Brittany Luse
{{Short description|American podcast host}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
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| occupation = Podcast host
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Brittany Luse (born {{birth based on age as of date|34|2021|11|17|noage=1}}) is an American podcast host. In October 2022, she became the host of NPR's current events and culture podcast, It's Been a Minute. She previously hosted the podcasts For Colored Nerds and The Nod, both about Black culture, and Sampler, about other podcasts. In 2020, The Nod was adapted as a short-form video streaming show on Quibi.
Early life and education
Luse was raised in Farmington Hills, Michigan by parents from Detroit who met at Cass Technical High School. Luse graduated from North Farmington High School in 2005{{Cite web |last=Hind |first=Julie |date=October 6, 2022 |title=New host of NPR's 'It's Been A Minute' started her pop culture journey in Detroit |url=https://www.freep.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freep.com%2Fstory%2Fentertainment%2Ftelevision%2F2022%2F10%2F06%2Fbrittany-luse-new-npr-host-has-deep-roots-in-metro-detroit%2F69535220007%2F |access-date=December 29, 2023 |website=Detroit Free Press |archive-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229042246/https://www.freep.com/restricted/?return=https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2022/10/06/brittany-luse-new-npr-host-has-deep-roots-in-metro-detroit/69535220007/ |url-status=live }} and then attended Howard University, where she studied film.{{cite news |last1=Ugwu |first1=Reggie |date=November 17, 2021 |title=Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings of 'For Colored Nerds' Play for Keeps |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/arts/brittany-luse-eric-eddings-for-colored-nerds-podcast.html |access-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914025614/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/arts/brittany-luse-eric-eddings-for-colored-nerds-podcast.html |url-status=live }} In 2005 at Howard, Luse met her future For Colored Nerds and The Nod cohost Eric Eddings.{{Cite magazine |last=Larson |first=Sarah |date=September 28, 2017 |title="The Nod," a Playful and Serious Podcast About Blackness |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/the-nod-playful-serious-podcast-about-blackness |access-date=September 14, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914034651/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/the-nod-playful-serious-podcast-about-blackness |url-status=live }}
Career
After college, Luse lived in Michigan, then New York City, where she worked in marketing. In 2013, Eddings suggested the pair start a podcast together. They independently produced and hosted For Colored Nerds, a Black culture podcast, from 2014 to 2017. It was featured as "New and Noteworthy" on the Apple Podcasts app in early 2015, and in September the podcast studio Gimlet Media hired Luse, who became the company's first Black employee. A few months later, Gimlet also hired Eddings.
In 2016, Luse hosted Sampler, a Gimlet podcast about other podcasts.{{Cite web |date=May 13, 2016 |title=Day In The Life: Meet Podcast Host Brittany Luse of Gimlet Media |url=https://www.jopwell.com/thewell/posts/day-in-the-life-meet-podcast-host-brittany-luse-of-gimlet-media |access-date=December 29, 2023 |website=Jopwell |language=en}} The podcast was awarded Best Podcast in the Apps & Software category, during the 2016 Webby Awards.{{Cite web |title=NEW Webby Gallery + Index |url=https://winners.webbyawards.com/2016/apps-software/app-features/best-podcast/162400/sampler |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=NEW Webby Gallery + Index |language=en}} It was canceled in October 2016.{{Cite web |last=Quah |first=Nicholas |date=January 31, 2017 |title=A report on podcasting details some of the industry's issues: diversity, talent, tech, and (oh yeah) money |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/01/a-report-on-podcasting-details-some-of-the-industrys-issues-diversity-talent-tech-and-oh-yeah-money/ |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=Nieman Lab}} Meanwhile, Eddings and Luse developed and pitched a new show on Black culture, and The Nod launched in July 2017.{{Cite web |last=Quah |first=Nicholas |date=May 11, 2017 |title=Summer 2017 Podcast Preview: The 12 Shows We Can't Wait to Hear |url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/05/summer-2017-podcast-preview-homecoming-revisionist-history.html |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=Vulture |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The hosts of The Nod want Spotify to hand over their podcast |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/30/21308074/the-nod-spotify-rss-feed-another-round-buzzfeed-podcast-ownership |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=The Verge |date=June 30, 2020 |language=en-US |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006231141/https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/30/21308074/the-nod-spotify-rss-feed-another-round-buzzfeed-podcast-ownership |url-status=live }} Reviewing it in The New Yorker, Sarah Larson said the show's weekly topics "hit the sweet spot between the non-obvious and the non-obscure. The show maintains a spirit of seriousness and playfulness that feels at once smart, listenable, interesting, and important." Despite critical praise, Luse and Eddings reported struggling to persuade Gimlet of the worth of the stories they were telling and said they faced questioning their white colleagues did not. Friction grew when they supported a drive to unionize, in which one goal was to improve conditions for people of color working at Gimlet; the effort met with antagonism from some peers.
The pair left the company in January 2020 and in March 2020 began appearing on a video streaming version of The Nod on the network Quibi. In Teen Vogue, Angie Jaime described the new eight-minute on-camera version as continuing the podcast's pursuit of "the diversity and richness of the Black experience" and offering "an endlessly captivating look at a culture that fuels so much of what is understood as pop culture".{{Cite web |last=Jaime |first=Angie |date=September 16, 2020 |title="The Nod" Understands Blackness Is Not a Monolith |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-nod-brittany-luse-quibi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205111953/https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-nod-brittany-luse-quibi |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |website=Teen Vogue |language=en-US}}
After Quibi closed at the end of 2020, Luse and Eddings resumed For Colored Nerds in 2021, with co-producing by Stitcher. The weekly show continued to draw critical praise for selection of interesting topics and quality of discussion on them. CBC News said, "They dive into what's going on in the zeitgeist, and peel back the layers of Black culture that are rarely discussed in mixed company."{{Cite news |date=April 4, 2022 |title=Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse of For Colored Nerds talk about the industry and share their favourite podcasts |work=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastplaylist/eric-eddings-and-brittany-luse-of-for-colored-nerds-talk-about-the-industry-and-share-their-favourite-podcasts-1.6403973 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229035214/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastplaylist/eric-eddings-and-brittany-luse-of-for-colored-nerds-talk-about-the-industry-and-share-their-favourite-podcasts-1.6403973 |url-status=live }} In The New York Times, Reggie Ugwu described it as "a playfully erudite conversation show about hot topics in Black culture (the history of 'passing,' Lawrence from 'Insecure')". In Vulture, critic Nicholas Quah called Luse and Eddings major players in podcasting.{{Cite web |last=Quah |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Quah |date=November 16, 2021 |title=Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse Go Back to the Beginning |url=https://www.vulture.com/2021/11/for-colored-nerds-interview-eric-eddings-brittany-luse-the-nod.html |access-date=May 25, 2024 |website=Vulture |language=en}}
In October 2022, Luse replaced Sam Sanders as host of NPR's It's Been a Minute.{{Cite web |last=Falk |first=Tyler |date=September 13, 2022 |title=NPR names Brittany Luse host of 'It's Been a Minute' |url=https://current.org/2022/09/npr-names-brittany-luse-host-of-its-been-a-minute/ |access-date=May 23, 2023 |website=Current |language=en-US |archive-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523041536/https://current.org/2022/09/npr-names-brittany-luse-host-of-its-been-a-minute/ |url-status=live }} The show focuses on culture and current events.{{Cite web |date=October 6, 2022 |title=NPR's It's Been a Minute gets new perspective and direction from new host Brittany Luse |url=https://www.wuwm.com/2022-10-06/nprs-its-been-a-minute-gets-new-perspective-and-direction-from-new-host-brittany-luse |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR |language=en}}
Luse has also performed with Pop-Up Magazine{{Cite news |date=February 22, 2018 |title=Magazine |pages=D6 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109519386/magazine/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914034906/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109519386/magazine/ |url-status=live }} and written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar.
References
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External links
- [https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-538-brittany-luse Interview with Luse] on the Longform Podcast, June 14, 2023
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Category:People from Farmington Hills, Michigan
Category:Howard University alumni
Category:North Farmington High School alumni
Category:African-American journalists
Category:21st-century American journalists