Award-Winning Reporter, Radio & Podcast Host and Creator
Guy Raz is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of podcasting. He’s been instrumental in creating some of the most iconic podcasts in the world including How I Built This, the kids science podcast Wow in the World and TED Radio Hour.
Guy is also the force behind the celebrity interview podcast The Great Creators and the business podcast Wisdom from the Top. The New York Times has described him as “one of the most popular podcasters in history.” Collectively, his shows reach 19 million listeners a month.
Guy is also the author of two New York Times bestsellers including How I Built This and a children’s book The How and Wow of the Human Body (with Mindy Thomas.) He’s co-authored four other children’s books on animals and space.
He’s the co-founder of two media companies including Built-It Productions and the kids and family studio, Tinkercast.
Guy has interviewed more than 20,000 people over a career in broadcasting spanning more than 25 years including presidents, Nobel Prize winners, iconic actors, athletes, musicians and business leaders. Forbes magazine has called him “the greatest interviewer of his generation.”
He’s been profiled in the New York Times, has been named one of the 40 most influential podcasters by the Hollywoood Reporter and one of the 40 most influential people in children’s media. Guy has also appeared as a guest on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon half a dozen times.
In 2017, Raz became the first person in the history of podcasting to have three shows in the top 20 on the Apple Podcasts charts simultaneously.
Previously, Guy was a foreign correspondent for CNN and NPR where he covered news from more than 50 countries. During his six years abroad, Raz covered everything from wars and conflict zones to sports and entertainment. He reported from more than 40 countries including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Macedonia, and the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Guy was also the weekend host of NPR News' signature afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered. During his tenure (2009-2012), he transformed the sound and format of the program and interviewed figures such as Bill Gates, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, General David Petraeus, Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and many, many others.
Raz has anchored live coverage on some of the biggest stories in recent years, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Newtown School Shootings, and the 2012 presidential election.
For his work in broadcasting, Guy has been awarded the prestigious Edward E. Murrow award and was part of the team that won both the Peabody and DuPont awards. He’s also received the National Headliner award, the NABJ, the Gracie, the Daniel Schorr Prize, a Webby, an iHeart award among several others.
In 2008, he spent a year as a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University where he studied classical history.
He has also served as a Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University, a Shapiro fellow at George Washington University, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown.
Guy lives in Marin County, California with his family.
Raz began his career at NPR in 1997 as an intern for All Things Considered and worked virtually every job in the newsroom—from temporary production assistant to breaking news anchor. His first job was the assistant to NPR’s legendary news analyst Daniel Schorr.
In 2000, at the age of 25, Raz was appointed as NPR’s Berlin bureau chief, where he covered Eastern Europe and the Balkans. During his six years abroad, Raz reported on everything from wars and conflicts to sports and entertainment. He reported from more than 50 countries, covering the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Macedonia, and the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Following a year-long sabbatical as a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University, Raz became the weekend host of NPR News’ signature afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered. During his tenure, he transformed the sound and format of the program, introducing the now-signature “cover story” and creating the popular “Three-Minute Fiction” writing contest. During this time, Raz anchored live coverage on some of the biggest stories in recent years, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Newtown School Shootings, and the 2012 presidential election.
In 2013, Raz left the news-world to become the co-creator of TED Radio Hour. By exploring the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world's greatest thinkers, TED Radio Hour quickly became a staple in NPR’s array of podcasts and iTunes called it the “Best New Audio Podcast."
In 2015, Raz created How I Built This. Each episode is a narrative journey marked by triumphs, failures, serendipity, and resilience — told by the founders of some of the world’s best-known companies and brands. The success of the show has prompted The New York Times to call Raz “the biggest name in business podcasts.”
In 2016, Raz and his co-host, Mindy Thomas, founded their children’s production company, Tinkercast, and launched NPR's first-ever podcast for kids, Wow In The World, which quickly became a top children’s podcast and is a two-time Parent’s Choice Gold Award winner. In 2018, Raz debuted the Spotify original series The Rewind, which takes listeners inside the minds of today’s biggest music stars, including David Guetta, Kelly Clarkson, and Shawn Mendes. In 2019, Raz launched a new podcast on the Luminary podcast network platform—Wisdom From The Top—which is a biographical journey into the lives and minds of the greatest business managers and leaders in the world.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Raz began the How I Built This Resilience series: twice-weekly live video interviews with founders to discuss how the pandemic has affected their business models and philosophies as leaders. He also co-created a new daily kids podcast, Two Whats and a Wow.
Over the course of his career as a correspondent and subsequently a host, Raz has interviewed and profiled more than 6,000 people from all walks of life, including Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Howard Schultz, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Marissa Meyer, Melinda Gates, Christopher Hitchens, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, General David Petraeus, Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and many, many others. Raz has also been on the other side of the microphone as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and he has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Inc., The Today Show, and Forbes.
Raz has been awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award, National Headliner Award, NABJ award, and the Daniel Schorr Journalism prize; his reporting has contributed to two duPont awards and one Peabody awarded to NPR; and he has been a finalist for the Livingston Award four times. He has served as a Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University, a Shapiro fellow at George Washington University, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown.
Most importantly, Raz is a father. He’s taught preschoolers how to conduct radio interviews, performed in children’s theater as the narrator in Cat in the Hat, helped design the local playground in his neighborhood, and coached and cheered on his sons’ baseball and soccer teams.
