CNN's Silence Is Not An Option was launched in June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd's murder and BLM protests across the nation. Don Lemon dug deep into the realities of being Black and Brown in America through tough conversations with activists, artists, and thinkers about our nation's deep racial divide. The podcast ranked #2 in the Apple Charts in its first week, was a 2021 Webby Award honoree, and was nominated for two NABJ awards in 2022: Best Arts & Culture Podcast and Best Commentary & Discussion Podcast.
As founding producer, Zoë helped develop and launch the podcast in June 2020, as Americans took to the streets for racial justice. In the show's first season, she produced 10 episodes from start to finish: pitched, researched, booked, interviewed, engineered recordings, scripted, fact-checked, edited, sound designed, and oversaw final mix.
By Season 2, she was senior producer, managing production and providing editorial guidance to the team's producers. She collaborated closely with the host and executive producer to shape the voice and narrative arc of each season.
Some of her favorite episodes she produced include: