VETERAN PODCAST HOST KIM MARSHALL LAUNCHES #L.A. RISING TO TELL THE STORIES OF THOSE IMPACTED BY WILDFIRES
Veteran podcast host and wellness industry executive, Kim Marshall, along side Emmy-winning broadcaster & producer Giselle Fernandez, launch #L.A.Rising, a new podcast that tells the stories of the people and the places impacted by the unprecedented and profoundly devastating L.A. fires.
Marshall, who was herself displaced from her Palisades home indefinitely shared, “I envision #L.A.Rising as a trusted platform where survivors of the tragedy can share their stories of escape, healing, help and hope—and where experts and community leaders can provide crucial information, resources, and support, long after the national and international media have moved on to the next story.”
Twenty percent of sponsor funding for the podcast is being donated to a non-profit that works with LAUSD to support youth mental health through peer counseling called The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health.
Marshall, a 30-year resident of the devastated California coastal community of Pacific Palisades, is no stranger to using podcasts as a medium to connect and elevate. As a communications expert, Marshall launched, produced and hosted the Global Wellness Conversations Podcast in 2019 for the Global Wellness Summit and has done wellness segments for Southern California’s Spectrum News 1 since 2022.
Through her longtime friendship and working relationship with veteran broadcaster and multi-Emmy winning Spectrum TV news anchor, Giselle Fernandez, the pair decided to pursue a podcast to help the community heal. Fernandez, a longtime house of Spectrum’s L.A. Stories, encouraged Marshall to launch the podcast after she realized the extent of the damage. Fernandez now serves as advising producer for #L.A. Rising.
The tragedy that began to unfold January 7th motivated Marshall to chronicle the unfolding story on Instagram, which evolved into finding a way to use her professional storytelling skills and wellness expertise to help provide a relevant, health-forward platform for her community and her beloved city. #L.A.Rising will also be a resource for other communities that have been and will be affected by climate-induced disasters in the months and years to come. Her extensive contacts with leading experts in the wellness industry will also be utilized to share coping strategies and self-care tools to listeners every episode in a feature segment called The Wellness Lift.
“My husband and I had our wedding on an oceanfront cliff in the Palisades and raised our son here,” explains Marshall. “I traveled extensively in my work in hospitality and wellness, but I always relished coming home to our little seaside community. Many of my best memories are hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains with my dogs. Now it’s a hellscape. All my neighbors are evacuees and 1 in 7 have lost their homes and all their possessions. By some turn of the wind and luck of the draw, our house and those on our street are standing, but they’re full of toxins now so unlivable for a number of months. The only thing we can do to survive this is help each other. Telling stories is my skill – it’s something meaningful that I can offer right now to help find the light in a very dark situation.”
The launch episode of #L.A.Rising features two guests. First the professionally trained animal rescuer, Mel Sobolewski, who saved Marshall and her two terrified dogs when they had abandoned their car and were fleeing on foot during the fast-moving Palisades fire. Mel went on to save horses, cats, tortoises and even goldfish during the recent fires. She shares important information on keeping animals safe during evacuations as well as ways to care for them immediately after smoke exposure.
The second guest, Melody Kanschat, is the former president of the LA County Museum of Art. Informed by her two decades of working with city leaders on development and expansion of the museum, subway and mid-city area, she shares her thoughts on the resilience of Angelenos and how the very definition of the city will aid in its rebuilding.
The second episode will focus on two families in the devastated Altadena area of L.A.
“It’s hard to imagine that the children of these fires were also impacted by the forced isolation of the 2020 pandemic,” explains The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health Executive Director, Maryjane Puffer. “Now they’re absorbing the loss of their homes, possessions, schools, libraries, baseball fields – their entire way of life. They are the future of L.A., so these funds are crucially important to aid in their recovery and to help train these students to support each other now and in the future.”
According to data released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the past 20 years shows a 154% increase in the number of billion-dollar disasters and a 257% surge in costs in the U.S. alone. Experts predict that this trend is likely to continue.
Marshall adds, “A friend from North Carolina told me that after Hurricane Helene reached 250 miles inland all the way to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville, North Carolina, she realized no one is immune.”
The helpful and health-forward content shared on the #L.A.Rising Podcast will include important lessons learned from around the world in similar disasters as well as inspiring stories about the resilience of the human spirit.”
#L.A.Rising can be found on all major podcast platforms.
Audio and video production of #LARising is done by NOVA, an international podcasting partner for some of the world’s top businesses and entrepreneurs.
