Ilona is an independent radio and podcast producer who has a diverse portfolio of narrative programmes. She is the lead author of "Dark Matters", a podcast about the German Secret Service which entered the German Podcast Charts at No.1 and has had over 3 Million listeners. Ilona also produced the number one podcast of 2021 on the podcasting platform Podimo with her 10-part series "Ein Mensch verschwindet", which delves into the life and disappearance of queer reality TV star Daniel Küblböck.
Her work, including her series about pro-wrestler Bruiser Brody for the BBC's "Sport's Stranges Crimes", is driven by the desire to find innovative, entertaining and respectful ways to communicate important issues. Ilona tries to integrate both journalistic and creative practices to produce innovative and entertaining content that never loses sight of the people behind the story. Something she was able to show in many of her programmes, including her piece for the BBC's Witness History, "Battle for the Capital", about the difficult decision of which German city would be the capital after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. No matter the topic, Ilona's work is always driven by the desire to find innovative, entertaining and respectful ways to communicate important issues.
Find out more about Ilona and her work here.
Ilona came to THE ECCO retreat from the UK and collaborated with the cohort on an idea that she's continuing to workshop and one day might share with the world.