Stephanie Rose Wittels Wachs (born February 20, 1981) is an American

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

, activist, and author. She is the co-founder and executive director of the theatre company Rec Room Arts in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the podcast network

Lemonada Media Lemonada Media is an American podcast network. The company was founded in 2019 by Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. In 2019, Lemonada Media debuted their first podcast, ''Last Day''. As of 2022, Lemonada has launched more than ...

. Wachs serves as the host of the podcast ''Last Day''.

Career

Memoir

Wachs is the author of ''Everything is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love and Loss'', a memoir about addiction, grief, and healing. Her other writing can be found on Vox, Longform, Huffington Post, Fatherly, Babble, and Medium.

Lemonada Media

In 2017, Wachs appeared as a guest on the podcast ''Terrible, Thanks for Asking!'' discussing her struggle coping with her brother's death. At the time, Wachs was hosting a podcast of her own called ''Hands Off Parenting'' and continuing her work in voice acting. An Executive Producer of

Crooked Media Crooked Media is a progressive American political media company. It was founded in 2017 by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, all former top Barack Obama staffers and former co-hosts of the '' Keepin' it 1600'' podcast. Dan Pfeiffer, al ...

Pod Save the People ''Pod Save the People'' is an American political podcast produced and distributed by Crooked Media and hosted by organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson with weekly appearances by Samuel Sinyangwe, Clint Smith (writer), Clint Smith, and Brittany Pa ...

, Jessica Cordova Kramer, heard the episode and subsequently made contact with Wachs. Cordova Kramer had lost her brother, Stefano, to a battle with addiction earlier that year. In September 2019, the two teamed up to found the podcasting network Lemonada Media. Lemonada Media's first launch was a narrative podcast breaking down the opioid crisis through personal interviews entitled ''Last Day''. ''Last Day'' was an honoree in two categories at the 2020

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

s and nominated for a 2020

iHeart Radio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...

Award. Wachs serves as chief content officer and executive producer for Lemonada Media's other slated podcasts, including ''Our America with

Julian Castro Julián Castro ( , ; born September 16, 1974) is an American lawyer and politician from San Antonio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the youngest member of President Obama's cabinet, serving as the 16th United States Secretary of Hou ...

, Tell Me What to Do with Jaime Primak Sullivan'', and ''The Untold Story: Policing''.

Press

Wachs has been a guest on ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...

'', ''NPR Weekend Edition'', ''Houston Matters'', and numerous podcasts including ''

Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humanit ...

'', ''Who Charted?'', and ''Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend''. She has been featured in ''People'' magazine, ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''Bustle'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', ''Arts & Culture Magazine'', and as one of ''Houstonia Magazine''s "10 Houston Women Making it Happen."

Personal life

Wachs is married to Mike Wachs. They have a daughter born in 2014 and a son born in 2018, named after her younger brother,

Harris Wittels Harris Lee Wittels (April 20, 1984 – February 19, 2015) was an American comedian. He was a writer for ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', a writer and executive producer for '' Parks and Recreation'', and a recurring guest on ''Comedy Bang! Bang!' ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * 1981 births 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers Actors Studio alumni Actresses from Houston Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art American people of Jewish descent American voice actresses Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni University of Houston alumni 21st-century American women singers Educators from Texas American women educators {{US-voice-actor-1980s-stub