How I Learned Creators & Guests

Tyler Coates is a writer and editor whose work focuses on pop culture and entertainment news. Currently, he is the Awards Editor at The Hollywood Reporter.Previously, Coates was the Senior Culture Editor at Esquire, and before that, he was the Deputy Editor at Decider, Deputy Editor at Flavorwire, and Senior Editor at BlackBook.Coates's work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Wired, Esquire, Billboard, Columbia Journalism Review, Entertainment Weekly, Slate, Town & Country, and The Village Voice.Coates received his B.A. in English from James Madison University.

Brad Lawrence is a performer, comedian, and storyteller who travels the world talking on stage, doing silly characters in burlesque shows, and teaching.Lawrence is a story producer and a coach for the RISK! podcast, a teacher for The Story Studio and The Irish Arts Center, and a co-writer and co-host of Hotsy Totsy Burlesque at the famed Slipper Room in New York City.Lawrence got his start as a storytelling teacher conducting workshops at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I then went on to become a story coach for the RISK! podcast and live shows and an instructor for The Story Studio. He was the first person to win back-to-back Moth GrandSLAMs, which led to becoming a host of the Moth and a regular on Moth Mainstages around the United States.Lawrence has co-produced and performed in storytelling, solo, and variety shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, South By Southwest Interactive, and in conjunction with WBUR, USA Television Network, Casper Mattress, and Grant’s Whiskey.Lawrence's writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, and his sci-fi audiobook was published in podcast form as "Maxine and the Planets Unknown."

Erin Barker is a writer and editor, and the first woman to win The Moth's Grand SLAM storytelling competition twice. She also hosts the show The Story Collider.

With his writing and acting work on MTV's legendary sketch comedy series, The State, as well as on Reno 911!, High Maintenance, Blue Man Group and more, Kevin Allison has created all kinds of stories. In 2009, he launched RISK!, the live show and podcast where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share, which is downloaded over 2.5 million times per month. Allison is also the founder of The Story Studio in New York, where he has taught the art of storytelling to bestselling authors, well-known comedians, and executives from a range of fields.

Baratunde Thurston is the CEO and co-founder of Cultivated Wit and co-host of the podcast About Race. He wrote the New York Times bestseller How To Be Black and served for five years as director of digital for the satirical news outlet The Onion.