Soledad O'Brien Speaks at African American Leadership Conference

Journalist Soledad O’Brien spoke to an audience of 500 business and civic leaders on October 13, 2016 at the annual African American Leadership Conference.

Offering networking and career advancement advice from local business executives and civic leaders, the eventis is in its fifth year and is presented by the Empowerment Network.

O’Brien told participants that growing up “biracial in a not very diverse” community “made me curious about digging into conversations about race” and informed her longtime journalism career. "You can’t reach people if you’re not open to talking about difficult issues.” she said.

She also offered young professionals advice about on-the-job role models and mentors.

“I often tell people you don’t need a formal mentoring relationship,” she said. Instead, “look at the leaders in the room. You need to be scanning them. Take note of what they’re wearing, even what time they arrive at the office, and then follow their example."


Source: omaha.com

Did Soledad O’Brien "School" CBS host Bob Schieffer?

The headline reads "Soledad O’Brien schools CBS host: Black protesters deserve to ‘survive an interaction with police’" and goes on to describe how Soledad tried to explain to Schieffer that the protests over law enforcement “criminalizing” black communities were about much more than the recent deaths of black men in Missouri and New York.

“Anybody who thinks that what is happening right now [with the protests across the country] is only about Eric Garner, is only about Michael Brown is really missing what is happening in black America,” she pointed out. “African-Americans feel that they are treated differently in the criminal justice system, they are treated differently under the law.”

“There is this aggressive targeting of black people,” O’Brien added. “That doesn’t happen in white communities, and it’s that anger over so many years that is really percolating up now.”

In her recent CNN documentary Black in America: Black and Blue, she found that 90 percent of the 5 million stop-and-frisk stops in New York City never resulted in arrests.

“Those people had done nothing,” she explained. “So 90 percent of the blacks and Latinos that were stopped in stop-and-frisks in New York City didn’t do anything. Imagine what that does psychically to a culture if you ‘fit the description,’ which means you’re black, male, 19 to 25.”

“I think the challenge is that it’s not being applied proportionally,” O’Brien declared. “For example, if you are arresting and stopping people where many of them haven’t done anything, you create a culture in that community — even a high-crime community — where people feel like they are being criminalized, even those — as we saw in our documentary — who haven’t done anything.”

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A Conversation with Soledad O'Brien & Callie Crossley

A conversation with Soledad O'Brien & Callie Crossley will occur on Thursday, May 02, 2013 at 6:00pm EDT at Harvard University.

Soledad O'Brien, Award-winning broadcast journalist and Harvard College ’88 and Callie Crossley, host of  Under the Radar on WGBH-FM and Institute of Harvard Politics Resident Fellow (2002) will discuss the media and African-American issues at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

You can also watch this event online at http://forum.iop.harvard.edu/content/conversation-soledad-obrien-callie-crossley at the scheduled date and time.

The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics is Harvard University’s premier arena for political speech, discussion and debate. Located at the heart of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Forum regularly hosts heads of state; leaders in politics, government, business, labor and the media; academics; community organizers; and artists.

Soledad O’Brien To Speak at Washington University in St. Louis April 5

April 5th will find Soledad O’Brien speaking at Washington University in St. Louis as part of their Assembly Series.

The CNN news anchor talk is sponsored by The Association of Black Students, which is sponsoring the lecture as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.

O’Brien’s recent book, The Next Big Story: My Journey through the Land of Possibilities, discusses her own mixed racial identity. The daughter of a black Cuban and a white Australian, she considers herself Latina, Black and Irish.

O’Brien, who anchors CNN's “In America” documentary series on the challenges of living in America for members of various groups, will speak on segregation in the 21st century and hold a question-and-answer session.

Two installments of the “In America” series focus on the struggles and experiences of black people in America. The National Association of Black Journalists named O’Brien Journalist of the Year for 2010, and the NAACP awarded her its President’s Award in 2007.

Her reporting has also focused on humanitarian concerns in her extensive coverage from Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.

"Pictures Don't Lie" on CNN

Watch a video trailer for Soledad O'Brien's next CNN documentary. It's about Ernest Withers, the controversial civil rights photographer turned FBI informant.

"Pictures Don't Lie" will air Sunday, Feb 20 at 8pm EST.

Not Black Enough?

There have been several posts online the past week about an encounter Soledad O’Brien had with Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In an interview she had with Jackson, he challenged her “Blackness.” O'Brien lists in her bios that she identifies herself as a Black woman. She is biracil with her mother being of Afro-Cuban descent and her father being Irish.

Her career and work at CNN, especially in the past five years, has led her to be an advocate for Black and Latino people.

The encounter with Jackson in recounted in her new book The Next Big Story which was published this month.

Even though I am not sure what he [Jesse Jackson] is saying, I can tell he is angry. Today he is angry because CNN doesn’t have enough black anchors.

I interrupt to remind him, “I’m the anchor of American Morning”. He knows that. He looks me in the eye and reaches his fingers over to tap a spot of skin on my right had. He shakes his head. “You don’t count,” he says. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I don’t count — what? I’m not black? I’m not black enough? Or my show doesn’t count?

I was both angry and embarrassed, which rarely happens at the same time for me. Jesse Jackson managed to make me ashamed of my skin color which even white people had never been able to do.

I am immediately upset and annoyed and the even more annoyed that I am upset and pissed off. If Reverend Jesse Jackson didn’t think I was black enough, then what was I? My parents had so banged racial identity into my head that the thoughts of racial doubt never crossed my mind. I’d suffered an Afro through the heat of elementary school. I’d certainly never felt white. I thought my version of black was as valid as anybody else’s. I was a product of my parents (black woman, white man) my town (mostly white), multiracial to be sure, but not black? I felt like the foundation I’d built my life on was being denied, as if someone was telling me my parents aren’t my parents.

Soledad and Dr. Sanjay Gupta at LFA Awards (2009)

National LFA spokesperson Mercedes Yvette with honoree Dr. Sanjay Gupta and
Soledad O'Brien of CNN (2009) at the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) annual awards dinner,
May 2009 in Washington, D.C. 

The event celebrated and honored survivors, advocates and champions of lupus research and awareness, including those living with the disease, such as Mercedes Yvette, 2004 runner up on America’s Next Top Model.

Soledad O'Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent, served as the master of ceremonies for the gala, whose honorees included her CNN colleague Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN who received the Leadership in National Health Education Award.

The foundation also launched a new public awareness campaign directed towards women most at risk for developing the autoimmune disease – young women of childbearing age with a special focus on minority women, particularly African American, Latino, Asian and Native Americans.

NOLA Rising Documentary on CNN

CNN and Soledad O'Brien keep the spotlight on the city of New Orleans and its path to recovery post-Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Rising is an in-depth look at the rebuilding efforts of the residents of Pontchartrain Park which was a pioneering middle-class community that saw some of the city’s first African-American homeowners.

Watch the trailer for New Orleans Rising 

Soledad Starts Off U of the Pacific's Black History Month Events

Soledad O'Brien helped the University of the Pacific start its official Black History Month events on February 3rd by speaking and answering questions during an appearance on the Stockton campus.
“One gets to talk about black history, and when you talk about Black History Month now people want to know what's happening in Haiti, too. It reminds me about our history.”

O'Brien, who recently returned from covering Haiti's earthquake tragedy for CNN, also spent a year producing a 2009 documentary — “CNN Presents: Black in America” — that resonates appropriately with “Our Story,” the theme of Pacific's 12th Black History Month program.

“I really sort of think about Black History Month as a living, breathing element,” said O'Brien, 43, in a phone interview from her CNN office in New York on Tuesday. “Lots of stories continue to revolve around people of color. The country's minorities now will be a majority no sooner than 2050.”

http://www.recordnet.com

SoledadOBrien.info

Soledad To Receive the Brotherhood Crusade Award

Soledad O'Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent will receive the Brotherhood Crusade Pioneer of African American Achievement Award for her humanitarian efforts, Friday, November 6, 2009 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event is hosted by NBC anchor Chris Schauble.



Each year one individual is selected that best exemplifies the spirit of Brotherhood Crusade founder, Walter Bremond. Ms. O’Brien has been selected for her leadership, humanitarian efforts and highlighting the contributions of people of color to the world at large.

The Brotherhood Crusade is a non-profit institution that provides necessary resources, supportive services and a voice for advocacy to traditionally underserved communities. The Brotherhood Crusade supports families and individuals by promoting health and wellness, providing and enhancing educational opportunities, cultivating economic growth and building community agencies and institutions.

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BIA2 Reclaiming The Dream

Tonight 8PM ET, CNN
Soledad O'Brien leads a panel with some of the most influential African-American voices to examine unique and innovative solutions to critical issues facing black Americans. CNN and Essence present "Black in America: Reclaiming the Dream."

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/black.in.america/

CNN’s Black in America 2 Debuts Today

CNN’s Black in America series returns to television this week with part 2.

The series investigates some significant and challenging issues facing African-Americans.

Soledad O’Brien, returns to host this second installment, which focuses on emerging leaders, innovative community programs and business ventures that are addressing poignant issues and disparities facing African-Americans.

“Today’s Pioneers” debuts July 22 (after Presidential address)

“Tomorrow’s Leaders,” July 23

Soledad O'Brien To Receive McDonald’s 365Black Awards

CNN journalist Soledad O’Brien is among a list of luminaries, including House Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves, being honored at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans on July 3 as part of the McDonald’s 365Black Awards, which recognize landmark contributions to improve the lives of black Americans nationwide.

O’Brien is being honored for her in-depth reporting during live coverage in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and several significant broadcasts on the news network, including the special series, "CNN Presents: Black in America," which focused on the state of black America 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the time the series ran, O’Brien told a reporter she was glad to see the subject of race get mainstream media treatment.

“It’s refreshing to see a mainstream news organization attempt to tell in-depth stories about the black experience. Personally, I wish that we were at a point when we wouldn’t have to look at things in black and white, but that is the unavoidable reality, and many more conversations most certainly need to take place to help American heal from its brutal legacy.”

O’Brien also reported and anchored "Words That Changed a Nation," a CNN documentary about King’s private writings and notes, as well as "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination," a reexamination of the investigation of King’s assassination. In addition, O’Brien’s "Children of the Storm" and "One Crime at a Time" demonstrated her continued commitment to covering stories out of New Orleans.

In 2008, O'Brien was the first recipient of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Goodermote Humanitarian Award for her efforts while reporting on the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asia tsunami.

In July, O’Brien will report and anchor "Black in America 2," which will examine how African-Americans are getting creative to improve the black experience, from urban farming to a journey for a group of 30 Brooklyn teenagers from the struggling Bushwick neighborhood to work with impoverished and orphaned children in South Africa.

“A More Perfect Union” Emceed by Soledad O’Brien

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to call for a renewed commitment to diversity in today’s challenging economic climate.

Ballmer’s remarks were in conjunction with the 10th Annual A. Leon Higginbotham Award Dinner in New York, commemorating the 45th anniversary of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. Microsoft was recognized for excellence in diversity and pro bono efforts during the June 3rd gala, “A More Perfect Union”, emceed by Soledad O’Brien, anchor and special correspondent, CNN Worldwide.

“Diversity is critical to the success of our economy and to the advancement of our society. Workplaces that welcome different experiences, perspectives and capabilities and foster talent and creativity can be great engines of innovation – which is needed now, more than ever,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.

The prestigious Higginbotham award is named in memory of Chief Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., a civil rights advocate, author and federal appeals court judge. Mr. Higginbotham was the first African American judge to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Pennsylvania. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995. His countless achievements include appointment by President Kennedy as the first African American to serve on the Federal Trade Commission and authoring the acclaimed, “In the Matter of Color: Race and the American Legal Process, A Study of the Treatment of Race in the Colonial American Legal System.”

The award is being presented at a time when the economic climate is having an impact on diversity initiatives in many areas, including the legal profession. Recently, the National Law Journal reported that a survey of 94 leading law firms, conducted by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), revealed that 25% of the firms polled expected to cut diversity initiative funding in 2009.

Source: prdomain.com

CNN Partners With Essence Magazine

CNN, HLN, CNN.com and Essence Communications, Inc., have announced a partnership to develop What Matters, a series of weekly news segments focused on issues of importance to the African-American community.

The segments will be an extension of the regular news items and features in ESSENCE magazine, as well as the ongoing multicultural programming on CNN.

What Matters is sponsored by McDonald's, who is also the presenting sponsor of CNN's Black in America 2, the sequel series to 2008's groundbreaking initiative. Reported by CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien, Black in America 2 reveals the stories of community leaders and innovative pioneers who are creating solutions to challenges within African-American communities -- closing achievement gaps in education, reducing health disparities, and launching business enterprises.

The two primetime documentaries for the series premiere on Wednesday, July 22, and Thursday, July 23.

The 2009 co-production with Essence Communications, CNN & Essence: Reclaiming the Dream 2, will be filmed on July 4 at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

New Black in America Documentaries

Black in America: Today’s Pioneers and Black in America: Tomorrow’s Leaders, two new documentaries from CNN will debut in July 2009. The programs will focus on successful innovators who are working to make improvements within African-American communities and around the country.

The original 2008 documentary Black in America, was reported by anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien. Nearly 13 million cumulative viewers saw the original series.

The new installments of the series are currently in production. Black in America is produced by CNN Productions, and filmed in high definition.

CNN Announces Sequel to "Black in America" Documentary

After the success and praise for their 2008 documentary Black in America, CNN announced plans to continue the probing series with a three-part television event to debut in July 2009.

That sequel will focus on successful innovators who are working to make improvements within African American communities and around the country.

Production has begun on the 2009 documentaries and was announced to coincide with a CNN rebroadcast of the 2008 series reported by anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien.

Nearly 13 million cumulative viewers saw the original series, which included a co-production with Essence magazine and Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination.

“As the new president plans his first national address before both houses of Congress, CNN is already deeply engaged in reporting and providing analysis of how the new policies and leadership will specifically impact the lives of everyday African Americans – as only CNN can do,” said Jon Klein, president CNN/U.S.

After a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360º on Feb. 26, following the re-broadcast of Black in America: The Black Man, Cooper and O’Brien discussed the impact of the new administration’s challenge to outdated racial paradigms, and how the new leadership and policies are being received by African Americans in particular.

They looked at “Journey for Change,” a program that engages economically disadvantaged youth, offering them opportunities to see the world, develop self-confidence and motivate them to pursue their goals.

O’Brien traveled to South Africa with Malaak Compton-Rock, humanitarian and wife of entertainer Chris Rock, and 30 young people from Brooklyn as part of a cultural exchange program. The goal of the exchange is to inspire the young participants to re-examine their life situations and engage in programs that benefit their home communities.

Cooper and O’Brien will also explore the successful strategies of Steve Perry, principal and founder of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn. Perry, an author and counselor to prominent politicians, prepares young people for college with “tough love” aimed at students, their parents, and teachers.

Soledad Named One of the "20 Modern History Makers"

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, UPSCALE Magazine's February 2009 issue unveiled the list of 20 modern history makers who have worked to create a better tomorrow for the world and who have raised the bar with their legendary accomplishments.

Their list of "20 Modern History Makers", includes President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, CNN Anchor Soledad O'Brien and 17 others. The top 20 listing showcases a cross section of national and global achievers in politics, medicine, media and business.

"Filling the shoes of legendary civil rights icons like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks is no easy feat. Along with other contemporaries, they helped pave the way for many of the changes and rights that we now enjoy. Historic events continue to unfold before our eyes," said Tamara Crockett of UPSCALE Magazine. The magazine was founded in 1989 by Bronner Bros. Enterprise and is a lifestyle magazine for savvy, trendy and successful African-Americans.

"From Lincoln to Obama" Hosted By Soledad O'Brien on CNN

CNN's "From Lincoln to Obama," anchored by Soledad O'Brien, will air 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, February 12.

According to network news release, the special is "a network-wide look at the bridge between the times of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama on the bicentennial celebration of Lincoln's birth."

CNN will also be reporting live about Obama's visit to Lincoln's home in Springfield and Obama's speech at about 8:45 p.m.

PBS Will Air "An Evening with Richard Parsons" in February

The life and career of Richard D. Parsons, the Chairman of the Board of Time Warner Inc., was recently honored by "The HistoryMakers" PBS-TV celebrity series, "An Evening With Richard Parsons."

Richard Parsons is considered to be one of the most respected African American executives in the country. The interview was taped in front of a live studio audience at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

During the one-on-one interview, CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien took Parsons through an exclusive discussion of his life and career. Acclaimed journalist Juan Williams served as Master of Ceremonies. The PBS special will air starting in February 2009 nationally on PBS-TV.

"There are few things more important than cataloging our history, sharing our stories, inspiring our youth and paving the way for future successes," said Mr. Parsons. "I'm honored to join so many great history makers and humbled to be considered one of their number. I trust that contributing to 'The HistoryMakers' will help build and protect our vital historical and educational archive."

"Richard Parsons is one of the most significant people in today's business world. His background and his story are remarkable and we are so very pleased that he agreed to allow us to feature him. We are also delighted that Soledad O'Brien did such a great interview," says Julieanna Richardson, Founder & Executive Director, "The HistoryMakers."