Welcome to The Leap

Hello!

We are The Leap, a new podcast produced out of KQED.

The Leap is about what it takes to start out one place and end up somewhere, or someone, else.

In other words, the American Dream, right? But we mean this in the broadest possible sense. Not just stories about economic, rags-to-riches transformations (though we will bring you those too) but transformations across gender, mental health, and marital status. These are stories about life’s big, dramatic transformations that – in many cases – don’t work out exactly as planned.

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Judy will do some stories, Amy others. Each week we’ll introduce you to someone who made, or tried to make, a dramatic change. You’ll hear not just from the person at the heart of the story, but the people around her who pushed her forward or held her back: a 360-degree view.

For example, one of our stories is about what it’s like to be given $120 million from a complete stranger. This actually happened recently in San Francisco. You will find out who got that gift on our show.

And you’ll hear what happened when this man set off on a quest to find out why a mysterious benefactor left him nearly everything he had.

There’s also a story of a woman who accomplished something she had wanted to do her whole life, something she worked really hard to achieve, and then realized she didn’t want after all.

And! The story of a man who changed music history by inventing a signature sound – a torso-baring, stage-diving, blood-smearing sound -- and then put down his guitar for 30 years.

Why did he do that? Judy will tell you.

And finally, our first episode is about two guys who stake everything on a very bad smell. This smell:

And the strange journey that smell itself took, all the way to the battlefield (sort of).

You will find The Leap wherever you get your podcasts, including Stitcher and iTunes. You can also listen here on the KQED site.

So subscribe! And write a review! For a new podcast like this one -- and we are really just starting out here --  that’s a wonderful, helpful thing to do.

Thanks!

Amy & Judy

Support for The Leap is provided by