Words of Wisdom

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“Bring to mind the most grounded person you know. Chances are that person isn’t making a living as a ‘wisdom figure,’” says Courtney E. Martin ’02 in her new podcast, The Wise Unknown, which dropped on Apple Podcasts in October. In the series, Martin deconstructs common notions of who holds wisdom in our society by gleaning life lessons from everyday people. “We spend so much money and time trying to find our ‘wisdom figures’ when they might just be our barber, our neighbor, our crossing guard,” Martin says.

Martin starts each podcast with a different celebrity who introduces listeners to the “wisest person no one has ever heard of.” After they introduce their wisdom mavens, Martin kicks the famous people off the line and lets their gurus take center stage. What’s left are stripped-down conversations that center on themes such as falling in love with yourself and the idea that there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to wisdom.

Listeners meet Idalia Rodriguez (actress Rosario Dawson’s bestie) and journalist Twilight Greenaway (chef and New York Times best-selling author Samin Nosrat’s confidant), among others.

The show, Martin says, was a natural product of her love for interviewing “regular” people and her unremitting commitment to finding what makes a meaningful, ethical life. “This podcast feels like the love child of those intersections,” she says.