Emmanuel Dzotsi
Early life and education
Dzotsi was born in Streatham, London.{{Cite news |last=Lytton |first=Charlotte |date=2018-10-24 |title=The 25-year-old Brit bringing a slice of south London to Serial |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/25-year-old-brit-bringing-slice-south-london-serial/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |issn=0307-1235}} His parents' families immigrated to the United Kingdom from Dominica and Ghana. His family moved several times because of his father's work, and he lived in Shropshire and Belgium before emigrating to the United States, where they settled in Toledo, Ohio in 2005.{{Cite web |last=Bryant |first=Miranda |date=2018-10-12 |title=Meet the Serial thriller straight out of Streatham |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/emmanuel-dzotsi-serial-interview-a3960831.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Quah |first=Nicholas |date=2018-10-17 |title=What's It Like to Be Serial's New Co-host? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/serial-season-3-podcast-emmanuel-dzotsi.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Vulture |language=en}}
He attended The Ohio State University, where he studied political science and strategic communications. In college, Dzotsi produced a feature-length film, played mellophone in the Ohio State University Marching Band and delivered a TEDx Talk about storytelling. He graduated in 2015.{{Cite web |last=Ononye |first=Ogonna |date=2015-02-12 |title=Storytelling inlayed into all areas of TEDxOSU speaker's life |url=https://www.thelantern.com/2015/02/storytelling-inlayed-into-all-areas-of-tedxosu-speakers-life/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=The Lantern |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=TEDxOhioStateUniversity |url=https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/15111 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=TED}}
Career
Dzotsi moved to Chicago after graduating from Ohio State, interning for WBEZ before becoming a fellow at This American Life.{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=Leah |title=The Third Season Of "Serial" Is Dropping Sooner Than You Think |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/209100/season-three-serial-trailer-premieres-cleveland-prison |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=www.refinery29.com |language=en}}
In 2018, he hosted the third season of Serial alongside Sarah Koenig. Unlike previous seasons, which focused on single cases, it told multiple people's stories as told from the Justice Center in Cleveland, where Dzotsi lived for eight months to report the series.
In October 2020, Dzotsi became a co-host of Reply All alongside Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt. The show went on hiatus in February 2021 after controversy erupted over "The Test Kitchen," a limited series about the workplace culture at Bon Appétit, as well as wider issues around Gimlet Media's acquisition by Spotify.{{Cite web |last=Shapiro |first=Ariel |date=2022-05-18 |title=Reply All co-hosts Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi to leave show |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/18/23122764/reply-all-hosts-leaving-alex-goldman-emmanuel-dzotsi |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=The Verge |language=en}}{{Cite news |last1=Rosman |first1=Katherine |last2=Ugwu |first2=Reggie |date=2021-03-11 |title=What Really Happened at 'Reply All'? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/style/reply-all-test-kitchen.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |issn=0362-4331}} Vogt resigned shortly afterward.{{Cite magazine |last=Vanderhoof |first=Erin |date=2021-02-26 |title=Reply All's Implosion Reveals the Limits of One-Sided Internet Relationships |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/02/reply-all-podcast-pause-resignations |access-date=2023-10-28 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}} In a June 2021 episode relaunching Reply All, Dzotsi commented that "we don't know if it's going to work."{{Cite news |last=Aroesti |first=Rachel |date=2021-06-10 |title=When podcasts go sour: can shows like Reply All come back from scandal? |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jun/10/reply-all-when-podcasts-go-sour-can-shows-come-back-from-scandal |access-date=2023-10-28 |issn=0261-3077}}
In June 2022, Dzotsi and Goldman left Reply All, coinciding with the end of the show.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-20 |title=Gimlet Confirms 'Reply All' Will End In June After Two Hosts Announce Departure. |url=https://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/gimlet-confirms-reply-all-will-end-in-june-after-two-hosts-announce-departure/article_2db7ffa8-d85b-11ec-b58f-0f6d66a27589.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Insideradio.com |language=en}} Dzotsi has continued to contribute to This American Life.{{Cite web |title=Emmanuel Dzotsi |url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/archive?contributor=8677 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=This American Life}}