My Mother Made Me

In October 2024, Apple Podcasts launched a new initiative to highlight narrative series, including designating a new show every month as a Series Essential, celebrating the finest storytelling and the medium’s greatest achievements. My Mother Made Me is the March 2025 selection.For this special occasion, we asked Jason to sit down with his mother to reflect on their experience of documenting and sharing their very special relationship with the world.

To wrap the series, my mother and I chat about humility, while hanging at one of our favorite places — the casino. We gamble, feast on a lunch of crab cakes, and dive into how she’s always wanted me to keep my feet on the ground, even after hitting the jackpot. My Mother Made Me is a production of Radiotopia Presents, and is written and narrated by Jason Reynolds with his mother, Isabell Reynolds. The series is produced by Mark Pagán and edited by Julie Shapiro, with production support from Yooree Losordo. Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich are Executive Producers for Radiotopia Presents. Special thanks to Aaron Holmes. Cover art by Jason Griffin. Theme song by Christian Reynolds. Mixing, sound design and additional original music is by Ian Coss. This episode was recorded at WAMU. Radiotopia Presents debuts limited-run, artist-owned series, from new and original voices. For more information, visit Radiotopiapresents.fm.

Happy 76th Birthday, Ma! In this episode, we celebrate her birthday with lunch at her favorite restaurant, where we talk about life, death, and how gratitude for each day doesn’t always mean we should skip the special ones, like birthdays — no matter how badly I want to skip my own. Every time. My Mother Made Me is a production of Radiotopia Presents, and is written and narrated by Jason Reynolds, with his mother, Isabell Reynolds. The series is produced by Mark Pagán and edited by Julie Shapiro, with production support from Yooree Losordo. Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich are Executive Producers for Radiotopia Presents. Cover art by Jason Griffin. Theme song by Christian Reynolds. Mixing, sound design and additional original music is by Ian Coss.Radiotopia Presents debuts limited-run, artist-owned series, from new and original voices. Learn more and access transcripts at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.

Coming up next on Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me.My Mother Made Me is a series from Radiotopia Presents, where writer Jason Reynolds and his mother, Isabell, explore their shared history, how she raised him, and what they’re teaching each other. It’s a love letter to their connection, an homage to parent-child friendship, and a testament to how growth can be perpetual, despite age or circumstance. Across four episodes, Jason and Isabell go deep – into birth, death and spirituality… but they also keep it light: pushing a cart through Costco, birthday lunches, and hitting the casino together. That’s just how they do.My Mother Made Me is a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices. It is written and narrated by Jason Reynolds with his mother, Isabell Reynolds. The series is produced by Mark Pagán and edited by Julie Shapiro, with production support from Yooree Losordo. Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich are Executive Producers for Radiotopia Presents. Special thanks to LeVar Burton. Cover art by Jason Griffin. Theme song by Christian Reynolds. Mixing, sound design and additional original music is by Ian Coss.Learn more about My Mother Made Me at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.