CEO and Founder

Joseph Rodota launched Last 5 Percent Media to develop great stories that can be told through podcasts and audio plays, building upon a long career at the highest levels of state and national government and politics. Joseph is the author of THE WATERGATE: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address (William Morrow, 2018), tells the complete a history of the midcentury complex that became synonymous with scandal. His play CHESSMAN, about the final days of Caryl Chessman, the “Red Light Bandit,” premiered at Sacramento’s B Street Theatre in 2016 in a sold-out run. Joseph was born and raised in California, but has considered Washington, DC  a “second home” since the 1980s, when he worked in the Reagan White House. His political career includes serving as a top campaign and policy aide to two California governors, consulting on dozens of ballot initiative campaigns, and managing the “war room” against Proposition 8. He received a degree in history, with honors and distinction, from Stanford University. He collects art, follows midcentury modern architecture and design, and is restoring his great-grandfather’s 1936 Ford sedan.

Producer

Kaitlin Bruce has been a consummate storyteller from an early age, writing family newspapers and hosting radio shows with her dad’s tape recorder. As a producer working from Sacramento, California, Kaitlin manages all aspects of podcast production, from booking studios to supervising final edits with sound engineers. She also manages Last 5 Percent Media’s voluminous digital and print archive. Before joining the team that became Last 5 Percent Media, she worked as a freelance photographer and catalogued pieces of the Sac State Art Department Art Collection. Kaitlin received a degree in Art History and Photography; and - despite never taking a journalism class - worked for nearly every department of her college newspaper (except sports). At home, Kaitlin grows roses, lavender, wisteria and citrus and attempts to manage her dog, Butch.

Producer

Adam Mellion is a researcher and producer based in Minneapolis. He has helped Last Five Percent Media develop and launch several podcasts specializing in historical non-fiction stories. Alongside his work for Last Five Percent Media, Adam is concurrently a public policy researcher in the areas of health care, energy, and conservation. His background in international conflict resolution previously led to positions for LexisNexis, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and several NGOs/think tanks, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Madagascar. When he’s not obsessively pursuing white whales in the oceans of internet archives, he’s most often baking, biking around the lakes with his dog in a side basket, and working towards a Master’s in Library Science.

Consulting Producer

James Elsey is a researcher and artist based in London. He earned his Master’s degree in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths College, University of London, with his dissertation developing into a continuing research interest around cultural perceptions of the apocalypse. His work as an artist includes producing shows for online and FM stations. When not immersed in archival research, James is taking a horticulture course at a community garden in South London and loves to collect weird dance-music records.

Consulting Producer

Nicola Nitido is an independent researcher and curator based in Naples, Italy. He graduated in Semiotics of Art at the University of Bologna, and in Museology and Management of Cultural Heritage in Madrid and Rome. His academic and curatorial interest focus around the themes of gender and queer theories, history of collections and museum studies. He is currently a board member of the In-Ruins residency in Southern Italy, exploring the connections between archeology and contemporary art. Nicola served as the principal researcher for IL MORO, a new play about a 1940 obscenity trial in Sicily. The topic was featured in Italy’s first LGBTQ+ History Month in April 2022, and the play is currently in development for a 2024 production in Naples.