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Baratunde Thurston

A headshot of a Black man with curly hair and full beard smiling widely for the camera. He wears a white shirt.

Baratunde Thurston tells a better story of us, weaving together threads of race, technology, democracy, and climate through his work as an Emmy-nominated host, producer, writer, and public speaker. He is the host and executive producer of the PBS television series " America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston (Opens in a new tab)", creator and host of " How To Citizen (Opens in a new tab)" with Baratunde, which Apple named one of its favorite podcasts of 2020, and a founding partner of the new media startup Puck (Opens in a new tab). His comedic memoir, " How To Be Black (Opens in a new tab)", is a New York Times best-seller. In 2019, he delivered what MSNBC’s Brian Williams called “one of the greatest TED (Opens in a new tab) talks of all time.” Baratunde is unique in his ability to integrate and synthesize different and difficult topics in a style that’s intelligent, compassionate, and humorous. Baratunde serves on the boards of Civics Unplugged (Opens in a new tab) and the Brooklyn Public Library (Opens in a new tab) and lives in Los Angeles, California. 

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