T.J. Raphael ’11

T.J. Raphael ’11 (journalism, political science minor) is an audio journalist whose critically acclaimed work in nonfiction podcasting has reached millions of listeners.

In 2025, Raphael’s eight-episode investigative podcast, Liberty Lost, received the Signal Award for excellence in Limited Documentary Series and Specials.  

Streaming on Amazon’s Wondery Media, Liberty Lost tells the startling true story of young love, coercion, and defiance—and the dangerous resurgence of maternity homes in post-Roe America. It was ranked #2 on Apple Podcasts’ Top Series list.

As a podcast creator, host, reporter, and producer, Raphael uncovers the complex, real-life stories behind today’s compelling topics in culture, politics, science, economics, and reproductive health.

From 2019 to 2023, Raphael was host, reporter, and senior producer for Sony’s Global Podcast Division and worked on productions including: “Broken: Jeffrey Epstein,” “VIRAL,” and “Do The Work.”

In August 2023, her documentary series, Cover Up: The Pill Plot, exploring the history of the abortion pill, reached 42 in the coveted Apple Podcast Top 200 True Crime chart.

In 2022, after years of research, she told the story of unexpected DNA testing results in the podcast BioHacked: Family Secrets, which was Apple Podcast’s Pick of the Week on March 18, 2022, and landed on Apple’s New and Noteworthy list the following week.

Previously, Raphael was senior producer, podcasts at Slate Magazine, working on hit shows like Slow Burn, The Political Gabfest, What Next, and Decoder Ring.

Prior to that, Raphael was a digital content editor for The Takeaway on public radio’s WNYC. She was also senior editor of FOLIO: Magazine and FOLIOMag.com, where she covered the evolving media landscape, technology, economics, social media, apps, publishing and marketing.

Earlier in her career, she was staff reporter for New York state’s capital newspaper, The Legislative Gazette, where she covered Constitutional law, Congressional elections and the New York State Legislature. She was a contributing writer at The Village Voice in New York City and a general assignment reporting intern at the New York Daily News, where she covered everything from entertainment to crime.

Her work has been cited by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, The Economist, and The Washington Post, among others.