Hi, I am Abukar.
I make podcasts, teach, and talk about storytelling. Let's connect!
Abukar Adan is an award-winning senior producer, reporter, and editor based in Queens, NY. He currently produces Origin Stories, a weekly podcast that takes listeners behind the scenes with creators across journalism, film, books, and documentaries. At Campside Media, where he has produced nearly a dozen shows, his work has ranged from a 10-part investigation into a multinational scam to a weekly horror anthology.
Abukar has contributed to some of the country’s most acclaimed narrative podcasts, including Catch Me If You Ken, a number one series on Apple Podcasts, as well as the hybrid fiction and nonfiction Audible Original The Last Days of Cabrini-Green and the Ambie Podcast of the Year winner Wild Boys. He also produced Run, Fool!, winner of two Signal Awards, We Came to the Forest, Dr. Dante, and Hollywood Con Queen, which peaked at #2 on Apple Podcasts, and he fact-checked the chart-topping Night Shift. His shows have been downloaded millions of times and featured in “best of” lists by The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and New York Magazine, among others.
Before joining Campside, Abukar was a reporter at WJCT-News in Jacksonville and Maine Public Radio. He’s also worked as a digital producer in television news. He was an Edit Mode inaugural fellow, editing features and a mini-series for Bay Area NPR affiliate KALW. In addition to his production work, Abukar teaches and lectures on audio journalism, most recently at the Fortis Society conference in Barcelona, at Maine College of Art's Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and at the Made in NY Podcast Certificate Program.
Origin Stories takes you behind the scenes of how great works get made — from books and movies to podcasts, TV, and documentaries. Each week, a creator unpacks the process behind a project close to their heart, sharing both the struggles and the breakthroughs. It's a podcast for anyone curious about workings of the creative mind.
SENIOR PRODUCER | SHOWRUNNER
Led the development and production, shaping the editorial direction, pilot new formats and overseeing the entire show.
Step into the dark world of RUN, FOOL!, where Rodney Barnes serves up a weekly dose of spine-tingling terror. Each episode delivers a fresh, fear-filled ghost story from a different time and place, brought to life with gripping and immersive sound design. Too scared? ... RUN, FOOL!
MANAGING PRODUCER | EDITOR
My first foray into fiction. Built the show from concept to release, handling story development, script editing, team management and general production.
Wild Boys tells the strange tale of two young men who arrived in a Canadian town in 2003, claiming they’d been raised in the wilderness with no contact with the modern world. The town embraced them, and the media flocked to the story, but there was one problem: not a word the boys said was true. Nearly 20 years later, journalist Sam Mullins digs into the truth behind the deception that captivated his hometown.
LEAD PRODUCER
*Won the 2023 Ambie's Podcast of the Year
Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen unravels one of the strangest scams in history: hundreds of Hollywood gig workers were tricked into flying to Indonesia for a fake movie. This investigative podcast explores how desperation, disinformation, and Hollywood's power dynamics fueled the con, shedding light on deeper issues in the film industry.
REPORTER | ASSOCIATE PRODUCE
*My reporting on this project helped solve the crime.
Catch Me If You Ken investigates the untold story of a globe-spanning scam. Posing as a billionaire’s son, crypto mogul, and tech genius, Ken allegedly defrauded many. The series unravels his digital vanishing acts, abandoned aliases, and the fight to answer one question: Who is the real Ken?
SENIOR PRODUCER
In 1992, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot outside his school in Cabrini-Green. His death sparked national outrage, prompted a gang truce, and became the catalyst for demolishing Chicago’s public housing. The Last Days of Cabrini-Green revisits how his death reshaped American housing policy.
PRODUCER
We Came to the Forest tells the story of Vienna, a young delivery worker drawn into the fight against a massive police training facility in Atlanta. She discovers purpose, love, and community in the South River Forest — until one morning changes everything and forces the question: What are you willing to die for?
SENIOR PRODUCER
Maine Public is the state-wide public media organization that operates Maine Public Radio, an NPR member station, providing a mix of national and local news, talk shows, and music.
GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER
press.
SELECTED PRESS
"Wild Boys Wins Podcast of The Year," The Hollywood Reporter
"The best podcasts of 2022," The Atlantic
"The Best-True Crime Podcasts of 2022," Vulture
"Best Podcasts of 2020," Rolling Stone
"The Best Podcasts for Everyone," Wired
"7 Podcasts About the Art of the Scam," NYT
ABOUT ME
Abukar Adan and Host Natalie Robehmed discuss Catch Me If You Ken, Inside the Tent
Abukar Adan and Host Sam Mullins discuss Wild Boys, Inside the Tent
The Path to Podcasting, Colby News
Crossover Artist, Down East Magazine
Nicholas Quah, Vulture
Simon Hill, Wired
Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade, The Atlantic
"Hosted by Vernon native Sam Mullins and produced by Abukar Adan, Wild Boys starts out as a quirky mystery and becomes something tender and soulful by the end as it sits with the emotional aftermath of this strange spectacle."
"The brilliance of Wild Boys is that it shows the manipulative power of perspective."
"This weird, compelling, investigative podcast [Hollywood Con Queen] unwinds a satisfyingly twisty tale that’s mercifully free of blood and violence."