Sarah Koenig (/ˈkeɪnɪɡ/; born July 9, 1969, in New York City)[3] is an American journalist, public radio personality, former[4] producer of the television and radio program This American Life,[5] and the host and executive producer of the podcast Serial.[6]
Early life
Koenig was born July 1969 in New York City to Julian Koenig and his second wife, Maria Eckhart.[3] Sarah is Jewish.[7] Her father was a well-known copywriter. Her mother is from Tanzania.[8][9] After her parents' divorce, Sarah's mother married writer Peter Matthiessen.[10] Koenig attended Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts.[11] Koenig graduated from the University of Chicago in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science. She attended Columbia University for a postgraduate degree in Russian history, but she left after two weeks.[12]
Career
After graduating from college Koenig began working as a reporter at The East Hampton Star.[13] Then she worked in Russia as a reporter for ABC News and later for The New York Times.[14] She covered the State House (politics) for the Concord Monitor and later for the Baltimore Sun.[2]
She began working as a producer for This American Life in January 2004.[14] She co-produced the 2006 Peabody Award-winning episode of This American Life titled "Habeas Schmabeas."[15]
In 2013, she began work on a spinoff podcast of the This American Life radio program titled Serial, which debuted in October 2014. Serial was honored with a Peabody award in April 2015, noting that it took podcasting into the cultural mainstream.[16]
Recognition and honors
TIME magazine named Koenig one of "The 100 Most Influential People" on April 16, 2015.[17] Also in 2015, she was named as one of The Forward 50.[18]
Personal life
Koenig lives in State College, Pennsylvania,[19] with her husband, Ben Schreier, an associate professor of Jewish studies and English at Penn State,[19] and their two children.
In popular culture
In the fortieth season of Saturday Night Live, Koenig was portrayed by Cecily Strong in a segment titled "Serial: The Christmas Surprise",[20] a parody of her investigative podcast Serial.[21][22] Also in 2014, Koenig was portrayed by Michaela Watkins struggling to solve the murder of Hae Min Lee in time for the first season finale of Serial in a digital skit for Funny or Die. In 2015, Koenig played herself in the second season episode of BoJack Horseman, "Out to Sea", voicing Diane Nguyen's ringtone with a parody of her Serial introduction.[23] This came a season after podcaster Ira Glass held the same to-be-recurring role.[24] In Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, the podcast All Is Not OK in Oklahoma and character Cinda Canning played by Tina Fey were inspired by Sarah Koenig and her podcast Serial.[25] Koenig was animated in the second episode of the twenty-second season of Family Guy, "Supermarket Pete", as a podcaster trying to solve a murder case and get credit for it.
