Miki Meek

Miki Meek
NationalityAmerican/Japanese
OccupationRadio producer

Miki Meek is an American radio producer and journalist best known as a producer for the radio program This American Life. She was an intern and then freelanced for the show before joining the staff in December 2012. She has worked as an online producer and editor at National Geographic and The New York Times. Meek has won two Emmy Awards for documentary programming.[1]

Early life and career

Meek was born to a Japanese mother and a White American father.[2] She grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in West Mountain, Utah.[3] In her early teens, the family moved to Japan and she attended an international school, where she bonded with other biracial students.[2] Ultimately in 1997,[4] she graduated from Payson High School in Utah County, Utah.[5] Meek speaks Japanese.[2] As an adult, she changed her name to Miki, her mother's nickname for her, explaining, "It is definitely more me. It gives a nod to my Japanese side.”[2]

While still in college, Meek started her journalism career as a newspaper stringer for The Salt Lake Tribune.[6] She next found work as an online producer and editor National Geographic, specializing in interactive and visual storytelling; she ultimately helped launch the magazine's first website.[6] Meek transferred to The New York Times in 2008, serving in a similar role, where she stayed until 2011.[6]

Meek was one of the producers who earned a 2010 Emmy Award for New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Documentaries for One in 8 Million.[7] She won the award again the following year for the documentary 14 Actors Acting.[8] In 2014, she and 15 other contributors created the Instagram account @everydayusa, with the goal of answering "“What does America mean to me?" to people of varying backgrounds.[3] In 2019, she was one of the producers awarded a 2019 duPont-Columbia Award two-part episode "Our Town" of This American Life.[9]

Awards

  • Emmy for New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Documentaries (2010) – One in 8 Million[7]
  • duPont-Columbia Award (2019) – "Our Town" episode of This American Life[9]
  • Gerald Loeb Award for Audio (2022) – "'We're Coming for You': For Public Health Officials, a Year of Threats and Menace"[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Staff". This American Life. Archived from the original on March 17, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Frank, Cassandra (February 21, 2010). "Choosing Racial Sides ... American Society Forces Its Children To Make The Tough Choices". www.usaonrace.com. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Over the past year, a group of photojournalists have been telling stories about Americans you won't see on the news. [...]". www.facebook.com. July 4, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  4. ^ Hiskey, Lana (March 2017). "Payson High featured on national radio show". Serve Daily. 6 (58): A1–A3. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  5. ^ Mann, Court; Clements, Derrick (February 17, 2017). "Ira Glass tells 'What Say Ye?' podcast about visiting Payson High School". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "2014 Eyes of History: Multimedia Contest". White House News Photographers Association. 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Announces Winners at the 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards, Documentarian Frederick Wiseman Receives Lifetime Achievement Award and PBS Newshour Honored with Chairman's Award". Emmy Online. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  8. ^ "The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Announces Winners at the 32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Larry King Recieves [sic] Lifetime Achievement Award". Emmy Online. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Winners of the 2019 duPont-Columbia Awards". Columbia University. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  10. ^ Daillak, Jonathan (September 30, 2022). "Winners of the 2022 Gerald Loeb Awards Announced by UCLA Anderson at New York City Event" (Press release). UCLA Anderson School of Management. PR Newswire.
  11. ^ Barry-Jester, Anna Maria; Meeks, Miki (April 23, 2021). "The Herd, Act One: Hazardous to Your Health Official". This American Life. Episode 736. Transcript.