Our Team
THE FOUNDERS
CEO & Founder
Janne is Meow Productions CEO and Founder. She shares her time between Portugal and Denmark and has a massive crush on Australia. She has a double degree in journalism and has taught extensively in the fields of journalism, entrepreneurship and communication. As an award-winning editor, Janne and has enjoyed great success in print publications.
In her free time, Janne likes to travel, travel, travel. She has the travel bug and would always rather be in transit than stationary. Besides that, she loves outdoor sports, dinner with friends and, of course, watching true crime shows and listening to podcasts.
Miguel Branco
Co-founder & Production Manager
Miguel, Meow Productions co-founder has worked almost all his life in advertising. He started as junior account executive at a small agency Park, then Ogilvy, Mccann, TBWA.
In the quest for more independency, Miguel set up his own agency, Chillibeans, with his business partner Pedro Caixado. However, after enjoying success in the advertising world, when they started to organize dinners on Friday nights, transforming the meeting room into a dining room they knew that their days in advertising were numbered. For their new challenge, they opened a wine bar in Lisbon: Nova Wine Bar.
During Covid lockdown, Miguel moved on to podcast producing!
THE TEAM
Actor and Voiceover (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Sara has been a professional voiceover artist for over 20 years. She has a small home-built studio in her wardrobe where she uses her voice to explore her creativity and passion for words. As a voiceover artist she has done documentaries, e-learning projects, TV, audio books, cartoons and commercials.
Sara lives with her boyfriend and their 2 children and enjoys the active lifestyle, food and great draft beers. At home, she helps her children practise being quiet when mom goes to work in the wardrobe.
Hear her amazing voice on our new show, Murder in Japan and also, Murder by the Mediterranean
Actress & Voiceover (Berlin, Germany)
Katharina Pütter is a Berlin-based actress and author. She is a theatre actor, acting in classical as well as modern plays. She has also appeared on stage throughout Germany performing literary readings.
Her voice can be heard on cultural radio stations, in audiobooks, audio dramas and as a voice-over in television and film. She has translated several British theatre plays and is the author of a number of personal portraits describing life’s journeys of contemporary women and men.
Born and raised by the coast, she enjoys being by, in and under the water.
Katharina did the German version of the first season of Murder by the Mediterranean!
Voiceover. Journalist. (Tokyo, Japan)
Vanesa dreamt of living in Japan since childhood. Being from Spain made it look like an impossible dream so she decided to focus on learning everything about media, her second passion.
Through her work, she ended up moving to Japan and joining NHK, the Japanese national broadcaster, where she’s working as a freelance narrator and translator. Currently, she’s writing what will be her first novel.
In her spare time, she likes to get lost travelling, she also likes reading, listening to podcasts and music, watching movies or just walking along the streets of Tokyo.
Vanessa voiced both seasons of Murder by the Mediterranean in Spanish!
Journalist, Researcher (Rome, Italy)
Stefania Prandi is a freelance journalist, writer, photographer and producer. She is based in Italy, Milan, and reported from places such as Ethiopia, Morocco, Spain, Albania, Argentina, Switzerland, India, Greece, Portugal for national and international publications.
Stefania wrote the books “Oro Rosso” and “Le Conseguenze” published by “Settenove”. She won awards and grants in the USA, Germany, Italy and France.
When Stefania is not at work, she enjoys reading novels and feminist essays, walking in Milan, visiting exhibitions and hiking in nature.
Stefania is a brilliant researcher on Murder by the Mediterranean!
Journalist, Research (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Marlene studied journalism and, after graduating, she worked for several lifestyle magazines in one of the biggest Portuguese Media Groups.
After years of travelling in Portugal and discovering truly hidden gems, she developed a passion for tourism which took her to Copenhagen, Denmark where she's currently living while taking a Masters in Tourism.
In her spare time, you will mostly find Marlene cooking recipes from her culinary book collection, grabbing a coffee with friends and occasionally opening a nice bottle of Portuguese white wine.
Marlene has researched for Meow extensively, and she is behind the whole research for Female Spies.
Susanne divides her time between her beloved Portugal and her native country of Denmark. She has been a professional journalist since 1991 and has held different positions such as editor-in-chief, editorial manager, news editor and global climate correspondent. In recent years has focused on health, human development, leadership, digitalisation and climate.
Labelled ‘the World’s geekiest mum’ by her two sons, she enjoys science fiction, fantasy, comics and especially Japanese animé and all things nerdy, but is at her happiest in nature, whether it is forest, mountains or by the sea.
For Meow, Susanne both edits a lot of Janne Aagaards stories. She is also an episode writer for The Pretenders and a very good one!
Phil has worked in the entertainment industry for more than thirty years. Since switching to film and television, he has worked primarily as a script consultant on feature films for many of the film companies in Denmark as well as other companies across Europe and Australia. He was a script consultant on the Oscar nominated Belgian film Bullhead.
In his spare time, when he’s not watching films, he is active in the sport of Roller Derby and has participated in two adult World Cups, one Junior World Cup and a Championship Playoffs. He is also the founder and coach of the local junior team the Copenhagen Troublemakers.
Phil has adapted an English version of Murder by the Mediterranean that has yet to be released.
Inga Esseling
Translation (Silkeborg, Denmark)
Inga Esseling is a translator for German, Danish and Swedish. Born and raised in Germany, she is now resident in Silkeborg, Denmark.
For Meow, Inga has translated both Murder by the Mediterranean and Female Spies for the German market and now also our new hit show, The Pretenders!
She loves juggling with a range of different genres: famous comic books like "Valhalla", magazines about murder & mysteries, technical documents for EU projects and podcasts.
Inga is a passionate about hot yoga, travelling and foodsharing. Besides that, she spends most of her spare time in the Danish woods, listening to podcasts and music.
Helena Spongenberg
Research, Translation (Barcelona, Spain)
Helena is a journalist with more than 15 years of reporting, writing, and editing for newspapers, magazines and television news across Europe. Her main focus is currently on Spanish politics, investigative reporting, and crossborder journalism..
When Helena is not at work, you can find her enjoying time with her family, practicing drone photography, learning to play the guitar, stroking the cat, or listening to podcasts.
Helena has been integral to researching both seasons of Murder by the Mediterranean in Spain.
Ane Trolle
Singer and Voiceover. (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Ane is a Copenhagen based singer and voice artist working from her home built cottage studio.
She has always loved working with her voice through the many different music projects she is a part of. As a voice artist, she has performed on documentaries, art films, commercials, tv channel voice and podcasts.
When Ane is not working, she loves to spend her time in nature, taking her horse for a ride in the forest, making bonfires at night, cooking food and drinking a good glass of wine surrounded by friends.
Ane voiced Female Spies and we love her voice.
Reinaldo Gonçalves
Sound Designer & Editor (Lisbon, Portugal)
Reinaldo has always been deeply connected with his creative urges, gaining a bachelor’s degree in Artistic Studies from the University of Coimbra. After working for the Arts and Cultural Centre of Ponte de Sor as a cultural programmer, he headed to Lisbon to become a songwriter and audio-technician.
Since then he has been working in diverse audio related areas: Live sound for theatre, live concerts, audio post-production for TV shows, sound design and audio branding.
Reinaldo has done extensive and great editing for most of our shows here at Meow including Murder by the Mediterranean in four languages.
Asger Røjle Christensen
Research & Writing (Tokyo, Japan)
Asger is an experienced Danish journalist. He has been following developments in Japan and East Asia for 35 years. He works with a base in Tokyo for Danish National Radio DR and a number of other Danish media. Asger has extensive experience as a course leader on journalistic study trips from five continuing education courses.
Asger also runs the newsletter and payment site Forkant.nu, which offers short analyzes of developments in Japan and Asia.
Next up, Asger will be writing his own feature series, Murder in Japan that premieres in three countries in January 2023. Have a look at the brand new show here.
Bente Lay
Singer and Voiceover. (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Bente Lay is a German-Norwegian actress and voice over artist. She acts in film and tv, and in different types of theatre, mostly improv and business theatre.
With her voice she works internationally, and appears in commercials, image films, on phone machines and in many other productions.
She loves languages and speaks 7 of them more or less fluently, likes to travel, and is passionate about vegan cooking.She lives with her husband and dogs in Munich, Germany.
For Meow, Bente did the German voice on the second season of the Murder by the Mediterranean.
Mary-Ann
Hersvik Strøm
Translator Danish-Norwegian. (Spain)
Mary-Ann has almost 4 decades of experience and education within many trades; offshore service management, teacher, entrepreneurship, software programming, accounting, arts, and crafts.
For Meow, Mary-Ann has translated Murder by The Mediterranean and now, The Pretenders, to Norway.
Together with her husband, focus the last decade has been on book, content and article writing, translations, and filmmaking. Presently established with havens on an island at the rural west coast of Norway and way off the beaten tourist track in southern Spain.
When Mary-Ann is not working, she especially enjoys spending time in her gardens, painting, the 3 dogs (and a cat), travel, photography, learning more Spanish.
