A budding media start-up producing a culinary docuseries has been stuck in limbo for months. After being approved for USAID funding, the show’s co-founders discovered that the agency’s money never cleared — and now the Trump administration is caught in a legal battle to dismantle USAID.
Styling itself as an heir to Anthony Bourdain’s legacy, “The Envoy Show” aims to spotlight the seven “food wonders” of the world while examining how food is stimulating local economies in its upcoming freshman season. “The Envoy Show” is set to premiere on Amazon’s Prime Video in summer 2025.
But the show has hit a snag before even debuting. The media start-up’s first episode was approved for sponsorship with funds from the US Agency for International Development during the Biden administration, but it still hasn’t seen a dime. “The Envoy Show” has been left to foot the entire bill, straining its start-up coffers without the promised government assistance.
Shortly after entering his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order freezing foreign development assistance for 90 days pending assessment, a move bolstered by the State Department’s issuing a stop-work order on existing foreign assistance and new aid.
Already, the courts have challenged Trump’s attempts to dismantle USAID. But he says he intends to appeal the rulings, leaving affected agencies uncertain about the future.
“Wild surprise,” Anne Marie Hagerty, who co-founded the show with Rachael Scott, told CNN. “Now we’re on the hook for paying people that the government was going to pay.”
To make up for the missing funds, Hagerty took out a six-figure personal loan to ensure everyone on the team is compensated on time.
“As founder, I have not paid myself a dime yet to prioritize paying my team,” Hagerty said.
Sponsorship approval and USAID confusion
For its debut episode, “The Envoy Show” focused on a West African grain called fonio. The docuseries began holding conversations with USAID in June and was approved to discuss sponsorship logistics on August 27.
During the Biden administration’s final months, USAID and trade group Prosper Africa green-lit funding for the fonio episode. Prosper Africa, USAID and the agency’s Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Activity — which helps facilitate bilateral trade between the US and Africa implemented by DAI — wanted to confirm the show’s sponsorship before October to ensure the funds would come from USAID’s 2024 budget, Hagerty and Scott said.
After months of back and forth, the purchase order was issued to Alo Media, the show’s parent company, in December, according to a copy of the document obtained by CNN.
Hagerty followed up with ATI on January 20, noting that the payment had yet to arrive. She was told that ATI was investigating. That same day, Trump was inaugurated into the Oval Office and signed the executive order that froze all foreign assistance.
