Rachel Martin
Rachel Martin is the co-creator and host of Wild Card, an interview game show about life's biggest questions. She invites notable guests to play a card game that lets them open up about the memories, insights, and beliefs that have shaped their lives.
Martin spent six years as a host of Morning Edition, and was the founding host of NPR's award-winning morning news podcast Up First. She previously hosted Weekend Edition Sunday.
She served as National Security Correspondent for NPR, where she covered both defense and intelligence issues, and also worked as a NPR foreign correspondent, where she covered the London terrorist attacks, issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.
Martin worked extensively in Afghanistan, covering the reconstruction effort after the U.S. invasion and the country's first democratic presidential election. She also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province. She traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2015 to report on women's rights, and in 2022, she reported from Ukraine's border with Belarus in the leadup to the Russian war.
Martin was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, a live two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.
Martin also previously served as NPR's religion correspondent. Her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association in 2007. In 2011, her story on racial discrimination in Hollywood won a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and her series on the effects of the opioid epidemic on children won a Gracie award in 2019.
She started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco as a producer and reporter.
She holds an undergraduate degree in political science and an honorary doctorate from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and a Master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, two sons and dog named Lola F. Bear, Esq.
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On Wild Card, famous guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Country legend Shania Twain reflects on what she looks forward to about getting older.
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Tracee Ellis Ross talks about a moment in her life that she'd want to go back to, that she wouldn't change anything about.
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For Danny McBride, success in Hollywood has taken patience, hard work, and a little bit of delusion. That sense of delusion is present in the characters he portrays and in his new book of stories.
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On Wild Card, famous guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Actor Brett Goldstein talks about the ways he's softened as he's grown older.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. John C. Reilly talks about how being a middle child led to his acting career.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan talks about what he calls the superpowers that come with depression and anxiety.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Actor and musician Rita Wilson talks about what she learned from her parents.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Author Anne Lamott opens up about how she had to unlearn what others thought of her.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Musician Amy Grant talks about what she likes about getting older.
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On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don't talk about. Lena Dunham talks about the advice from childhood that sticks with her.