Tenderfoot TV
TFTV television

About

Founded in 2016 by Atlanta director and independent filmmaker, Payne Lindsey, and music industry veteran, Donald Albright, Tenderfoot launched onto the podcasting scene with the award-winning true-crime podcast, “Up and Vanished.” The viral sensation became an international news story after influencing 2 arrests in a decade-old cold case. Tenderfoot’s flagship show has received nearly 350 million downloads to date, creating a blueprint for additional groundbreaking content like the critically acclaimed “Atlanta Monster,” the award-winning “To Live and Die in LA,” “Culpable,” and “Radio Rental,” accounting for 5 back-to-back #1 podcasts.

Our team

Donald Albright

Donald Albright

CEO & Co-Founder

Donald is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Tenderfoot TV. Originally from California, he has spent the last 20 years working in Atlanta’s music industry, with a focus on marketing, management and A&R. In 2016, he partnered with Payne to launch Tenderfoot TV and has since helped to shape the company’s business model and growth strategy.

Payne Lindsey

Payne Lindsey

Founder

Payne is a director, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The Atlanta area native founded Tenderfoot TV in 2016, co-creating and hosting the company’s flagship show Up and Vanished, which spawned Tenderfoot’s first television series by the same name.  Payne would also host the critically acclaimed Atlanta Monster and the anthology series Radio Rental.

Meredith Stedman

Meredith Stedman

Senior Producer

Meredith is a New Orleans native with a love for storytelling. She graduated from Emory University in Atlanta and received an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She started as an Up and Vanished listener, and is now a senior producer, writer and host, working on Radio Rental, Kim Kardashian’s The System, Rattled & Shook, and more!

Mike Rooney

Mike Rooney

Senior Producer/Editor

Μike is a Full Sail University graduate with a major in Film. The Orlando native has worked as a freelance videographer, camera operator, and production manager for commercials, documentaries and music videos, including producing original content for Spotify. He serves as a podcast editor/producer, as well as a producer for Tenderfoot’s TV/film projects.

Eric Quintana

Eric Quintana

Producer

Eric is an Atlanta native and Georgia State University graduate. He has spent the last 10 years working in sports and news talk radio, as well as hosting and producing an Atlanta United podcast for the last five years. He serves as a podcast editor and producer and is currently working on unscripted projects Up and Vanished Season 3, Radio Rental, and other upcoming scripted projects.

Matthew Pusti

Matthew Pusti

Producer

Matthew is a Nashville native with a 20 plus year background in music production, working as a composer, writer and sound designer on independent albums, shorts and feature films, including the upcoming Godizila vs Kong (Legendary). As a producer for Tenderfoot, he oversees sound design and music production.

Cooper Skinner

Cooper Skinner

Supervising Sound Editor

Cooper Skinner is an award winning sound designer and composer. He has had the pleasure of working with companies such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, Hulu, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Dropbox, Audible Inc, FX, Trivago, TBS, Mike’s Hard and many more. He graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with his B.F.A and M.F.A. in sound design.

MAVS

MAVS

Music Producer/Artist

MAKEUP AND VANITY SET is an American electronic musician who has been creating dark, expansive electronic music for the past two decades. His unique sound provided the score to the critically acclaimed Atlanta Monster. MAVS work continued on several Tenderfoot projects as the company’s signature sound, with more original scores and soundtracks to come.

Jaime Albright

Jaime Albright

Producer

Jaime has been an Up and Vanished fan since day one.  She earned her Bachelor of Sociology from Kennesaw State University in 2013 and completed Forensic Interview training in 2014.  While earning her Master of Social Work from Valdosta State University in 2018, she discovered a love for research and fact finding.  

Devin Johnson

Devin Johnson

Mix Engineer

Devin is an award winning mix engineer with more than 20 years of audio experience working with multi-platinum recording artists like Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Killer Mike, and Drake. Recently Devin worked on several Tenderfoot TV projects including Whistleblower and To Live and Die in LA season 2.

Anne Rusten

Anne Rusten

Executive Assistant

Anne studied event management at the University of Florida. The Miami Beach native has 10 years of experience in entertainment. She started producing concerts for Live Nation in South Florida, eventually managing venues in Atlanta. She was introduced to the Tenderfoot TV during the Up and Vanished Live Tour and has since joined the team as Payne’s Executive Assistant.

Tracy Leeds Kaplan

Tracy Leeds Kaplan

Operations & Partnerships

Tracy has 20 years of experience in content creation, distribution, and monetization across video and podcasting. In previous roles at WGBH, CBSi, Twitter, TuneIn, and Patreon, she has worked with content creators of all sizes and now brings her experience to Tenderfoot TV. Zooming in from San Francisco, Tracy is also the creator of The Ten News, a news podcast for kids ages 8 to 12.

Dylan Harrington

Dylan Harrington

Creative Producer

Dylan has 10 years experience producing in the film industry, specializing in commercials, social media and music videos for a variety of brands. As a Creative Producer, he’s responsible for our Youtube visuals and has worked on Up and Vanished and High Strange. He even tried to make a homemade UFO… it didn’t fly 🙁

 

Celisia Stanton

Celisia Stanton

Producer/Writer

After falling victim to a financial scheme, Celisia created her own crime podcast, Truer Crime, to dive deeper into the criminal justice system. She is a writer on several upcoming Tenderfoot shows, and when she’s not podcasting, she’s a photographer, high school debate coach, and mother to three cats (Piedmont, Jean Jacques, and Newton).

Jaja Muhammad

Jaja Muhammad

Producer

Jaja is a gold award winning Audio Producer and Journalist, growing up in London, England, with Jamaican heritage. She begun her career in music radio, then ventured into documentary, news and factual programmes, previously working for BBC Radio 4, BBC Africa, Apple Music 1 and Broccoli Productions. She is currently editing Terry’s tapes for Radio Rental.

Jordan Foxworthy

Jordan Foxworthy

Production Coordinator

Jordan is an Atlanta-based producer with a background in documentary filmmaking and non-profit work. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia (Sociology/Film Studies), and also completed post-graduate studies at Fuller and UCLA. A long-time fan of true crime podcasts, she’s now made true crime her job!

 

Caroline Aurigemma

Caroline Aurigemma

Marketing and Social Media Manager

Caroline joined the team as a fan of all things Tenderfoot. An experienced marketer, social media manager, and copyeditor, she earned a BA in Communications/Journalism from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, and developed a passion for helping small businesses grow their brands. As a NY native she is known to listen to true crime hits while hiking upstate trails.

Laura Benson

Laura Benson

Operations Coordinator

Don’t let her title fool you, Laura also operates outside of podcasting as a vocalist, songwriter, and fiddle player for Late for the Train, a bluegrassy folk band based in the SF Bay Area. She speaks three languages; Spanish, French and English. When she’s not doing all of that other cool stuff, she’s helping to make sure Tenderfoot is running on schedule.

Aprile Ruha

Aprile Ruha

Producer/Editor

Growing up equally frightened and fascinated by the horror genre, Aprile eventually accepted her calling as a full-fledged consumer and creator of horror content. Since graduating from NYU’s Tisch School, Aprile has worked as an editor on a variety of projects in independent film and reality television. She continues to merge her passion for spooky storytelling and sound design as a host of Rattled & Shook.

 

Sidney Evans

Sidney Evans

Associate Producer

Sidney is an Associate Producer and Editor with over 10 years of experience in both audio and video. He received his Bachelor’s of Arts, in Mass Communication from Fayetteville State University, and has a passion for audio storytelling and captivating audiences through sound. Sidney worked on High Strange and is currently working on several upcoming projects.

Sean Nerny

Sean Nerny

Producer

Sean is an Atlanta native who loves the 4 time World Series Champion Atlanta Braves. He’s spent over a decade working in Atlanta radio as both a producer and on air host, and now works on all things Tenderfoot, from new weeklies to hit series like Up and Vanished and Radio Rental. Did we mention that he loves the Braves?

 

Alex Vespestad

Alex Vespestad

Senior Producer

Alex is an award winning audio producer for his work on the Tenderfoot podcasts To Live and DIe in LA, and Whistleblower. He’s also worked with Steph Curry’s company Unanimous, Audible, Spotify, Netflix, and more. In addition to working on new Tenderfoot originals, Alex also heads up Tenderfoot’s production services venture, Tenderfoot Labs.

 

Dayton Cole

Dayton Cole

Senior Engineer

Dayton grew up in Chapel Hill, NC. With over 20 years of experience in the music industry working with Grammy award-winning producers and engineers as a session musician, sound designer, and composer in film and TV, he has brought his expertise to 10 #1 podcasts, and received an Ambie nomination for best original musical score for Culpable Season 2.

 

Dennis Cooper

Dennis Cooper

Senior Producer/Writer

Dennis is a senior producer based out of Louisville, KY with a passion for storytelling and true crime. Like many, he was drawn to the medium of podcasting through shows like Serial and Up and Vanished. In 2019 Dennis wrote and hosted the hit true crime series Culpable, and in 2023 wrote and produced the #1 hit Undetermined.

Jon Street

Jon Street

Supervising Producer

Jon is no stranger to podcasting, having previously led partnerships, operations, and show development at Resonate Recordings for titles like Culpable and Undetermined. As Tenderfoot TV’s Supervising Producer Jon supports the team as they continue development and production on new shows. A Pittsburgh native Jon now resides in sunny South Florida.

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