Hrishikesh Hirway

Hrishikesh Hirway is a musician and podcast creator. He is the host, creator, and executive producer of the Song Exploder podcast, as well as the Netflix original series that was adapted from the podcast. Over its 10+ year history, Song Exploder has won four Webby Awards, iHeartRadio’s award for Best Music Podcast, Quartz magazine’s award for Podcast of the Year, and others. Vulture wrote, “Song Exploder is probably the best use of the podcast format ever.” He also created and co-hosted the award-winning podcasts Home Cooking, with chef and author Samin Nosrat and The West Wing Weekly, with actor Joshua Malina. He helped Google launch their first original podcast, and he serves the Library of Congress as an advisor on digital strategy.

In 2021, Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business, and AdWeek named him to their Creative 100 list as an “innovator reshaping the media landscape.” He has been a featured contributor to CBS Sunday Morning. As a recording artist, he has released four albums and three EPs and composed original scores for film, television, podcasts, and a video game. On his 2022 EP, he collaborated with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Hrishikesh’s TED Talk, “What you discover when you really listen,” has been viewed over three million times.