About Us

Preet Bharara is the co-founder of CAFE Studios, host of the award-winning podcast Stay Tuned with Preet, and co-host of the CAFE Insider podcast. He also writes the weekly Note from Preet column. Preet served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017, during which time he was featured on the cover of TIME magazine and appeared on its list of “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He previously served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. Preet is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. He is also currently a distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law and a Senior Legal Analyst at CNN.

Tamara Sepper is the Executive Producer / Editor at CAFE Studios, Vox Media. An attorney and an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, she was previously a Producer at the PBS program “Charlie Rose,” where she produced more than 500 interviews, and served as an Assistant District Attorney in the trials bureau of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Joyce Vance is the co-host of the CAFE Insider podcast and a CAFE Contributor. From 2009 to 2017 she served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. She is now a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law and a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

Elie Honig is the host of “Up Against The Mob,” podcast. He is also a contributor to CAFE and writes the weekly Note From Elie column featured in the CAFE Brief newsletter. Elie served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and co-chief of the organized crime unit at the Southern District of New York where he prosecuted more than 100 mobsters, including members of La Cosa Nostra, and the Gambino and Genovese crime families. He went on to serve as Director of the Department of Law and Public Safety at New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. He is currently Special Counsel at Lowestein Sandler and a CNN Legal Analyst.

Melissa Murray was a contributor to CAFE, where she wrote the monthly Note From Melissa column. Melissa currently serves as the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at NYU Law School, where she is also Faculty Director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network.  She is a leading expert in family law, constitutional law, and reproductive rights and justice. She’s also an MSNBC legal analyst. 

Barbara McQuade is a contributor to CAFE, where she writes the monthly Note From Barb column. From 2010 to 2017, Barbara served as the U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, an office she first joined as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1998. She is currently a Professor at University of Michigan Law School, and a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. She is the author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.

Asha Rangappa is a contributor to CAFE, where she writes the monthly Note From Asha column. Asha is a Senior Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Before that, she served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. She is also a legal and national security analyst at CNN, and an editor of Just Security. 

Rachel Barkow is a contributor to CAFE, where she writes the monthly Note from Rachel column. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time. Currently, she is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. 

Heather Cox Richardson co-hosted the “Now & Then” podcast. A professor at Boston College, she is the author of six books on American history, most recently How the South Won the Civil War (2020) and To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party (2014). Richardson also writes “Letters from an American,” a popular daily newsletter about politics and history, available on Facebook and Substack.

Joanne Freeman co-hosted the “Now & Then” podcast. She is a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, where she specializes in early American politics and political culture. Freeman is the author or editor of five books about American history, including The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War (2018) and Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (2001). On Friday mornings, she hosts a webcast about politics and history called History Matters (…and so does coffee!) through the National Council for History Education. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Atlantic Magazine.

Anne Milgram is a former co-host of the CAFE Insider podcast. From 2007 to 2010, Anne served as New Jersey’s Attorney General, overseeing all state and county prosecutors and more than 30,000 local law enforcement officers state wide. In that role, she reformed the Camden Police Department, now widely regarded as a national model for effective policing. Earlier in her career, Anne was Special Litigation Counsel focused on human trafficking crimes at the Department of Justice. She began her career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She is currently the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration

Lisa Monaco was the co-host of the United Security podcast. She served as Assistant to the President on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism during the Obama administration. She was previously counsel and Chief of Staff to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller and served as the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department. In 2011, Lisa became the first woman to serve as the chief of the National Security Division at the DOJ. Earlier in her career, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia and served on the Enron Task Force. She’s currently the Deputy Attorney General and the Department of Justice.

Ken Wainstein was the co-host of the United Security podcast. He served as Homeland Security Adviser to President George W. Bush. In 2006, he became the first ever Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s newly formed National Security Division. Ken previously served as the U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C. and prior to that, as Chief of Staff to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller and as General Counsel at the FBI. Earlier in his career, Ken served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at both the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia. He is currently the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. 

John Carlin was the host of the Cyber Space podcast. He served as the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division during the Obama administration and as Chief of Staff to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller. He previously served as DOJ’s National Coordinator for the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  John is the author of Dawn of the Code War. John most recently served as the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice. He is currently co-head of Paul Weiss’s Cybersecurity & Data Protection practice.

David Tatasciore is the Technical Director at CAFE Studios. Beginning his career as an engineer at the respected Ivory Productions studios near Philadelphia, he cultivated a passion for all things audio – from recording and mixing bands to producing sonically rich stories for radio and podcasts. David has since worked as a sound designer for film and TV, as well as scripted audio fiction, and has mixed and mastered records for a number of electronic musicians.

Matthew Billy is a Senior Producer at CAFE Studios. He began his career in broadcasting, with positions at 90.7 WFUV and Sirius XM Radio. In the early 2010s, Matthew recognized the enormous untapped potential of podcasting and started his own show. He was the first-ever podcaster to win the Newhouse School of Public Communications’ Mirror Award, beating out media giants like CNN.

Nat Weiner is an Audio Producer at CAFE Studios. Nat was Chief Engineer of WNYU 89.1FM, where he DJ’ed his own show for seven years. He co-founded Heritage Radio Network, a radio station built from shipping containers at Roberta’s in Brooklyn. As a freelancer, he has produced audio or written music for Red Bull, Microsoft, and Splice. He is a musician, video artist, and cat enthusiast.

Jake Kaplan is an Editorial Producer at CAFE Studios, where he helps produce the CAFE Insider podcast. He also writes the Week In a Nutshell legal news column, which is featured weekly in the CAFE Brief newsletter. Jake is an attorney in New York and a journalist who has written for media organizations including Law&Crime Network, BuzzFeed, and Business Insider. He is also a certified arbitrator and mediator.

Noa Azulai is a Producer at CAFE Studios, where she develops editorial content, researches, and produces Stay Tuned with Preet. Before joining CAFE, Noa was a Sexual Politics Writing Fellow with Bitch Media and a legal assistant in Manhattan.

Claudia Hernández is the Operations Coordinator at CAFE Studios and Special Assistant to Preet Bharara. Prior to CAFE, she worked as a paralegal in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Northeastern University.