A.C. Valdez

A.C. Valdez is an award-winning audio producer and editor, currently working with The Atlantic, where he and his colleagues are producing the flagship show Radio Atlantic. His work also includes launching The Review, a show featuring culture writers asking big questions about pop culture like “Why do we need to expose our kids to villain redemption narratives about Cruella DeVille?” A.C. is also editing an anthology podcast in which The Atlantic’s contributors teach listeners how to manage life, relationships, and social situations. The first and third seasons hosted by Arthur Brooks are How to Build a Happy Life. The second season is How to Start Over, featuring Olga Khazan and producer Rebecca Rashid.

His previous work includes editing at the Guns & America collaborative reporting project, a partnership of ten public media stations across the country, chronicling the role of guns in American life. Some highlights include Shattered, intimate portraits of those who have survived gun violence, and an episode of WAMU and NPR’s 1A about policy and personal stories twenty years after the massacre at Columbine High School. He also helped to develop the Pulitzer-winning podcast No Compromise.

At the Panoply podcast network, he produced About Race, was founding producer of Vox.com’s The Ezra Klein Show and The Weeds, and recruited the team behind Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History. He was also a longtime producer of Chris Guillebeau’s Side Hustle School, one of the top-downloaded podcasts of 2017.

His other work in public radio includes production of shows such as Tell Me More, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, and America Abroad. His leadership at Latino USA won the show its first Peabody Award in its 20+ year history and tripled its audience in two years.