Manoush Zomorodi is an award-winning podcaster, author, entrepreneur, and tech expert. From 2013 up until 2020, she hosted Note to Self, “the tech show about being human”. She also wrote Bored and Brilliant and Camera Ready, two books that treat different aspects of her life as a techie and public personality.
Now, Zomorodi has brought her journalistic talents to NPR. Since March 2020, she has hosted NPR’s exploratory podcast TED Radio Hour:
“Exploring the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world’s greatest thinkers,” reads the NPR podcast summary. “Host Manoush Zomorodi inspires us to learn more about the world, our communities, and most importantly, ourselves.”
Manoush Zomorodi: techie, entrepreneur, author, and more
The half-Swiss, half-Iranian, New York-born and based podcaster first rose to fame with her long-running podcast Note to Self. The podcast sought to help people navigate the digital age with humanity. A particularly popular series of episodes also led to her first book, Bored and Brilliant.
Bored and Brilliant explains how the power of boredom can fuel creativity. Zomorodi argues, with plenty of scientific studies, that the human brain needs time to wander in order to thrive. By allowing boredom, rather than reaching immediately for a smartphone or computer, people can maximize their creative potential.
Zomorodi hosted the show from 2012 (then called New Tech City) until 2018, when she left to launch her own start-up, Stable Genius Productions, and its associated podcast ZigZag.
Manoush Zomorodi joins NPR
With a long career in journalism and podcasting already under her belt, Zomorodi’s move to NPR makes sense. In March, she began hosting the broad-spectrum podcast TED Radio Hour, a partnership between TED conferences and NPR.
The weekly show gathers experts from around the world to discuss, explain, and remark on a wide range of topics. For example, some topics include the ocean, space, mental health, success and much more.
Usually, these episodes combine the TED Talks of three to four guests, who offer different perspectives, information, or stories about the topic. After their pre-recorded TED Talk, Zomorodi interviews these experts and thinkers.
Explore the whole list of episodes here.
