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Making WBEZ's critically-acclaimed bio-podcast series explores how an icon is made. Providing an unmatched view from the beginning, all the way to the their rise to the top.
Making

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Making

Making

From WBEZ Chicago

WBEZ's critically-acclaimed bio-podcast series explores how an icon is made. Providing an unmatched view from the beginning, all the way to the their rise to the top.

Most Recent Episodes

Serena Williams: The Blueprint

In early September, 19-year-old Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open. She is the first American teenager to win the tournament since 1999, when 17-year-old Serena Williams took the crown. Gauff has said Serena is the reason she plays tennis. She is her tennis idol, and for good reason. Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam titles – more than any player in the Open era. But before becoming a household name, Serena was a girl from Compton with a drive. This week on "Making", Brandon Pope revisits the years before anyone knew Serena's name. Hear from the people in the room and on the court during her evolution to tennis prodigy, including her sister Isha Price, former tennis pro Chanda Rubin, and childhood coach Rick Macci.

Serena Williams: The Blueprint

Making Whoopi Goldberg

Over the course of her climb to the Hollywood A-List, Whoopi Goldberg has worn many hats: stand-up comedian, Broadway star, screen actress, and daytime television host. But before her breakout role in a Steven Spielberg film, she was a young mom hopping around the country, taking odd jobs and doing avant-garde theater. This week on Making, we chart Whoopi Goldberg's winding path to stardom, from living off welfare, to landing on Broadway with her one-woman show. Host Brandon Pope chats with her first theater partners, her first director, and her first stage manager to discover who Whoopi was when she was just a wide-eyed talent waiting to be discovered. "The first time I saw her, I knew she was going to make it," said William Farley, the director for her first on-screen performance. "She was an original. And an original, they become seen."

Making Whoopi Goldberg

RuPaul: 'Empress of Drag'

Since November, dozens of states have introduced legislation that could criminalize drag performances, including Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina. This week on Making, we look at the life of an iconic Black TV creator whose art is at the center of this new political hot button. RuPaul Andre Charles brought drag to America's main stage and opened doors for queerness. But before his Emmys and Tonys, he was a go-go dancing young person determined to be a star. Host Brandon Pope chats with RuPaul's close friends, collaborators and mentees, including drag queen Lady Bunny, DJ and songwriter Larry Tee, drag historian Simon Doonan and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars winner Shea Coulee. This episode was originally published on Nov 17, 2022. This season of Making covers a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe and don't miss an episode.

RuPaul: 'Empress of Drag'

Making Shonda

Shonda Rhimes has been called TV's greatest. With groundbreaking shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, she became one of the most powerful showrunners in Hollywood history. But, the battle to Hollywood's highest echelons wasn't a joyride for a Black woman from Chicagoland. Hear from mentors, colleagues and cultural commentators on how the queen of television came to be.

Making Shonda

Making Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele is responsible for modern classics in the horror genre, including the films Us, Nope and the Oscar-winning Get Out. Before all that, he was a self-described nerd. He majored in puppetry in college before dropping out with his friend Rebecca Drysdale to pursue a career in comedy. Hear from Drysdale, Peele's early collaborator Brendan Hunt and cultural critic Aisha Harris about Jordan Peele's rise to comedic and horror genius.

Making Jordan Peele

Unmaking Kanye

Part 2: It all falls down. Ye becomes a mouthpiece for the more sinister parts of American society. In the second episode of our two-part podcast series, hear from friends, journalists, activists, fans (and former fans) on Ye's second act, from superstar status to cultural pariah. Making tells the story of a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe and don't miss an episode.

Unmaking Kanye

Making Kanye

Part 1: Touch the sky. Before becoming a cultural lightning rod, Kanye West was a self-confident teenager, handing out mixtapes on the South and West sides of Chicago. In the first episode of our two-part podcast series, we track Kanye's meteoric rise from uncredited producer to headlining star. Making tells the story of a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe and don't miss an episode.

Making Kanye

The life-changing moments that make an icon

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was just a 15 year-old student in Barbados when she showed up late for her audition with record producer Evan Rogers. Fortunately, her tardiness didn't matter. She crushed it. "I just heard something really unique and special in her vocals, even though they were raw," Rogers said on Making. "It was just one of those moments where I think I have something really special here." This was just one of many critical moments we've dissected in this season of Making – the make-or-break moments that change the course of a life and often the course of history. In this week's season finale, host Brandon Pope takes a look back at some of the key put-up-or-shut-up moments from this season, from Serena Williams to Frederick Douglass to RuPaul and more.

The life-changing moments that make an icon

Making Ida B. Wells

When Ida B. Wells was just 21 years old, authorities kicked her off a train for sitting in the all-white "ladies' car." She sued. She wrote about the experience in her local church newspaper. "I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap," she said later. Wells would soon become one of America's greatest journalism pioneers. After the lynching of her close friend, she investigated the prevalence of lynchings across the American South. She collected data, interviewed sources on the ground and wrote fiery articles that dispelled racist myths. By the end of the campaign, she was one of the most famous Black women in America. While her force can be felt over a century later, in her time Wells faced backlash from the white and Black community alike. She co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – or NAACP – in 1909, but was temporarily ousted for being too radical. "Doing good journalism actually means that you're not making any friends," said journalist Caitlin Dickerson, who wrote Wells' obituary for The New York Times series Overlooked. "It's a bad sign if there's one group of people who think of you as 'on their side.'" On the latest episode of Making, host Brandon Pope leads a conversation with Dickerson, Wells' great-granddaughter Michelle Duster and acclaimed scholar Paula Giddings, author of Ida: A Sword Among Lions, on the life and legacy of this journalism and civil rights hero.

Making Ida B. Wells

Making Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens' four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin is the stuff of legend. "A man who's a second class citizen at home, son of a sharecropper, grandson of slaves, going over to Hitler's Germany," explained ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap on Making. "And he rose to the occasion in a way that embodies true greatness." But Owens' journey from Alabama to Ohio to Germany and back again was filled with many highs and lows. His mother used a hot knife to excise a tumor from his chest when he was 5. He tied the world record in the 100 yard dash as a senior in high school. His college years at Ohio State were marked by both racial segregation and unparalleled athletic achievement. And after his return to America following the Berlin Olympics, Owens and other African-American medalists did not receive the same invitation to the White House that their white counterparts did. "It was one of the things that really hurt him," said Marlene Rankin, Owens' daughter and the co-founder of the Jesse Owens Foundation. "Not everything got to him, but I think that did." On this week's Making, host Brandon Pope leads a conversation on the years that defined Jesse Owens' life, featuring Rankin, NBCNews.com contributor Cecil Harris, Owens' son-in-law and former business partner Stuart Rankin, and Schaap, author of Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics.

Making Jesse Owens

Making

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