Paola Mardo is a producer, writer, and host based in Los Angeles.
Paola Mardo is Senior Vice President at Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media. She is head of the Audio division and the host, director, and producer of their Webby Award-winning flagship podcast In Proximity.
Paola has hosted, directed, and produced special series about Proximity projects including Sinners, Ironheart, and Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast, written and hosted by Ta-Nehisi Coates and winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award and Webby Award.
She is the producer of Veterano, a bank heist thriller written, directed, and produced by Patrick Epino. The project is part of the 2025 Producers Guild of America Create Lab, advanced to the second round of the 2024 Sundance Development Lab, and was a finalist for the 2025 Gotham Week Project Market. A proof-of-concept short film will be released in 2026.
Born in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown and raised in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Paola adapted her experiences as a teenage immigrant into Long Distance, a narrative podcast and short documentary series about stories in the Filipino diaspora. The series was selected for the inaugural Google Podcasts Creator Program and told dark, true, and offbeat stories about Little Manila, Filipino food, Rufio, an underground activist, where Tiki bars really come from, and more.
Paola has worked in film and podcasting at Sony Pictures, Annapurna Pictures, and Pushkin Industries. She is a 2025 Unlock Her Potential Film and TV Talent mentee and writes the substack newsletter Subtitles.
Select work below.
In Proximity
Conversations about craft, career, and creativity at the multimedia production company Proximity Media. A 2024 and 2025 Webby Honoree, the show was created and developed by Paola, who produced and executive produced its first two seasons — a seasonal audio series featuring Ryan Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and other Proximity creatives and executives in conversation with collaborators including Michael B. Jordan, Jordan Peele, and Tessa Thompson. In September 2025, the show returned as a weekly video and audio podcast with Paola as host, director, and producer.
Paola directed and executive produced In Proximity: Sinners, a special series about the film Sinners and hosted by the film’s writer, director, and producer Ryan Coogler in conversation with cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw and composer Ludwig Göransson. The series is available on HBO Max and YouTube. Paola also directed, hosted, and produced a special episode featuring Ironheart creator, head writer, and executive producer Chinaka Hodge.
Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast
A limited series about the making of BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. Hosted and written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Produced by Paola Mardo. Winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award and Webby Award.
Subtitles
A substack newsletter about navigating a creative career. A raw, real-time look at creativity, business, and learning on the job.
How a bag of drugs and DVDs changed the course of my career
Thoughts on “Hollywood’s Great Malaise”
The problem with moving on up
Am I even good at this?
What matters most
stick to your vision
Long Distance
A narrative podcast about stories in the Filipino diaspora hosted, written, created, and produced by Paola Mardo. The companion documentary series Long Distance TV is directed by Paola Mardo and Patrick Epino. Selected for the inaugural PRX Google Podcasts creator program. Featured in Vanity Fair’s 10 Essential Podcasts from AAPI Creators, IndieWire’s Best Podcasts of 2020, and The New York Times Podcast Club’s 2019 Picks.
“The history of the United States cannot be properly told without including the stories of Filipino and Filipino American people. Paola Mardo’s podcast presents a vital resource in telling that story.”
— The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project
“Not only has Mardo done the impressive work of excavating these untold or obscured stories, but she’s polished them, through thoughtful storytelling and excellent production, so they can truly shine.”
“Top 5 podcast. Shout out to Ryan, Zinzi, Sev, and Paola. Much needed...”
“The podcast I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
