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

voice actress Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

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

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and the co-founder and chief creative officer of the podcast network Lemonada Media. Wachs is 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 Long form or longform may refer to: *A variety of improvisational theatre *A type of census questionnaire *Form 1040, an American income tax form *Long-form journalism Long-form journalism refers to a genre of journalism characterized by in-dep ...

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

's ''

Pod Save the People ''Pod Save the People'' is an American political podcast produced and distributed by Crooked Media. The show was created, and is hosted by activist DeRay Mckesson with co-hosts Kaya Henderson, De'Ara Balenger and Myles E. Johnson. Mckesson tal ...

'', 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 (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

s and nominated for a 2020

iHeart Radio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeartM ...

Award. Wachs is 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, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the youngest member of President Obama's cabinet, serving as the 16th United States secretar ...

, 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 variety 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 w ...

'', ''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! It is hosted by writer and ...

'', ''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!' ...

. In her book, she also mentioned that she has two nieces.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittels Wachs, Stephanie 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