I’ve dedicated my life’s work to creating media and learning platforms that help people realize their whole human potential.
Biography
Deron Triff is an accomplished media producer and entrepreneur, co-founder of the media company WaitWhat, and former co-leader of TED's media organization, both alongside June Cohen. Together, they created a series of influential podcasts, including Masters of Scale, Meditative Story, TED Radio Hour on NPR, Sincerely, X from TED — among other endeavors in television, book publishing, live events, and learning products. All total, this body of work has been watched or listened to more than 1 billion times and garnered 35 Webby awards and nominations.
Earlier in his career, Deron served as Vice President of Digital Ventures for PBS, where he represented the public television network in putting together the joint venture with Comcast, Sesame Workshop, and HIT Entertainment to launch the PBS Kids Sprout, the first 24/7 educational preschool network. Rebranded as Universal Kids in 2017 after NBCUniversal acquired full ownership, the network is in more than 100 million households today.
Deron co-created No Place on Earth, an acclaimed documentary about Jewish Ukrainian families who survived 18 months in underground caves during the Holocaust—the longest documented subterranean survival. He secured exclusive story rights from the survivors, who had kept their experience private for years, and enlisted filmmaker Janet Tobias to direct. The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, had a U.S. theatrical release, and earned a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Documentary Screenplay.
He holds an MBA from McGill University in Montreal.
Masters of Scale
In 2017, Deron co-founded WaitWhat with a vision to build a portfolio of premium media properties, aimed at elevating human potential, and designed for IP extensibility. In the company’s first year, he and June approached Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn) with the idea for the Masters of Scale podcast.
The multi-time Webby award-winning show has been downloaded more than 150 million times and attracted world class guests including President Barack Obama, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Bill Gates, Arianna Huffington, Will.i.am, Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, Tyra Banks, Shark Tank’s Daymond John, among others.
In 2018, Masters of Scale was the first American media program to commit to a 50/50 gender balance for guests. At the time Reid told Quartz "Silicon Valley prides itself on being a meritocracy, but the data shows it's not. [Masters of Scale] launched with and maintained our commitment to a 50/50 gender balance of guests on each season. It's important to not just talk about this topic, but to take action ... set an example.”
Masters of Scale: Rapid Response launched in March of 2020 to cover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business community. Hosted by Bob Safian, former Editor of Fast Company, the series has expanded beyond covering the pandemic, offering guidance from business leaders making decisions in turbulent situations.
In September 2021, Reid, Deron and June co-authored Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs. The book aims to "tease out and distill the essential attributes of people who start and grow businesses." It became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller in October 2021. That same year the Masters of Scale Courses App launched.
The inaugural Masters of Scale Summit was held in San Francisco in October 2022, uniting leaders from business, non-profits, arts, media, and beyond. With a mix of in-person and virtual attendees, the summit explored innovation, wellness, cultural transformation, diversity, and disruption—delving into topics as varied as the impact of psychedelics and the joys of rural living. The agenda was packed with dynamic interviews, presentations, group conversations, and inspiring live performances. Participants included The Duke of Essex Prince Harry, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Tyler Perry, Pixar’s Domee Shi, Bill Gates, and Ron Howard.
Meditative Story
Deron conceived and developed the format for WaitWhat’s second hit property, Meditative Story. It was created in partnership with Arianna Huffington and her company, Thrive Global, and launched on July 29, 2019. The inaugural episode featured author and surgeon Lucy Kalanithi (widow of “When Breath Becomes Air” author Paul Kalanithi), Meditative Story blends intimate storytelling with mindfulness to offer listeners a transformative experience.
Each episode invites a guest to share a pivotal story of personal transformation—whether through friendship, discovery, or loss—brought to life with immersive sound design. Mindfulness prompts from host Rohan Gunatillake are woven throughout, and each episode concludes with a brief guided meditation.
The podcast has attracted wide-ranging guests, including On Being’s Krista Tippett, writer Pico Iyer, musician Jason Mraz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, bestselling novelist Isabel Allende, actor Randall Park, organizational psychologist and author Adam Grant, comedian Tig Notaro, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, singer-songwriter Andrew Bird to name a few.
In response to enthusiastic feedback about the podcast’s music, a music-only spinoff—Meditative Story: Sleep Song—launched in 2021. It was created through a collaboration with WaitWhat’s music director, Ryan Holladay. It features soothing soundtracks crafted from the original episodes, designed to help listeners unwind and fall asleep.
Meditative Story has been celebrated for its unique blend of storytelling and mindfulness by Variety, Forbes, Wired, The Today Show, and CBC Radio.
The show’s 120% listen-through rate—indicating that the average listener finishes an episode and returns to hear it again—is believed to be the highest in podcasting. Meditative Story has earned more than 25 Webby, Ambie and Signal awards and nominations, including multiple years as Best Health & Wellness Podcast.
TED Radio Hour
In 2011 Deron proposed the idea for a radio program to TED curator and owner Chris Anderson. He pitched the idea of a show that would curate multiple talks around universal themes, enriched with original content and immersive sound design.
Believing that a partnership with a trusted, high-quality broadcaster could bring this vision to life, Deron reached out to Joyce Slocum, then Interim President and CEO of NPR. (Deron and Joyce had previously worked together in 2004 to launch PBS Kids Sprout when Joyce was General Counsel at HIT Entertainment.) This conversation led to an introduction to Eric Nuzum, then NPR's VP of Programming. Together Deron, Eric and their teams laid the groundwork for TED Radio Hour.
The inaugural episode aired on April 27, 2012, with Alison Stewart as the host. At the time, it was NPR’s most successful launch of a new show, carried by 76 member stations. The show quickly gained popularity, expanding to over 250 stations by the end of the first season.
Each hour-long episode of TED Radio Hour combines 3-4 TED Talks on a central theme, enhanced by follow-up interviews, original reporting, and intricate sound design to bring the ideas vividly to life. This innovative format has not only captivated millions of listeners worldwide but also generated significant revenue to support TED’s mission.
Ahead of Season 2, the creative leadership for the show (Deron, Eric, June and Chris) tapped Guy Raz—who had previously hosted NPR’s Weekend Edition of All Things Considered—as the new host. Under Guy’s creative leadership, TED Radio Hour evolved into a weekly staple on more than 300 stations, celebrated for its editorial excellence, sound design, and production quality. Today, the show is hosted by Manoush Zomorodi and airs on over 600 public radio stations across the U.S. and internationally.
Since its launch, TED Radio Hour has amassed hundreds of millions of listens and received numerous accolades, including multiple Webby Awards, a People’s Choice Podcast Award, and an Ambie Award for Best Knowledge, Science, or Tech Podcast.
Sincerely, X
In 2015, Deron proposed the concept for a limited series of anonymous TED Talks to TED’s curator and owner, Chris Anderson. Sincerely, X was designed as a platform for stories that are too sensitive, painful, or potentially damaging to share publicly—unless done anonymously.
Sincerely, X premiered on February 1, 2017, as a collaboration between TED and Audible. Produced by Deron and June (also the show’s host) in partnership with Audible’s Colin Campbell, the series ran for two seasons.
Storytellers included a doctor who believed she killed a patient, a Silicon Valley executive who suffered a mental breakdown, a yoga instructor who once used pepper spray in a department store, and a woman in an abusive marriage who developed a life-saving ritual.
In an August 2017 interview with Fast Company, Deron shared, "Many of the ideas we're seeing are based on personal experience, from people dealing with vulnerability at home or in the workplace. They want to share their story because it changed their lives, but they wouldn’t want a public association with what happened."
The podcast received widespread praise for its deeply intimate storytelling. USA Today named Sincerely, X one of the seven best new podcasts of 2017, noting, "How can you make TED Talks even more personal? Ironically, by letting speakers remain anonymous. This podcast shows that storytellers can secretly open up about provocative and potentially problematic stories, addressing often-taboo topics like mental health and professional burnout."
In January 2018, The Today Show recognized Sincerely, X as one of the five best podcasts to listen to, with host Jack Rico calling it "a selection of heart-wrenching and compelling anonymous true stories."
Sincerely, X earned a 2018 Gracie Award for the episode “Rescued by Ritual.”
No Place on Earth
In 2001, Deron stumbled upon a book titled “Science at the Extreme” by Peter Lane Taylor, a work that chronicled Peter's adventures with scientists exploring some of the world’s harshest environments. This encounter sparked an idea in Deron: creating an agency to represent scientists and explorers much like Hollywood agents represent actors. Deron’s outreach to Peter led not only to a partnership but also to the discovery of an extraordinary story that would become the foundation of the acclaimed documentary No Place on Earth.
Around the time Deron connected with Peter, Peter was collaborating with caving enthusiast Chris Nicola, who had made an astonishing discovery several years prior. In the rural countryside of Ukraine — within the Verteba and Priest’s Grotto cave systems — Chris’s spelunking explorations revealed evidence of human life during World War II. Ultimately, his findings uncovered the story of three Jewish families who had hidden in these caves for 18 months to escape the Holocaust—marking the longest documented period of continuous subterranean survival.
Seeing the powerful potential of this story, Deron took on the task of securing narrative rights. Working closely with Peter, he navigated negotiations with Chris and the survivors—who had guarded their harrowing story with deep privacy. With rights secured, Deron brought on award-winning filmmaker Janet Tobias to transform this historical narrative into a cinematic experience. Deron and Janet had previously collaborated in the early 2000s on some of public television’s pioneering interactive television trials.
The documentary No Place on Earth premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2012, where it was quickly acquired by Magnolia Films. It opened in U.S. theaters on April 5, 2013, earning a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Documentary Screenplay. As the film gained acclaim, Deron also partnered with Kar-Ben Publishing to release The Secret of Priest's Grotto, a book adaptation that won a Silver Foreword INDIES award in the Young Adult Nonfiction category.
No Place on Earth has been recognized by the Smithsonian as one of the most remarkable Holocaust survival stories.
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