Paola Mardo is a writer and producer based in Los Angeles. She writes the substack newsletter Subtitles and leads audio and digital storytelling at Proximity Media, where she developed and produced their flagship podcast In Proximity and Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast written and hosted by Ta-Nehisi Coates and winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award and Webby Award.
Born in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown and raised in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and the San Francisco Bay Area, she adapted her personal experiences and insights as a teenage immigrant into the podcast and short documentary series Long Distance. The podcast showcased the depth of the Filipino diaspora experience through dark, true, and offbeat stories about Little Manila, Filipino food, Rufio, an underground activist, where Tiki bars really come from, and more. Selected for the inaugural Google Podcasts creator program, the show has been featured in several best of lists and taught in schools.
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Subtitles
A weekly substack newsletter about navigating a creative career… written by someone *trying* to do just that. A raw, real-time look at creativity, business, and learning on the job.
How a bag of drugs and DVDs changed the course of my career
Thoughts on “Hollywood’s Great Malaise”
The problem with moving on up
Am I even good at this?
Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast
Hosted and written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Produced by Paola Mardo. Winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award and Webby Award.
In Proximity
Conversations about craft, career, and creativity hosted by Ryan Coogler and the creative team at Proximity Media. Paola Mardo served as producer and executive producer for S1 and executive producer for S2. She introduces every episode and has hosted, edited, and produced interviews. A 2024 Webby Honoree.
Long Distance
A narrative podcast about stories in the Filipino diaspora hosted, written, created, and produced by Paola Mardo. The companion documentary series Long Distance TV is directed by Paola Mardo and Patrick Epino. Selected for the inaugural PRX Google Podcasts creator program. Featured in Vanity Fair’s 10 Essential Podcasts from AAPI Creators, IndieWire’s Best Podcasts of 2020, and The New York Times Podcast Club’s 2019 Picks.
