Avery Trufelman is a podcaster and radio producer. She is best known for her work on ''

99% Invisible ''99% Invisible'' is a radio show and podcast produced and created by Roman Mars that focuses on design. It began as a collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects in San Franc ...

'' (2013–2020) and its spin-off, ''Articles of Interest'' (2018–present).

Background

Avery was born into a "radio family" of two

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

producers and was raised in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

. She attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, graduating in 2013 with degrees in German and Letters. While at Wesleyan, she worked at the campus radio station

WESU WESU is a college/community non-commercial FM radio station owned by Wesleyan University and licensed to Middletown, Connecticut. History It was founded in 1939 as an unofficial AM carrier current campus radio station in the basement of Clar ...

. After graduating, she interned for the now-defunct

NPR Berlin NPR Berlin was the first international affiliate of the American public radio network, NPR. The station started broadcasting in April 2006. It replaced a radio station from Voice of America that previously broadcast on the 104.1 MHz frequency. T ...

in Germany.

Career

Following her stint with NPR, Trufelman interned at ''

'' and eventually became the show's third full-time producer following Sam Greenspan and creator

Roman Mars Roman Mars is an American radio producer. He is the host and producer of ''99% Invisible'', a KALW radio show and podcast, and a founder of the podcast collective Radiotopia, which he describes as efforts "to broaden the radio landscape ndmake ...

. She would hold this position until her departure in 2020, although she returned for a single episode in 2022, credited as "producer emeritus".

''Articles of Interest''

In 2018, Trufelman spearheaded ''99% Invisibles first spinoff series, ''Articles of Interest'', which explores the origins of clothing pieces and fashion subcultures. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' named the first season the fourth best podcast of 2018 and the second season the sixth best podcast of 2020. ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' named the season one finale, "Punk", the best podcast episode of 2018. At the conclusion of the second season, she announced her departure from ''99% Invisible''. In 2021, upon selling ''99% Invisible'' to

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

, Mars transferred ownership of ''Articles of Interest'' to Trufelman. In 2022, she independently produced a third season, ''American Ivy'', a serialized history of

preppy Preppy (also spelled as preppie, or prep), is an American subculture associated with the alumni of college-preparatory schools in the Northeastern United States. The term, which is an abbreviation of "preparatory", is used to denote a person ...

fashion. ''The New Yorker'' named it the sixth best podcast of 2022 while industry creatives surveyed in ''Vulture'' named it the third best. In 2023, she returned to an episodic format.

Other ventures

In 2019, Trufelman was recruited to host ''Nice Try!'' for

Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company founded in Washington, D.C. with operational headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by CEO Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''S ...

's ''

Curbed Curbed is an American real estate and urban design website published by ''New York'' magazine. Founded as a blog by Lockhart Steele in 2006 to cover New York City real estate, it grew by 2010 to feature sub-pages dedicated to specific real ...

''. The first season, ''Utopian'', profiles various failed utopian experiments throughout history, including

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...

and

Biosphere 2 University of Arizona Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and i ...

. In 2021, she hosted a second season, ''Interior'', which traces the history of various homemaking tools, including the

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum, is a device that uses suction, and often agitation, in order to remove dirt and other debris from carpets, hard floors, and other surfaces. The dirt is collected into a dust bag or a plastic bin. ...

and the

crock-pot A slow cooker, (also known as a crock-pot after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products, but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than ot ...

. In 2020, following her departure from ''99% Invisible'', Trufelman began hosting the relaunch of ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

s '' The Cut'' podcast, moving from Oakland to Brooklyn in the process. Her guests included cartoonist Allison Bechdel, screenwriters Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, and author Michelle Zauner. Trufelman left ''The Cut'' in 2021 to resume work on ''Nice Try!'' and ''Articles of Interest''. She has also appeared as a guest on several other podcasts including The Business of Fashion Podcast,

You're Wrong About ''You're Wrong About'' is an American history and pop culture podcast created by journalist Michael Hobbes and writer Sarah Marshall (writer), Sarah Marshall. It has been hosted by Marshall since its inception; Hobbes also hosted until 2021. La ...

, High Brow, and Nymphet Alumni.

Projects

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trufelman, Avery Living people Wesleyan University alumni 21st-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Place of birth missing (living people) American women podcasters American podcasters Writers from New York (state) People from Westchester County, New York 1991 births