The Moth and PRX Present A New Season of “Grown,” the Acclaimed Podcast Featuring True Stories About What It Means to Grow Up
“Grown” is hosted by Moth storytellers Aleeza Kazmi and Fonzo Lacayo and is for anyone still figuring it all out
The acclaimed nonprofit storytelling organization The Moth today announced the return and second season of Grown, the award-winning podcast featuring true stories about the challenges, joys, and ongoing journey of growing up. The show is brought to listeners in partnership with PRX, one of the world’s top podcast publishers and public radio distributors.
Grown first launched in February 2023 and is for anyone 16 and up. A new season of the podcast launches on Wednesday, October 25 with new episodes released every other Wednesday free on-demand across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Overcast, and Pocket Casts. An audio trailer is available now.
Co-hosted by Aleeza Kazmi and Fonzo Lacayo, both in their 20s and graduates of The Moth Education Program, season two of Grown will feature entertaining but profound stories — including young voices and students from The Moth Education Program and storytellers of all ages from The Moth’s stage — relatable conversations, on-the-street interviews, and audio diaries about the in-between and the just plain weird time between those awkward teenage years and full-on adulthood. Authentically embracing that we’re all still figuring things out, the new season will delve into the ups and downs of sibling relationships, falling out with and also making friends, finding a passion and nerding out, forming a moral compass, spreading one’s wings past comfort zones, and more.
“Alfonso and I have often said that we wish we’d had a podcast like Grown when we were coming up. We made the podcast we wanted to hear,” says Aleeza Kazmi, co-host of Grown. Her co-host Fonzo Lacayo added, “We’re so happy that our first season connected with listeners and critics alike, and we’re thrilled to kick off a second season this fall with new hot topics, stories, and even more fun.”
Praised by Mashable — “hosts Aleeza Kazmi and Fonzo Lacayo are our escorts through humiliation, joy, and confusion while we laugh, cry, and recognize ourselves in these stories and interviews” — Grown has also been praised as one of the best podcasts of 2023 by TIME and by Esquire for the ability to “strike a chord, whether you’re new to adulthood or pretending to be a pro.”
“To say that the first season of Grown exceeded our expectations is an understatement,” says Sarah Haberman, Executive Director, The Moth. “We set out to create a podcast that inspired a new generation of storytellers and story enthusiasts. Grown’s success is a testament to the great work that Aleeza, Fonzo, and the rest of the Grown team has done. It’s also more proof of the power of storytelling to connect people across generations, backgrounds, and geographies. We can’t wait for the second season!”
The Moth and PRX also bring audiences the cornerstone public radio program The Moth Radio Hour, heard on hundreds of public media stations nationwide, as well as The Moth Podcast. The Moth and PRX are also collaborators on The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber podcast, launched in 2020 and on the What’s Ray Saying? podcast launching with new episodes in November 2023.
Visit www.grownpod.com for more. Engaging content from Grown may also be found at @Grownpod on Instagram, TikTok, and on The Moth’s YouTube channel.
About Aleeza Kazmi
Aleeza is a multimedia storyteller passionate about using the power of storytelling for social good. She has worked as an assistant producer with The Moth and her own stories have been featured in Teen Vogue as well as in The Moth’s New York Times bestselling story collection, Occasional Magic.
About Fonzo Lacayo
Alfonso was first introduced to The Moth through the organization’s EDU program in 2013. He is a passionate creative from the Bronx who appreciates the art of storytelling and self-expression.
About The Moth
The Moth is an acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. For over 26 years, The Moth has presented over 60,000 stories, told live and without notes to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs: The Moth Mainstage, which tours internationally, has featured stories by Elizabeth Gilbert, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kathleen Turner, Malcolm Gladwell, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, John Turturro, Molly Ringwald, Boots Riley, Krista Tippett, Damon Young, Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Danyel Smith and Tig Notaro, as well as an astronaut, a pickpocket, a hotdog eating champion and hundreds more; The Moth StorySLAM program, which conducts open mic storytelling competitions in 27 cities: 25 in the US plus Melbourne, AU and London, UK; The Moth Community Program, which offers storytelling workshops and performance opportunities to adults who are too often overlooked by the mainstream media; The Moth Education Program, which brings the thrill of personal storytelling to high schools and colleges in New York, and educators around the world; The Moth Global Community Program, which develops and elevates true, personal stories from extraordinary individuals in the global south; The Moth Podcast — the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award Winner for Best Podcast Series — which is downloaded 100 million times a year; MothWorks, which uses the essential elements of Moth storytelling as an empathetic communication tool; and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour which, produced by Jay Allison at Atlantic Public Media and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, airs weekly on over 575 public radio stations nationwide.
To date, The Moth has published four critically acclaimed books: The New York Times Best Seller The Moth: 50 True Stories (Hachette Books, September 2013), All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown (Crown Archetype, March 2017) — described as “wonderful” by NYT’s Michiko Kakutani and New York Times Best Sellers Occasional Magic: True Stories of Defying the Impossible (Crown Archetype, March 2019) and How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth (Crown Archetype, April 2022). The Moth has released its first card deck, A Game or Storytelling (Clarkson-Potter). The Moth’s second podcast, Grown, is out now on all major streaming platforms. Learn more at themoth.org.
About PRX
Celebrating its 20th year as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, and more, including in 2022 when Futuro Media and PRX won a Pulitzer Prize. Visit PRX.org for more.
