Staff Bios

Leonard has been a WNYC fixture for close to 25 years. In that time, his show has been the proud recipient of three James Beard Awards and three Associated Press Awards. Leonard came to radio relatively late in life, having trained as a serious painter (and studied with some of the leading artists of the day including Ad Reinhardt at Brooklyn College and Mark Rothko at Hunter Graduate School). To support his art habit, he worked in advertising for 15 years. But when he was given the opportunity to host his first talk show in 1977, he was hooked. What began as a whim has become his life’s work. And his background in art and literature (and in the commercial world) has been a major factor in attracting the most fascinating minds -- because no matter how esoteric the topic, he always strives to keep the conversation entertaining and engaging.

During the time Melissa has been Executive Producer, the show has won three AP Awards for Best Interview, and three James Beard Awards. Before she brought her deep curiosity for the world around her to The Leonard Lopate Show, she was a freelance writer. Her work appeared in publications like The Christian Science Monitor and Yankee, where she covered everything from windmills to shipwrights. She also edited the reissue of James Franklin’s historic Rhode-Island Gazette. A Greenwich Village native, she attended the Lyceum Kennedy Francais, and graduated from Barnard College with a double major in English and French. She has studied at the Art Students League, the Joffrey Ballet, and with Gary Restifo at Steps, and used to sing with the Collegiate Chorale. She has climbed the Northeast 111 (the 115 highest peaks in the Northeast) and loves swimming, when she manages to get to the pool in the morning.

Blakeney joined the show as an intern in the fall of 2004, before becoming an Associate Producer in 2007. She contributes to the "Underreported" series and keeps an eye on national and international politics, and produced the year-long "States of the Union" series during the 2008 presidential campaign. Blakeney went to Bowdoin College, where she studied Government and Spanish.

Steven runs the "Projections" film series and contributes to the "Underreported" and "Backstory" series. Before joining the Lopate team as an Assistant Producer in 2008, he produced two full-length radio documentaries for Pacifica and Sirius Satellite Radio, one on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and another on gay marriage called “Regulating Love,” for which he won the 2005 NLGJA Student Journalist of the Year Award. He graduated from UC Davis in 2006 after a two-year stint as General Manager of KDVS, his college radio station. He joined the show as an intern shortly after stumbling off the plane. A California native, Steven currently resides in Brooklyn.

Julia joined the show as an intern in spring 2007 after listening to the show for many years, and has been contributing full-time to the "Please Explain" series and other segments since February 2009. Previously, she reported and produced radio features for WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany and for WSHU Public Radio in Connecticut. Julia studied literature and art at the University of New Mexico, and holds a degree from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. In her spare time, she enjoys escaping the city to climb up and ski down mountains.

Bonnie Lafave worked for many years as a producer of national news and current affairs programming with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto. In 1996, she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship and spent a year studying at Harvard University. She subsequently moved to New York City, where she now lives with her husband and two young sons.

Melissa was a producer of film and television until she fell in love with radio and joined The Leonard Lopate Show. She is the founder of Lions Tooth Media, a niche marketing company that promotes and advocates for sustainable foods and local farms. She also writes for the local foods magazine Edible Nutmeg and the 'slow food' blog Civil Eats, while also publishing an e-zine about sustainable agriculture, FertileGroundUSA. Before working for WNYC, she was the Co-Producer of a PBS current affairs TV series called "World @ Large with David Gergen."

In addition to working for The Leonard Lopate Show, Virginia is a freelance writer who has written frequently about architecture, engineering and construction. She has an MS from the Columbia University School of Journalism and a BS in architecture from the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three sons.

Paula is a contributing producer at The Leonard Lopate Show, where she focuses on food issues. She is the managing editor of Civil Eats, a site dedicated to sustainability and food, and is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post's Green Page. She is currently tending a vegetable garden on her roof in the Lower East Side. You can follow her on Twitter.

Barbara studied art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and New York University, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. When not at WNYC, she can generally be found making pottery in her Greenwich Village studio.

In addition to The Leonard Lopate Show, Miranda also works with the radio show Selected Shorts. She is a life-long New Yorker and enjoys learning about local history.

Adam came to The Leonard Lopate Show in 2009 after a year-long stint on the campaign staff of then-Sen. Barack Obama. Prior, he studied literature and architecture at Brown University. Adam's devotion to WNYC runs very deep. While sleeping, his dreams are often narrated by Soterios Johnson, host of WNYC’s Morning Edition.

Drew is currently an editor at MSN.com. He's lived in Jersey City for the past five years, which is the longest stretch of time he's been in one place since he graduated from the University of South Carolina oh-so-many years ago. He enjoys roaming the city, Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA, Porchetta sandwiches, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas and "The Wire."

Stephanie has been working for the show since September 2009, after graduating from Brown University with a degree in English and Classics the prior spring. She spent the summer working on organic farms in Maine and New Hampshire, where she split her time weeding onions and feeding goats with camping and mountain hiking. She is a writer with a journalistic focus on environmental sustainability and an interest in fiction.

Colin was born in California, and then commenced a nomadic existence that has finally deposited him in New York, taking in Chicago, Delaware and Wales (UK) on the way. A long-time public radio fan, he joined the show in September 2009 as an intern. Colin studied theatre and Celtic studies at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, and is fluent in Irish Gaelic and knows a smattering of Welsh as well. He hosted a show on his University radio station (Bay Radio) and was the staff reviewer for music, theatre and live events for the University magazine The Courier. Colin moved to the city to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and when not working for radio, he works as an actor.

Additional information on staff biographies for all of WNYC's shows