HOST & REPORTER

Tessa Kramer

Tessa is a reporter and narrative audio producer. After getting a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, she made a minor pivot and started  working in documentary filmmaking. She has covered topics ranging from scam artists to The Office, but after working on a documentary series about capital punishment cases, her main interest was the  criminal justice system. She pursued a master’s degree from Columbia  Journalism School, which is where she began reporting the story that  would become Shreds of Evidence.

Tessa has worked on podcasts and documentaries for National Geographic, Spotify, Jigsaw Productions,  and Ken Burns’ Florentine Films, among others. She attributes her love of audio storytelling to the cassette tapes of Greek myths that her parents played in the car when she was a kid.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Ellen Horne

Ellen is the director of the Podcasting and Audio Reportage concentration in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. In 2020, she was host, reporter, and producer for Luminary’s Lies We Tell. She is the founder and editorial director at Story Mechanics, where she is currently in production on a slate of audio projects including a queer history project for Audible, a science-history theatrical stage show, and an audio installation project. Horne was an executive producer at Audible and an executive producer for WNYC’s Radiolab, where she won numerous honors including George Foster Peabody Awards, Third Coast Awards, and the Kavli Science Journalism Award. She has taught audio journalism at NYU and Columbia University.

PRODUCER

Dana Bialek

Dana is a Brooklyn-based audio producer working with Story Mechanics. She studied writing and multimedia at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and started making audio stories while biking along the Mississippi River—from its source to the Gulf of Mexico. When she got off the saddle in New Orleans, she worked on the Southern Foodways Alliance’s podcast, Gravy, and produced live events for The Moth. Since relocating to Brooklyn, she has worked on podcasts for Quanta Magazine, Jigsaw Productions, Slate, Spotify, and others.

EDITOR

Danielle Elliot

Danielle is a writer, editor and producer who has worked on podcasts and documentaries for HBO, Audible, FX, and ESPN, among others. She has also written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Grantland, National Geographic and others, with a focus on science and health.

REPORTING FELLOW & FACT CHECKER

Chloe Wynne

Chloe is a reporter and audio producer working with Story Mechanics. She is a recent graduate of Columbia Journalism School, where she focused her studies on audio storytelling and investigative reporting. She completed a long-form master’s project on the increase in sexual harassment toward restaurant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining Story Mechanics, she worked as a reporter and web producer for inewsource, an investigative newsroom in San Diego. She began her journalism career at Connecticut Public Television as a production assistant for two live music performance series, Infinity Hall Live and The Kate.