Oxy Live! Presents: A Conversation with V Spehar @underthedesknews

Join us for an evening of conversation between award-winning LGBTQIA+ podcast host and social media personality V Spehar (they/them) @underthedesknews, and acclaimed interviewer and cultural interlocutor Paul Holdengräber.
Presented by Occidental College and SLICE (Occidental's student leadership and community engagement office), this Oxy Live event is part of a series of conversations with a diverse lineup of cultural luminaries at the forefront of their fields for thought-provoking discussions. All conversations are open to the public at no cost, creating a space for diverse communities to join in the conversation and explore ideas together.
V Spehar has mastered short-form content, offering brief daily recaps of notable headlines. With a loyal following of over 3 million subscribers, V emphasizes the emotional safety of viewers.
Collaborations with figures like former President Obama, President Biden, and members of Congress highlight V's citizen journalism. V's humanity-first style extends to hosting Lemonada Media's podcast V Interesting, consistently ranked among the Top 25 News podcasts since June 2022. Their reporting has taken them to the press room of the 2023 State of the Union to hosting the NBC’s livestream of the Thanksgiving Day Parade to speaking at UNESCO summits. This year, V received a special achievement Webby for their concise and compassionate reporting.
Find V Spehar @underthedesknews on TikTok and Instagram, and on their podcast V Interesting.

Oxy Live! is funded through the generous support of Occidental trustee and alumna Lisa Coscino ’85 and the Occidental Class of '74.

About Host Paul Holdengräber
Paul Holdengräber is an interviewer and curator. He was the founding executive director of Onassis Los Angeles (OLA). Previously, and for 14 years, he was the founder and director of The New York Public Library’s LIVE from the NYPL cultural series where he interviewed and hosted over 600 events, holding conversations with everyone from Patti Smith to Zadie Smith, Ricky Jay to Jay-Z, Errol Morris to Jan Morris, Wes Anderson to Helen Mirren, Werner Herzog to Mike Tyson. Before his tenure at the Library, Holdengräber was the founder and director of “The Institute for Art & Cultures” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a Fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. He has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and has taught at Princeton University, Williams College, Claremont Graduate University among others. In 2003, the French Government named Holdengräber Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and then promoted him in 2012 to the rank of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. In 2010, The President of Austria awarded him the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.

Host or Publisher Oxy Arts