Sarah Koenig | |
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Born | Sarah Augusta Koenig July 9, 1969
New York City, New York, United States |
Alma mater | University of Chicago (Bachelor of Arts) |
Occupations |
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Known for | Host and executive producer of Serial |
Spouse | Ben Schreier |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Maria Eckhart Koenig Matthiessen Julian Koenig |
Family |
Peter Matthiessen (step-father) Lester Koenig (uncle) |
Awards |
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Sarah Koenig ( /ˈkeɪnɪɡ/; born July 9, 1969, in New York City) [3] is an American journalist, public radio personality, former [4] producer of the television and radio program This American Life, [5] and the host and executive producer of the podcast Serial. [6]
Koenig was born July 1969 in New York City to Julian Koenig and his second wife, Maria Eckhart. [3] Sarah is Jewish. [7] Her father was a well-known copywriter. Her mother is from Tanzania. [8] [9] After her parents' divorce, Sarah's mother married writer Peter Matthiessen. [10] Koenig attended Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts. [11] Koenig graduated from the University of Chicago in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science. She attended Columbia University for a postgraduate degree in Russian history, but she left after two weeks. [12]
After graduating from college Koenig began working as a reporter at The East Hampton Star. [13] Then she worked in Russia as a reporter for ABC News and later for The New York Times. [14] She covered the State House (politics) for the Concord Monitor and later for the Baltimore Sun. [2]
She began working as a producer for This American Life in January 2004. [14] She co-produced the 2006 Peabody Award-winning episode of This American Life titled "Habeas Schmabeas." [15]
In 2013, she began work on a spinoff podcast of the This American Life radio program titled Serial, which debuted in October 2014. Serial was honored with a Peabody award in April 2015, noting that it took podcasting into the cultural mainstream. [16]
TIME magazine named Koenig one of "The 100 Most Influential People" on April 16, 2015. [17] Also in 2015, she was named as one of The Forward 50. [18]
Koenig lives in State College, Pennsylvania, [19] with her husband, Ben Schreier, an associate professor of Jewish studies and English at Penn State, [19] and their two children.
In the fortieth season of Saturday Night Live, Koenig was portrayed by Cecily Strong in a segment titled "Serial: The Christmas Surprise", [20] a parody of her investigative podcast Serial. [21] [22] Also in 2014, Koenig was portrayed by Michaela Watkins struggling to solve the murder of Hae Min Lee in time for the first season finale of Serial in a digital skit for Funny or Die. In 2015, Koenig played herself in the second season episode of BoJack Horseman, " Out to Sea", voicing Diane Nguyen's ringtone with a parody of her Serial introduction. [23] This came a season after podcaster Ira Glass held the same to-be-recurring role. [24] In Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, the podcast All Is Not OK in Oklahoma and character Cinda Canning played by Tina Fey were inspired by Sarah Koenig and her podcast Serial. [25] Koenig was animated in the second episode of the twenty-second season of Family Guy, "Supermarket Pete", as a podcaster trying to solve a murder case and get credit for it.