Listen Up: The Future Is Bright Sighted

As a young TV journalist, Christine O’Donnell often bore witness to the dark side of life. She interviewed people experiencing terrible tragedies and gathered clips for the nightly news. Today, O’Donnell runs Bright Sighted Media, a podcast studio that doesn’t shy away from trauma and grief. But the emphasis is on human perseverance and in-depth conversation, not soundbites and calamity.

“Everybody has a story, or several stories, that make them who they are,” O’Donnell tells me during an interview at her downtown Saratoga studio. “Podcasting is just a new platform to help people tell their stories. People crave authenticity and vulnerability, and with podcasting, that doesn’t get cut out. People can see the real person.” 

Bright Sighted founder Christine O’Donnell

Some of the real people O’Donnell has worked with lately? Real estate gurus Helen Mastrion and Noel McLaren of the Selling Saratoga podcast, as well as funeral director Brittany DeMarco Furman and UAlbany professor Heidi Knoblauch, both of whom have taken over Seriously Connected, a podcast that offers four-week hosting stints to female entrepreneurs and business owners. Last year, two of Bright Sighted’s podcasts won Signal Awards, which honor excellence in podcasting. One of them, The Other 3 Years, documents rower and Saratoga Springs resident Kristi Wagner’s 2024 Olympic journey. The other, A Place of Yes, is hosted by Heather Straughter, who discusses channeling her grief in the aftermath of her four-year-old son’s unexpected death into good works through her Saratoga Springs-based foundation, Jake’s Help From Heaven. 

At press time, O’Donnell was getting ready to launch another hyper-local podcast in partnership with Discover Saratoga, the city’s tourism bureau, with a live broadcast from Saratoga Arms on New Year’s Eve. Destination Saratoga will highlight interesting people and places in Saratoga Springs, and is intended for locals and tourists alike. One early episode will feature Abigail Quammem, aka Miss New York, who visited Saratoga Springs the weekend after Thanksgiving.

“So many people have stories to tell, and we want to support them,” says MacKenzie Zarzycki, vice president of marketing and communications for Discover Saratoga and the face of Destination Saratoga. “The folks who make Saratoga so unique and special—we want to get those stories on video.” (In addition to full-length episodes hosted by Zarzycki, Destination Saratoga will feature mini-episodes in partnership with Saratoga Living.)

Zarzycki says she and O’Donnell share a passion for Saratoga County. “Christine’s so fun to work with. She has wonderful ideas and she’s equally invested in the community.” 

A Saratoga Springs native, O’Donnell founded Bright Sighted Media while living in California in 2018 after working on a podcast for famed nutritionist Dr. Steven Gundry. The show was a hit, and O’Donnell realized she’d found her calling. “It was nice to help someone else learn how to connect with people,” she says. “It felt super rewarding.” 

Seven years later, she still feels the same way about podcasting. “The host builds a relationship with people, stays with them and brings them along through the journey,” she says. “It gives people an opportunity to really know, like and trust someone.”  

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