About CBC Podcasts
Critically acclaimed, highly addictive. CBC Podcasts is a diverse collection of internationally lauded, award-winning series. Our slate includes investigative juggernauts such as Someone Knows Something and Uncover, rich and moving stories about the human condition such as Welcome to Paradise and Alone: A Love Story, and the most listened-to Canadian news podcast, Front Burner. We are based in Toronto, but our staff and our stories come from across Canada and around the world.
Interested in working with us? We're always looking for a good story. Consider submitting a pitch. And subscribe to our biweekly newsletter, to keep up with the latest in the world of podcasting.
Meet the team!
Anna Ashitey, Digital Producer
Anna began her career with CBC as one of 2021's Joan Donaldson Scholars, interning with CBC Kids News, Metro Morning, and the Investigative Unit. Before joining the podcast team, Anna worked as a Social Media Producer for CBC's Being Black in Canada and as an Associate Producer for local Toronto radio programs. Lately, Anna has been working on amplifying the department's extensive archive catalogue.
Amanda Cox, Cross-Promotions Producer
Amanda first got her start in digital media with BBC America and has worked on large scale events with CBC including the Olympic Games. She now works across the entire CBC Podcasts portfolio with internal teams and external podcast partners to support strategic audience growth.
Arif Noorani, Director
Arif is the Director of CBC Podcasts. He was Executive Producer from its launch in 2015, overseeing the content and development of more than 40 award-winning and internationally recognized series across a range of genres. He brings three decades of media experience including The Current (founding team); executive producer of Day 6 and Q; and produced programming around the world. He is most passionate about developing contemporary programs that reach new audiences for the CBC.
Ashley Mak, Senior Producer
Cesil Fernandes, Executive Producer
Cesil Fernandes is Executive Producer of Production and Sound Design for CBC Podcasts, managing titles such as Someone Knows Something, The Village and The Kill List. Before creating one of the studio's first original series, Back Story, Cesil traveled Canada and the world for CBC News, covering stories from the Papal Conclave to the Sochi Winter Olympics. He's covered elections in Canada and the U.S. and his reports from the remote island of Eleuthera shone a light on over-fishing in the Bahamas.
Chris Oke, Executive Producer
Chris is Executive Producer of Content at CBC Podcasts, having worked primarily on investigative and long-form series such as Someone Knows Something, Hunting Warhead and Brainwashed. Chris got his start at the Yukon News and went on to report from Argentina and Tanzania, freelancing for Agence France-Presse, The Economist and The Globe & Mail, among others. His poetry has also appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies.
Daemon Fairless, Senior Producer
Daemon is a Senior Producer, writer and host with CBC Podcasts. He specializes in long-form narrative including investigative true-crime and memoir. He hosted and produced the award-winning series Hunting Warhead and has produced series such as Welcome To Paradise and Boys Like Me. He has a graduate degree in psychology and neuroscience and has worked as a radio-journalist for close to 20 years. He's written, produced and hosted television. And as a print journalist he's reported from Canada, England, Spain, Australia and India. He's also the author of the non-fiction book, Mad Blood Stirring: the inner lives of violent men (Penguin Random House).
Émilie Quesnel, Digital Producer
Émilie is a digital/coordinating producer with CBC Podcasts, with a special focus on the true crime and investigative series. She helps bring a podcast's online existence to life, having coordinated the roll-out of series like Uncover, Hunting Warhead, The Next Call, White Hot Hate, Boys Like Me, The Kill List and more. She got her start at CBC in the radio department in 2017 via the Gzowski internship program after completing a joint BA in journalism and psychology.
Emily MacLean, Administrative Support
Emily is the admin support for Leslie Merklinger, Arif Noorani, and the CBC Podcasts team. She has been with the department since 2021. When not running the weekly team meetings, taking notes, creating presentation decks, and organizing multiple calendars, Emily can be found chilling with her cats.
Evan Aagaard, Video Producer
Evan is the video producer for the department and helps write, produce, shoot and edit visual content for CBC Podcasts' entire slate of shows. Evan develops the visual look and feel of each series through video trailers, host and character interviews, short documentaries, explainer videos and photography to help promote the show and keep the listening audience engaged. He's a one-man-band with a laptop and a backpack full of cameras.
Evan has also created audio documentary work for the The Doc Project series, provided footage for CBC News and The National and once met Viggo Mortensen in an elevator. In his spare time Evan enjoys kayak touring and astrophotography.
Evan Kelly, Sound Designer
Evan is a sound designer and mixer for CBC Podcasts. Since starting with the team in 2019, he's mixed a number of CBC's true crime podcast series and led the sound design for some of the top shows, such as Uncover, Someone Knows Something, and Evil By Design. Working collaboratively with team members, Evan brings the stories you hear to life and helps raise the volume (literally!) of important voices that need to be heard.
Eunice Kim, Producer
Eunice is a producer with CBC Podcasts. She's worked across multiple genres and formats — from investigative and true crime to history and science — on award-winning podcasts and radio shows like Stuff the British Stole, Buffy, Tai Asks Why, Boys Like Me, Someone Knows Something, Uncover, The Current and more. She has a big soft spot for "driveway moments" and stories that inform, illuminate, and help us better understand each other.
Geoff Turner, Senior Producer
Geoff is a Senior Producer with CBC Podcasts and hosted the series Recall: How to Start a Revolution. He has been a producer at CBC since 2010. He created On Drugs, a New York Festival award-winning CBC Podcast. Geoff was a founding producer of CBC Radio's The 180, and senior producer of the program from 2015-2017. In a previous life, he was a special-effects technician, helping to make things blow up "real good" for feature films including X-Men 2, I, Robot and Fantastic Four. These days, he's all about Boston terriers and bicycles.
Graham MacDonald, Sound Designer
Graham has been with CBC Podcasts since 2018 creating audio in varying capacities, from producing series to scoring them with original music. These days he's working as a sound designer, helping bring podcasts to sonic life including Unlocking The Fountain, Tai Asks Why and Nothing Is Foreign.
Hadeel Abdel-Nabi, Producer
Hadeel is a Producer with CBC Podcasts with a focus on investigative storytelling. She has worked on The Next Call with David Ridgen and season 7 of Someone Knows Something. Before joining CBC, Hadeel was a freelance reporter and producer based in Calgary, Alta. where she attended Mount Royal University's journalism program.
Ilina Ghosh, Producer
Ilina has been with the CBC Podcasts team since 2018 and specializes in writing and producing long-form investigative series. Her work includes Evil By Design and multiple seasons of the acclaimed Uncover series. Ilina began working at the CBC at 18, while completing her Bachelor of Journalism, and never really left. Before joining CBC Podcasts, she worked with CBC Radio, CBC News and the Globe and Mail.
Jason Paris, Manager, Audience & Production Support
Jason plays a coordinator and project management role with the CBC Podcasts team. Primarily, he's our point person for physical space and equipment needs, while concurrently helping with audience communications, conference organizing, and general administrative assistance to the coordinating producers. Before this, he fulfilled a similar role with CBC's TV production unit (now known as "CBC Studios"). He also holds a long history in the Canadian media world with stints at Alliance Atlantis, I.A.T.S.E. 873, and the North American Broadcasters Association (which unbeknownst to many is our continent's Eurovision, but without the song contest!)
Kate Evans, Senior Producer
Kate Evans is an award winning and podcast obsessed senior producer. She manages titles such as Podcast Playlist, Split Screen: Kid Nation, The Secret Life of Canada, The CBC Podcast Showcase with Gavin Crawford and the upcoming season of Other People's Problems.
Her love of discovering new pods led her to host a podcast trending column for CBC Radio 1 and act as a judge for the National Media Awards Foundation in the podcast category (naturally). In addition to her work at the CBC she is an adjunct professor for the Humber College Radio and Media Production postgraduate program. More recently Kate taught podcasting to students from all over the world with the Humber Global Summer School program.
Leslie Merklinger, Executive Director
Leslie is the Executive Director of CBC Podcasts, which was launched in 2015.
Prior to moving to audio, Leslie was an award-winning television producer, director and Commissioning Editor.
Roshini Nair, Digital Producer
Roshini is a digital/coordinating producer with CBC Podcasts, working on series including Nothing is Foreign, The Secret Life of Canada and more. She is based in Vancouver, and has previously worked on Party Lines: Party in the U.S.A., Unreserved, Unforked, and with CBC News Vancouver's digital news team.
Tanya Springer, Senior Manager
Tanya leads CBC Podcasts' digital and distribution strategy. Her favourite part of the job is helping editorial teams frame and shape their stories, so that they're best-positioned to reach and resonate with global listeners. Tanya started her journalism career broadcast news. She has produced documentaries from India, Slovakia and Rwanda, and founded CBC's nation-wide mentorship program for emerging documentary creators.
Veronica Simmonds, Senior Producer
Described by THIS Magazine as a "Sonic Sorceress", Veronica has helped bring to life some of our most groundbreaking series: Tai Asks Why, Alone: A Love Story, Sleepover and The Fridge Light. Veronica got her start making experimental radio documentaries that aired on CBC Ideas and The Doc Project as well as on ABC Soundproof and BBC Short Cuts — her audio artworks have featured internationally at the Hearsay International Audio Festival, Third Coast International Radio Festival, Hot Docs Festival, Bivouac Radiophonique, and Megapolis Audio Art Festival. Most recently she's been producing and editing series at Wondery and Novel, including the hit show The Girlfriends. There's nothing she loves more than working with production teams to turn their wild dreams and resonant tape into podcasts listeners connect with.