Top Rank Podcast

For our 48th episode, we shared time with the brilliant Emily Manwaring—an artist from and living in New York City whose tender, evocative, & multidimensional works on canvas have been shown at galleries and...

Our 47th episode welcomes dynamic duo Melissa Sáenz Gordon & Molly Salas of Soft Power Vote: a civic engagement resource that leverages digital, print, and live formats to encourage New Yorkers—and especially...

For our 43rd episode, and our first after a multi-year (and multi-child) parental leave, we sat down face to face with artist June Canedo de Souza (@junecanedodesouza) on the occasion of Deli Radio—a platform she...

On episode 45, we welcomed scholar, community arts educator, curator, and artist Dr. Jillian Hernandez (@pastelitocookie), whose work challenges the ways racialized and working-class bodies, sexualities, and cultural...

For episode 46, we spoke to scholar and author Francesca Sobande, whose research focuses on the impact of digital media in shaping how we perceive, understand, and experience the world and each other. Our conversation...

For episode 44, we invited illustrator, author, and comedian Daisy Ruiz (@draizys) to bring us into her journey as an award-winning cartoonist and, more recently, aspiring comedian. We talked with Daisy about her...

On episode 42 we are joined by Mims — an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles, CA. Mims is the mind behind “Uncle Ronnie’s Room,” an art-driven campaign to mobilize the general public and media...

This episode features our conversation with Destiny Mata, an NYC/San Antonio photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on topics pertaining to subculture and community. Her photography book "The Way We Were"...

Over the last decade, manifestation-based rhetorics to “love yourself,” “believe in yourself” and “feel good in your own skin” have become guiding social directives for people, and especially for women. We see these...

Celebrity culture thrives on granting us vicarious access to our favorite stars. But rarely on display are the paparazzi and reporters whose hidden labor makes the story happen. In "Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino...

We’re honored to have had the chance to interview a scholar whose work we’ve appreciated for a long time—lauded sociologist Jessie Daniels, who is a professor at Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center and a faculty...

For our last episode of 2021, we shared a special conversation with artist, writer, and organizer Eilen Itzel Mena (@eilen.itzel.mena), whose interdisciplinary visual art practice synthesizes elements of Abstract...

The social media influencer is one of today’s most talked about and divisive figures. They represent the convergence of technology and the surveillance state with a consumer culture that encourages us to conceptualize...

Cosmetic surgery is one of the fastest growing medical procedures in the United States. According to 2019 figures from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the US has the highest number of cosmetic...

For our final episode of 2020, we welcomed a personal hero of both of ours—the trailblazing designer, entrepreneur, and thinker April Walker (@iamaprilwalker), who in the past three decades has been instrumental in...