Isaac Kestenbaum is a veteran audio producer and journalist. He is the co-founder, along with Josephine Holtzman, of the production company Future Projects; their work includes the podcasts Alaska Is the Center of the Universe and Midnight Son. The latter was adapted to the documentary film Blood & Myth on Hulu in 2024. Isaac has reported extensively in Alaska, and his work has been funded by the Arctic Circle Foundation and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. He has worked with Audible, Vox, NPR, The Guardian US, The GroundTruth Project, ESPN, and SIERRA Magazine. He has taught and led workshops for UnionDocs, UVA, NYU, and Monson Arts.
He is the former Production Manager at the national oral history and radio project StoryCorps. Honors include a Peabody Award, a duPont Award, two Online News Association Awards and an Alaska Broadcasters “Goldie” Award. Isaac grew up on Deer Isle, Maine and has worked as a farmer, a newspaper reporter and a commercial lobsterman. He attended the Salt Institute in 2008, where he wrote about the unexpected resurgence of the sturgeon in the Penobscot River.