Behind the Scenes
The Ten News
The Ten News podcast explores topics that kids care about most including events, sports, science, gaming, pop culture, entertainment, and more! With new episodes bi-weekly on Wednesday, it’s a great way for you and your family to stay connected with what’s going on in the world. The Ten News also features some pretty awesome guests; LEGO Masters Judge Amy Corbett, America’s top doctor Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sarah Natochenny, the voice of Ash Ketchum for Pokemon fans, and many more.
Small But Mighty Media
Small But Mighty Media is a development and production agency focused on creating non-fiction audio and video programs that inform and inspire audiences of all ages. Founded by Tracy Leeds Kaplan to promote understanding and engage kids during the pandemic, Small But Mighty Media aims to address underserved audiences with bespoke content and tell stories that need to be told.
Next Chapter Podcasts
Next Chapter Podcasts is a podcast production company dedicated to telling unique stories featuring bold, authentic voices across categories including politics, comedy, music, and sports. Next Chapter podcasts include the Spotify Original “The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers”, “The 2020 Politics War Room” with political strategist James Carville, and “The Tuff Juice Podcast” with NBA champion, entrepreneur, and activist Caron Butler, amongst others.
On-Air Talent
Pamela Kirkland | Co-host
Pamela Kirkland is an award-winning journalist based in Atlanta. As a field producer for CNN, she's covered breaking news events around the country ranging from hurricanes to elections. Prior to that, Pamela worked for The PBS NewsHour reporting on stories looking at the opioid crisis, immigration, education and more. She joined the NewsHour in 2015 from the Washington Post where she was part of the video team that produced the Emmy-nominated “N-word Project." She's traveled the country covering four presidential campaigns, Congress, and the White House. She graduated with a degree in Political Science and Communication from the University of Pittsburgh.
Ryan Willard | Co-host & Head Writer
Ryan Willard is an award-winning filmmaker and writer based in NYC. He was a fellow of the Sesame Street Writers’ Room in 2019, wrote for their upcoming animated series, Bea’s Block, and was proud to help bring Ji-Young, Sesame’s first Asian muppet to the screen.
Ryan started in children’s media at the age of 7 when he starred in Wee Sing in Sillyville and later, fulfilled a life-long dream when he hosted Slime Across America on Nickelodeon. He co-produced After Class, starring Justin Long and Fran Drescher, which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, and his short film, Quantum, appeared in over 30 festivals and won 8 awards. In his free time, Ryan enjoys hosting professional table tennis events and MC’d the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships.
Bridget Todd | Correspondent
Bridget Todd (she/her) got her start teaching courses on writing and social change at Howard University. Since then, she's trained human rights activists in Australia, done strategy for organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Women's March, and MSNBC, and ran a training program for political operatives the Washington Post called “the Hogwarts of the Democratic Party.” Formerly, Bridget explored feminist activism on the podcast Stuff Mom Never Told You and produced a global salon with AFROPUNK, a music and culture festival, where she hosted folks like Angela Davis, Ava Duvernay, and #MeToo creator Tarana Burke.
She founded Unbossed Creative, a media company that makes podcasts and other digital content to push the needle on social change. Her new podcast, There are No Girls on the Internet, debuted on iHeartRadio on July 7th.
Alfred Ryan Nerz | Correspondent
Alfred Ryan Nerz is an author, journalist and multimedia storyteller with experience in a wide range of genres and topics. He has written radio pieces for NPR, TV ads for Verizon, and two books about weird American subcultures. He wrote teen romance novels, and was a character in a teen romance novel. He hosted an award-winning documentary about student debt and Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. But his real passions in life include Tottenham Hotspur and the exquisite consistency of ginger chews. He lives next to the Biscayne Bay, where he keeps a keen eye on the local manatee population.
Sarah Namias | Correspondent
Sarah Namias is an award-winning journalist & producer of long-form documentary hours & series. She’s worked for ABC, CBS, CNN, & Radical Media. She’s currently working on a documentary series for Paramount+ with Renowned Films and CBS' See it Now Studios. In 2020, she was a producer on the six-part docuseries Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 for Disney+. A majority of her career has been with ABC News where she worked on a variety of projects ranging from biographical documentaries to the award-winning series, Boston Med, & the Peabody Award-winning, Hopkins.
Her work has taken her inside some of the country's top hospitals where she is embedded as a field producer/videographer following doctors, nurses, and patients for several months. In addition to her television and podcast work, Sarah is a trained voice-over artist. She graduated with a degree in Journalism & Television & Film from George Washington University.
Corinne Catibayan | Correspondent
Corinne is a Filipino-American broadcast journalist and host. In the Philippines, she spent 4 years covering an array of topics from breaking news, crime, typhoons, national elections, and sports. She graduated with a degree in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines. When she’s not covering the news, she’s either training to run a marathon or taking hip-hop dance classes.
Production Team
Tracy Kaplan | Executive Producer & Founder, Small But Mighty Media
From her early days at WGBH, Boston’s public broadcasting powerhouse, to her most recent role as the Head of Creator Partnerships at Patreon, Tracy has built a career that spans content creation, distribution, and monetization. After running video partnerships at CBS Interactive and Twitter, Tracy shifted to focus on podcasts in 2016 as Senior Director of Podcast Strategy and Partnerships at TuneIn, and has not looked back. Small But Mighty Media combines her extensive experience at work, as well as at home as a mother of two podcast-obsessed children, driving her passion to expand the opportunities for kids to engage and be informed in today’s changing world.
Jeremiah Tittle | Production Director & Founder, Next Chapter Podcasts
After two decades of creating premium content for SiriusXM Radio, the BBC, Westwood One, TuneIn and iHeart Media, Jeremiah launched Next Chapter to answer the demand in the podcast market, building a credible winner in the space leveraging commercial demand and relationships to develop and market next-level content. Current show productions include The 500 with Josh Adam Myers, The Tuff Juice Podcast with Caron Butler, as well as Politicon’s Politics War Room with James Carville, and How The Heck Are We Gonna Get Along! with Clay Aiken.
Tracey Crooks | Editorial Director
Tracey Crooks is an award-winning Copywriter and Editorial Director with a long history in TV and entertainment marketing. She started her career at MTV Networks in the Brand Creative Group for TV Land and Nick at Nite, working her way up from an assistant to Senior Writer while becoming someone you definitely want on your team in any situation involving classic TV trivia. Since 2001, Tracey has worked as an independent writer and consultant creating content for a variety of networks, including VH1, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Channel, Paramount Network, BET and IFC. Tracey is mom to 2 middle-schoolers and a rescue dog named Shadow. She lives with her family in Northern California and loves tacos, the woods, and living room dance parties.
Pete Musto | Editing & Sound Design
Congealed from the strange goo that was collected out of a meteor that crashed to Earth in 1986, Pete Musto has been seen oozing across stages ranging from the Creek and the Cave in New York, Laughing Skull in Atlanta, or at the DC Improv in the city he calls home. Pete has also taken the shape of a gaseous cloud, appearing mysteriously in the sky above the Charm City and Portland Maine Comedy Festivals. His wife wants you to please, please take him, please. His daughter seems to like him though. ;)
Tessa Flannery | Assistant Writer
Tessa Flannery is a writer at The Ten News, a writer and producer at Girl Tales Podcast, and a voiceover artist based in Brooklyn. She teaches public speaking at CUNY and co-hosts Character Bash at the Magnet Theater. Tessa loves baking, hiking, and making short films - she won the Affirm short film contest and twice won best film and best director in the Home Alone Film Challenge.
Advisors
Soledad O'Brien
Broadcast Journalist & CEO of Soledad O’Brien Productions
Donald Albright
President & Co-Founder, Tenderfoot TV
Jessica Alpert
Co-Founder,
Rococo Punch
John Perotti
Co-Founder,
Rococo Punch
Thank You to Our Donors.
The Ten News would like to extend a huge thank you to those who have donated to the show. With your help, our team can continue sharing news & current events in a digestible way, to keep kids cool, kind, and informed.
Leilani Pecoraro & Her Moms
“We love The Ten News! Imua! 💜”
Vital Voice Training
“Tracy, we LOVE what you're doing. Thank you!!”
Rachel Sklar
“Thank you for this great and very needed podcast!!!”
Shoshanna Hecht
“Absolutely LOVE The Ten News--proud to support this important work!!!”
Laine Farber
“Keep up the amazing work! 🐛 Next season is going to BEE incredible.”
Meade Gillingham Family
“Go Ten News!”