Michelle Obama announces new podcast based on "The Light We Carry" book tour
Moderated conversations between Michelle Obama and a roster of her distinguished friends will become the backbone of the former first lady's sophomore podcast series.
Titled "Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast," her upcoming series premieres on the audio platform Audible this March, the company announced on Wednesday morning. It is produced by Audible and Higher Ground, the media production company founded by Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama. The company was also behind her debut audio series "The Michelle Obama Podcast."
Obama's "The Light Podcast" will feature discussions that originally took place during her most recent book tour last year. While promoting her second bestseller, "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" — a follow-up to Obama's popular memoir "Becoming," which broke national sales records with its release in 2018 — Obama launched a six-city tour that brought her to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"Like so many people around the world, I felt isolated, disconnected, and discouraged during the pandemic. Writing 'The Light We Carry' was a way for me to make sense of it and reflect on some of the biggest challenges we all face in life—and the tour was an incredible way to share those stories with my readers and connect with real people once again," Obama said in a statement, describing "The Light Podcast" as "a deeper examination of those fun and meaningful moments" that happened on the tour. "I can't wait for you all to take a listen."
Since only a few thousands of people could attend the live events, "The Light Podcast" is a compilation of conversations had during stops on the book tour, Audible and Higher Ground said in their Wednesday announcement, noting that the new series will additionally include content that listeners have not heard before.
"Listen as Mrs. Obama and her friends explore themes like building meaningful relationships, issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, the habits and principles they have used to successfully adapt to change and overcome obstacles, and the importance of lighting up for others to reveal the richness and potential around us," the companies said in a joint news release. "As ever, Michelle Obama brings her trademark humor, candor, and compassion while she discusses her tools for living in today's world."
In each city during "The Light We Carry" tour, Obama invited readers to sit-down chats where she touched on a range of topics, from the importance of visibility to managing personal relationships, with a number of celebrities, journalists, artists and activists like Ellen DeGeneres, Tyler Perry, Conan O'Brien, Oprah Winfrey, Hoda Kotb, David Letterman, the poet Elizabeth Alexander and the policy advocate Heather McGhee. "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King moderated the conversation at Obama's stop in Philadelphia.
"The Light Podcast" premieres March 7 on Audible, and will release eight episodes on a weekly basis. The episodes will be exclusive to Audible for two weeks before becoming available wherever podcasts are found.
