Aspire, Higher Ground & The Athletic Podcasts

Hi there!

If you’re in PR or talent booking, today’s “booked solid” interview is going to be a good one 💌 

Angela Peluso Chillemi is the powerhouse booker behind podcasts for Higher Ground, The Athletic, and our personal fave, Emma Grede’s Aspire—she dishes on how she built her career from Conan to Masterclass to the Obamas. But beyond the impressive résumé, what you’ll take away from this interview is how she thinks about pitches, tracks everything and wants MORE PITCHES!

Angela keeps it real—and reminds us that kindness, hustle, and staying in touch always wins.

Enjoy!
Tracey Raftery
Interview Hub

The Talent Booker Behind Your Favorite New Podcasts — Dishes on Pitches, Booking Wins, and Building DayMoon Talent

Can you tell us about your background and the talent booking company that you started? 

Angela: I’ve been working with talent in some capacity for about 25 years—since before I even graduated college. I started in PR, did wardrobe for the Torino Olympics, and then got asked to fill in as the talent coordinator at Late Night with Conan O’Brien. I had never done anything like that before, but I fell in love with it immediately. From there, I booked for The Morning Show on Fox, freelanced for the Jonas Brothers (who are truly the nicest family ever), and officially became a booker on The Pete Holmes Show on TBS. Then I spent about three years at Last Call with Carson Daly. I became a better booker because of the producers on that show. I met the most incredible people that I’m still friends with today. After that, I got recruited by MasterClass—back when no one had heard of it—and became their first talent director. People now, looking back, are like, “How did you land that job?” And I’m like, I seriously don’t know. The only thing I know is that my boss saw something in me that he knew would be a good fit. And he was right- I think it’s the grit and hustle that I bring.