's Community Outreach Program. In December 2001, she became the Executive and Creative Director, a position she held for a decade before departing in April, 2010. While in that position, she created the short-form ''Moth Podcast'' in 2008 and ''The Moth Radio Hour'' in 2009 with a broadcast launch to more than 70 public radio stations. The show won a Peabody Award in 2010. In 2011, Thau created the podcast ''

'', which she describes as "stories about people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we suffer, the kindness we encounter, and the frightful moments when we discover ''we'' aren't even who we thought we were". ''Strangers'' was started with the support of

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

's Independent Producer Project in 2012, and it joined the Radiotopia podcast network in 2014. Strangers left

Radiotopia Radiotopia is a podcast network founded by ''99% Invisible'' host Roman Mars and run by the Public Radio Exchange. The network is organized as a collective of some two dozen shows whose producers have complete artistic control over their work. P ...

in December, 2017, to go independent. Thau lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and honors

* In 2014, ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' included ''Strangers'' on its "25 Best Podcast Episodes Ever" list. * In 2014, ''

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

'' named ''Strangers'' one of its "15 Podcasts to Add to Your Permanent Playlist" * In 2015, ''Strangers'' won the Public Radio March Madness Bracket Contest, beating out shows such as

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

and

Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first offe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thau, Lea Danish actresses American actresses Peabody Award winners 1971 births Living people 21st-century American women