Hosting Reel
Kousha’s audio and video work, which has been featured in outlets like PBS, NPR, and WNYC.
As a fill-in host on All of It, Kousha sits down with Regina Spektor, live. They connect over their shared backgrounds as immigrants and piano lovers. Kousha asks for music recommendations, and Regina reveals her favorite part of the piano.
Fill-in host for Notes from America. Kousha led the Notes from America team in the creation of this episode, including writing and producing the pre-recorded piece, as well as producing the live conversation.
When Kousha was 17, he went on a date. It was bumpy. He and his date, name Cristina, never spoke or saw each other again. But exactly 17 years later, fate reinserts the two adults back into each others’ lives. Looking back, the older pair realize how much context they missed, and how much it had to do with coming of age as an immigrant. Then, Kousha hosts an interview with author Sabaa Tahir and a live conversation with callers sharing their own experiences of trying to find home in a new country.
Kousha talks to Steven Soderbergh and Kurt Andersen about AI, and where the two guests may have differing opinions about the future of technology.
Kousha interviews Farah Karim-Cooper, head of education at the Globe Theater, about the role of Shakespeare’s work in modern topics like race, gender, and more. To introduce Farah and her work, Kousha performs a sonnet he wrote about the book.
Is a hot dog a sandwich? New York City debates. Kousha interviews comedian Josh Gondelman and navigates passionate opinions from listeners as they reach out through live calls, texts, Instagram comments, and one response from the New York State Tax Department.
Voters can have an outsized impact in local elections. And yet, participation in those elections remains low. Has something changed, or does something need to? Kousha interviews a former election official who left after the job became too dangerous. He also hears from listeners across the country who respond to an engagement project Kousha started for this episode in partnership with KUOW in Seattle. Listeners share which election, political or not, they cared about the most, and why.
Navied Mahdavian moved from San Francisco to rural Idaho for three years. Then, he wrote a graphic memoir to capture his experience. Kousha talks to him about the challenge of finding home in the United States, the joy of elk kababs, and takes callers who share their own experience of moving from urban to rural environments, and back.
Before the crash in 2021, pundits hailed cryptocurrency as a burgeoning opportunity for individuals to take back economic power. Could that promise be fulfilled, or was it just another predatory scheme that too often targets marginalized communities? Kousha speaks with an economic justice advocate, as well as an entrepreneur trying to empower communities through technology. This episode was also livestreamed on YouTube, where Kousha took live comments as well as callers.