Stephanie Lepp is a video artist and producer whose work focuses on bringing together different viewpoints to arrive at a perspective that goes beyond “common ground” and emerges as a true integration, or synthesis. She was on the podcast in July 2022 to talk about a project called Deep Reckonings. In it, she considered the cases of public figures who’d responded to personal controversy in less-than-ideal ways and reimagined responses that would have conveyed genuine learning.

Now she’s back with a new video series, Faces of X, which illustrates an argument using a single performer to act out the three parts of the thesis, antithesis, synthesis schematic. Those performers include Buck Angel, Liv Boeree, Magatte Wade, and herself.

In this conversation, I talk with Stephanie about why it’s so hard to check your confirmation bias (even — and maybe even especially — when you pride yourself on being able to do so), the difference between synthesis and “both sidesism,” and why she’s optimistic about the future of public discourse about complicated issues.

GUEST BIO

Stephanie Lepp is the founder of Synthesis Media, a production studio devoted to integrating perspectives into a bigger picture. In 2022, she debuted Reckonings, a narrative podcast that explores how we change our hearts and minds, and Deep Reckonings, a series of explicitly-marked deepfake videos that imagine morally courageous versions of our public figures. Her new project is Faces of X.

Watch Deep Reckonings.

Watch Faces of X.

Listen to Stephanie Lepp’s previous interview on The Unspeakable.

Want to hear the whole conversation? Upgrade your subscription here.

HOUSEKEEPING

📺 Visit The Unspeakeasy on YouTube!

✈️ We have new retreats for 2025. See where we'll be!

✏️ Learn about our upcoming Unspeakeasy School of Thought coed courses in fiction, memoir, and humor writing.

🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women.