Omaha Charity Event to Feature Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien, anchor and special correspondent for CNN Worldwide, will be the guest speaker on Friday, October 2, 2009 for "Something to Chair-ish."

Methodist Volunteers in Partnership sponsor "Something to Chair-ish," an elegant evening of information, dinner and a "Chair-ity" auction, featuring one-of-a-kind chairs benefiting the New Methodist Women's Hospital. The event will be held at the Mutual of Omaha Dome in Omaha, Nebraska.

Soledad Interviewed at the Hispanic Caucus Reception

Soledad O'Brien in an informal, off the cuff interview.

Includes some talk on her own background, a brief red carpet encounter with her parents, and the upcoming CNN Latino in America documentary.



September 15th 2009 - Washington DC Hispanic Caucus Reception at the DC Historical Society.

Cuba Concert Video

View video of Soledad O'Brien in Havana talking to performer and organizer Juanes about his recent Paz Sin Fronteras concert in Cuba. The show ran well past the 4-hour scheduled time and about attracted 1.2 million people - about one-third the population of Cuba - who partied in 90 degree heat.

Soledad at the Emmy Awards

CNN News correspondents Christiane Amanpour and Soledad O'Brien accept the Presidents Award for CNN Productions during the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America

Soledad O'Brien To Speak at Vegas@50+

AARP, the world's largest member organization for people 50+ with 40 million members, today announced it will bring its annual National Event & Expo to the city of Las Vegas on October 22-24, 2009.

Catering to 50+ America, nearly 25,000 people are expected to attend Vegas@50+ to connect with people from across the country, learn something new, and have fun.

In addition to three top-notch concerts featuring The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Tito Puente, Jr. Orchestra, and Kool & The Gang, among others, attendees will also experience an interactive exhibit floor; lifestyle, education and feature sessions; and health and fitness classes.

Speakers include Maya Angelou; television icons Norman Lear, Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall, John Amos, and George Takei; TODAY Show host Al Roker; CNN personality Soledad O'Brien; AARP Ambassadors James Brown, Martina Navratilova, Peter Greenberg, Gail Sheehy, and Jonathan Pond; Irish tenor/paralympian/Renaissance man Ronan Tynan; fashion designer Carmen Marc Valvo; entrepreneur/philanthropist/Chief Shoe Giver for TOMS Shoes Blake Mycoskie; and the founding mother of breast cancer advocacy Dr. Susan Love; among others.

"People age 50+ want to enhance their daily lives and Vegas@50+ is one way AARP contributes to this need," said Jennie Chin Hansen, President of AARP. "Our members want to stay in good health, secure their finances, connect with others, give back to the community, and enjoy themselves. At this event, AARP gives its members a taste of all of this in one place."

Soledad O'Brien at the ALMA Awards

Soledad O'Brien arrives for the 2009 ALMA Awards
Photo taken at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Westwood, CA

NCLR (the National Council of La Raza) is the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. promoting the advancement of Latino families in this country, creating opportunities and opening doors. NCLR created the ALMA Awards in 1995 as part of its strategy to promote fair, accurate, and balanced portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry. The show was named “ALMA” (Spanish for “spirit”), which represents the determined spirit of the Latino people in an effort to reflect the spirit as well as the scope of the awards program.

32nd Congressional Hispanic Caucus Gala

At the 32nd Congressional Hispanic Caucus Gala, more than 2,000 celebrants filled the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month.

President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, joined in the celebration. "Todos somos Americanos" -- "we are all Americans," Obama said about the issues facing Hispanics.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was commended throughout the night by several speakers, including honoree Soledad O'Brien of CNN.

Marc Anthony, with wife Jennifer Lopez by his side, received the CHCI Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also in attendance were several prominent Hispanic leaders, including Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Soledad O'Brien at the ALMA Awards

CNN Reporter Soledad O'Brien arrives at the 2009 ALMA Awards held at Royce Hall at UCLA on September 17, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images North America)



CNN reporter Soledad O'Brien onstage at the 2009 ALMA Awards held at Royce Hall on September 17, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

(Photo by Robert Benson/Getty Images North America)

Soledad O'Brien in Cuba

Soledad O'Brien spent part of her birthday weekend in Cuba to broadcast from the "Concert for Peace" live in Havana on Sunday.

CNN's American Morning and CNN Newsroom will be covered the concert which took place in the Plaza de la Revolución. The concert created some controversy in the United States.

O'Brien interviewed Colombian music star Juanes who organized the concert, and Willy Chirino who will also be featured in her Latino in America documentary which airs in October.

Soledad's mother, Estella, is black of of Cuban heritage. She emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950's.

Happy Birthday, Soledad O'Brien

Today is the birthday of Soledad O'Brien. Soledad was born on September 19,1966 in Saint James, Long Island, New York.

She was christened Maria de la Soledad O'Brien. Her first name follows a Spanish tradition of naming a child for Our Lady of Solitude.

Her parents are a biracial couple. They met at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and married in 1959 when an interracial marriage was still illegal in some places, including Maryland.

Her father, Edward, was a mechanical engineering professor and was originally from Toowoomba, Australia.

Her mother, Estella, is black of Cuban heritage. She emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950's and was a teacher in New York City.

Soledad was raised in Smithtown, a small North Shore town on Long Island, New York. She attended Smithtown High School East and went on to graduate from Harvard.

Bio info from http://soledadobrien.info

O'Brien at Hofstra University September 24

CNN Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien and The Washington Post Columnist Eugene H. Robinson will discuss “Race, Diversity and a New America” at Hofstra University on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 3 p.m. in John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus. The discussion will be moderated by Acting Dean of Hofstra’s School of Communication Cliff Jernigan.

Soledad O’Brien is an anchor and special correspondent for CNN: Special Investigations Unit. Reporting hour-long documentaries throughout the year and filing in-depth series on the most important ongoing and breaking news stories for all major CNN programs.

"Define ’09: New Challenges, New Solutions" is a yearlong series of programs at Hofstra University designed to examine the new presidential administration, its policies and initiatives, the challenges we currently face and ways of addressing our country's most pressing issues. All Define '09 programs are free and open to the public.

Soledad O'Brien To Speak in Virginia

The Bristol Public Library’s 2009 Discovery Series concludes November 14 with CNN news anchor and correspondent Soledad O’Brien.

The Bristol Virginia/Tennessee library initiated the series last year under funding from the Noble Mission, a foundation created by the late Al Noble, a local philanthropist.

Soledad will appear at 1:30 p.m., Nov. 14 at Virginia Intermont College.

Soledad O'Brien to Appear at ALMA Awards

CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien is part of the all-star lineup of luninaries from the worlds of film, television, music and sports to appear athe The 2009 ALMA Awards.

According to an ABC press release, the award-winning artist Shakira will perform, and Salma Hayek, Oscar de la Hoya and the late Ricardo Montalban will be honored on "The 2009 ALMA Awards," to be telecast FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. The show will tape on Thursday, September 17 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

In addition to Shakira, other musical performances include David Archuleta, Nelly Furtado, Sean Kingston and Pitbull.

Among the highlights of the ceremony, "The 2009 ALMA Awards" will bestow special honors upon two Latino superstars, actor/producer Salma Hayek and boxer/philanthropist Oscar de la Hoya, as well as host a special tribute to the late Ricardo Montalban -- who passed away earlier this year -- led by Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Rita Moreno.

Celebrity appearances include Antonio Banderas, Jimmy Smits, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jake T. Austin, Benjamin Bratt, Jordana Brewster, JoAnna Garcia, Selena Gomez, Eva La Rue, Jesse Metcalfe, Enrique Murciano, Amaury Nolasco, Oscar Nunez, Dania Ramirez, Efren Ramirez, James Roday, Michelle Rodriguez, Adam Rodriguez, Roselyn Sanchez, Nadine Velazquez, Lauren Velez, Sofia Vergara, Kat Von D and Rainn Wilson.

"The 2009 ALMA Awards" will bring a new approach to this year's show. Television and film actress Eva Longoria Parker will share her hosting duties with comedian and actor George Lopez, in addition to reprising her role as one of the show's executive producers. This year the ALMA Awards will also update the format of the show with some modifications to the nominations process in an effort to be more inclusive of the broad array of talent throughout the industry.

The two-hour special is organized by The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. The annual ALMA (American Latino Media Arts) Awards recognize and celebrate Latino artistic achievement in the entertainment industry. The ALMA Awards was created by NCLR in 1995 as part of its strategy to promote the diverse, accurate and balanced portrayals of Latinos in the media and the enhancement of the Latino image in the entertainment industry. The show is an example of how inclusion strengthens the entertainment industry, just as diversity strengthens our country.

The show will focus on "Year in Review" categories in film, television and music. New categories have also been added to recognize the influence of special segments of the entertainment industry that are shaping positive perceptions of the Latino community, such as emerging young talent (under 18), talent behind the scenes who make the on-screen magic happen, and a sports category in acknowledgment of the increasing integration of the worlds of sports and entertainment.

"The 2009 ALMA Awards" production team includes executive producers Janet Murgua, Eva Longoria Parker, David Chavez, Bob Bain and director Michael Dempsey.

"The 2009 ALMA Awards" is broadcast with Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning.

CNN's Latino in America

Latino In America, hosted by CNN personality and Black In America host Soledad O’Brien, will focus on the growing U.S. Hispanic population and the pertinent issues that face the community.

According to Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer for CNN Productions, “The In America brand strand gives us the opportunity to look at groups of people in America that have been misreported or in some cases neglected by the media. We found out with Black In America that many people who watched were not only black but Hispanic as well. This is the fastest-growing minority group in America today, but we don’t understand how really diverse this group is. The show focuses on how Latinos are changing America and how America is changing Latinos.”

The first part of the series will explore the lives of people across the country who share the surname “Garcia,” the eighth most popular family name in America. The second part focuses on how four different communities are meeting the challenges of disparities, immigration and discrimination in terms of language, education, citizenship, and cultural identity.

Celebrities such as Edward James Olmos, Eva Longoria Parker, Jesse Garcia and Lupe Ontiveros will also be featured in the documentary.

The documentary will debut in October and CNN also plans to create a Spanish-language version of Latino In America.

Soledad O'Brien at the 2009 Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City.

The Rumor Mill: Soledad in the Morning?

From medialifemagazine.com comes this latest Soledad O'Brien rumor:

"So what about mornings?

That’s really the big question going forward, now that ABC News has anointed longtime “Good Morning America” co-host Diane Sawyer the successor to “World News” anchor Charles Gibson.

The key will be finding someone who can complement “GMA’s” remaining co-anchors, Robin Roberts and Chris Cuomo. Like Sawyer and Gibson, the two had hard news reporting backgrounds before joining “GMA, Roberts on ESPN and Cuomo on “Primetime.”

Despite the nature of morning news, which means giving interviews with politicians and presidents equal weight as those with reality stars and celebrities, Sawyer and Gibson always insisted on focusing on hard news.

Sawyer famously lamented the state of celebrity culture when, during a 1995 interview with surprise newlyweds Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson, she prefaced a question about their sex life by saying, “I didn’t spend my life as a serious journalist to ask these kinds of questions.”

If ABC wants to stay true to that ethos, it may consider bringing in Elizabeth Vargas, who briefly co-anchored “World News” with Bob Woodruff in 2006.

Other hard-news veterans with enough personality to pull off morning silliness include two who were named as Couric’s potential replacements, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and NBC’s Natalie Morales."

Soledad in her NBC Today days...

and co-anchoring CNN's American Morning

Soledad O'Brien

2009

O'Brien Moderates Panel at NY International Latino Film Festival

The 10th New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) Panel Discussion "HBO and CNN Present: A Conversation With..." was held at HBO Manhattan headquarters, on August 1, 2009.

The all-star panelists included actors Luiz Guzman, Rosie Perez and Lauren Velez and was moderated by CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien.

Perez, O'Brien, NYILFF executive director Elizabeth Gardner, Guzman, Velez.

The panel discussed networking techniques in the film industry, Latino identity, past, and current projects. Artists, filmmakers, producers, digital recording artists, actors, industry executives, and friends of NYILFF attended the session.



CNN and CNN en Español presents "Latino in America," reported by anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien. The two-part, two-hour documentary series will air on Wednesday, October 21, and Thursday, October 22, at 9:00 pm ET and 12:00 am PT.