We founded our company during the solar eclipse that swept across North America on April 8, 2024. A week earlier, New York had experienced a rare earthquake. That’s the energy we’ve brought to our new venture. We produce The Delegates Lounge, a unique world affairs podcast, from our podcast host’s office at the United Nations, directly across the hallway from the UN Security Council. We publish our show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you hear podcasts.
Since our first episode streamed before UN Week 2024, we have hosted foreign ministers and other dignitaries who pulled back the curtain on the secret conversations that set the stage for world affairs. Our initial episodes featured the current foreign ministers of Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Spain. We had the exclusive interview with Ukraine’s UN ambassador before his return to Kyiv. He shared vivid first-hand impressions of the Security Council meeting on the night of February 23, 2022, during which Russia invaded his country. The Delegates Lounge has also featured top UN diplomats from Australia, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United States of America. Special episodes included a three-part miniseries profiling a Canadian officer who resigned to fight for Ukraine and a two-part miniseries called “Dining with Diplomats” that explores the intersection of international cuisine and diplomacy. Discover the recipes shared by some of the world’s top diplomats in the “Diplomenu” section of this website.
You’ll find links to our playlist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon above, and links to allof the ways you can listen by clicking on the “Episodes” tab. To make sure you don’t miss a moment of the conversation, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy what you’ve heard, please take a moment to rate or review the show on your podcast player of choice, as it helps others who share your abiding interest in world affairs find their way to The Delegates Lounge. Connect with us on the social media links above or by sending us an email. We’re a small team, so we may not reply to every email, but we will read them.
Our host, J. Alex Tarquinio, is an award-winning journalist based at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where she writes essays about world affairs for Foreign Policy. She draws on decades of experience covering politics, finance, and culture. You may recognize her byline from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc. She’s been a guest on programs like BBC World News, Australia’s ABC, and Univision’s Fusion TV. Her interest in the UN began two decades ago, when she received a journalism fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the United States for her coverage of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Then in 2019, while serving as the National President of the Society of Professional Journalists, she spoke on a high-level panel at the United Nations for World Press Freedom Day.
Frank Radford is a U.S. Army veteran who has worked as a software engineer — and now as
a website designer, podcast producer, and audio engineer. He co-founded The Delegates
Lounge LLC with his wife in 2024. Born in Australia, he grew up in London and has made
his home in New York City.