O’Brien, María de la Soledad Teresa
1966-present · Contribution: 1991-present
Anchored CNN’s American Morning and created the network’s landmark In America documentary series, including Black in America and Latino in America, before founding Starfish Media Group in 2013 to continue producing hard-hitting documentary journalism on race and inequality
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
After twelve years at NBC News, including co-anchoring Weekend Today and reporting for Nightly News, O’Brien joined CNN in 2003 to co-anchor American Morning, and in 2007 began the In America documentary franchise, whose installments — including Black in America, Latino in America, and Black in America: Black & Blue — became among the most-watched documentary programming in CNN’s history and earned her the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2010 Journalist of the Year award. Her reporting from Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti and Japan earthquakes, and the Indian Ocean tsunami helped CNN win Peabody, Emmy, and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, and after leaving CNN in 2013 she founded Starfish Media Group, producing documentaries for Al Jazeera America, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, BET, and Peacock, including 2024’s The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Since 2016 she has hosted the nationally syndicated Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, and she identifies as Black, Hispanic, and Irish American, having been honored by organizations representing all three communities for her journalism.
Life & background
Born September 19, 1966, in Saint James, New York, to an Afro-Cuban mother and an Irish-Australian father, O’Brien attended Harvard’s Radcliffe College beginning in 1984, left to take a television job, and returned to complete her English and American literature degree in 2000. She worked at NBC News from 1991 to 2003 and CNN from 2003 to 2013, founded Starfish Media Group in 2013, and continues to host Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien and produce documentary journalism through her production company.
Sources
- Television Academy; The HistoryMakers; African American Registry
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