PowHerful

Soledad O'Brien started her Starfish Media Group as a way to control the kinds of projects she could work on as a journalist.

She was inspired by an Evangelical story:

Countless starfish have washed ashore on a beach and are dying off. A little boy is picking them up and tossing them back into the ocean in the hope they’ll survive. A man walks by and asks him why he’s doing something so futile.
“There are hundreds,” he points out. “What difference will it make?”
The boy picks up another starfish, throws it into the sea and says: “It will make a difference to that one.”

And so she created the Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation with her husband in 2011 in order to provide funds and resources for student scholars with the idea that helping one young woman can cause a ripple effect throughout her family, friends, and community - transform lives, one girl at a time.

Then, her PowHERful Foundation Summit Series began in 2012 in New York City as an annual, free daylong conference for high school- and college-aged young women focusing on educational, professional, and personal development.

In 2017, the Starfish Foundation became the PowHERful Foundation to better reflect the empowerment message they want to provide young women all across the country opportunities.

Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation Receives Funding Boost From CoverGirl #GirlsCan

CoverGirl has a new campaign that will donate a minimum of $5 million over the next five years to support the work of individuals and non-profit organizations that are helping women break barriers and blaze trails.

The first #GirlsCan beneficiaries are Girls Who Code and the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation. The Starfish Foundation was created to get young women onto the road toward their dreams with programs and initiatives.

The Foundation gives financial support, but also works on life skills, career readiness, and network building through mentor relationships.

“I’ve dedicated my career to uncovering the often divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity among women in America,” said O’Brien, creator of her eponymous foundation.

“Getting an education – especially when you can’t see a role model or representation of success in your chosen career path when you look around you – can be revolutionary in the life and future of a girl, and all the girls who come after her. It’s an honor to partner with COVERGIRL’s #GirlsCan program to take my passion and philanthropy to the next level.”

Earlier this year CoverGirl kicked off  the #GirlsCan campaign to help young women break into fields and industries that are still lacking in diversity. The program itself was kick-started featuring COVERGIRLs Queen Latifah, Ellen DeGeneres, P!nk, Sofia Vergara, Becky G, Katy Perry and Janelle Monáe.

Read more at http://theslanted.com/

Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation

The stated goal of the Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation is to provide young women with a bridge between obstacles and opportunity, giving them the experiences, education and resources to overcome unexpected barriers to success. 

During Soledad's career as a reporter and special correspondent for CNN, she mentored hundreds of girls in journalism, believing in the importance of passing on her own knowledge and teaching others that they too can succeed. 

"This foundation is a natural evolution of that", says her husband, Brad Raymond. Soledad's best friend, Kim Bondy, who is on the board of the Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation, called Soledad several years ago and told her there was a girl named Alexia, in New Orleans, who needed a scholarship. "Kids in New Orleans had a lot of needs, and they just needed opportunities, and needed chances, and so we said yes," said Soledad. Soledad and Brad immediately decided they would help Alexia. This initial scholarship has grown into over 10 scholarships for young girls across the United States to complete their educational pursuits.

Watch a video on how the Foundation began.

http://obrienraymondfoundation.com/

Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation Inaugural Fundraiser

On August 12th, the Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation held its Inaugural Fundraiser, "New Orleans In the Hamptons", at a private residence in Bridgehampton, NY.

The Soledad O’Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation is dedicated to giving gifted young women new opportunities for achievement by supplying them with the tools they need to ensure a brighter future.

Read more about the Foundation at globalgrind.com

Star Jones, Pharrell Williams, Soledad O'Brien

Soledad and husband, Brad Raymond

Russell Simmons, Cicely Tyson, Soledad O'Brien, Melissa George

Photo Credit: Joe Schildhorn http://www.bfanyc.com/home/event/1594

Soledad O’Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation Provides Help To Young Women

This month, CNN special correspondent Soledad O’Brien hosted a private reception to introduce the foundation she established with her husband, Brad Raymond.

The event, at a private residence in Atlanta, is a precursor to the foundation’s major fundraiser next month in Bridgehampton, New York.

Among the attendees, CNN executives Susan Grant, Janelle Rodriguez, and Janet Rolle, Ambassador Andrew Young, jazz artist Irvin Mayfield, and hip-hop artist Ludacris.

The stated goal of the Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation is “to provide young women with a bridge between obstacles and opportunity, giving them the experiences, education and resources to overcome unexpected barriers to success.”

CNN’s Don Lemon, Soledad O’Brien and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell
at a reception for the Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation

The Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Family Foundation

Activist Malaak Compton Rock, Studio Museum of Harlem director Thelma Golden, educator Steve Perry, actor Anthony Mackie and businesswoman Crystal Anthony-McCrary were a few of the friends who came to a private dinner in honor of CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien's education foundation, The Soledad O'Brien and Brad Raymond Family Foundation.

Education is something O'Brien and her husband Brad place at the forefront of their philanthropic work.

They started their foundation shortly after hearing of a young Hurricane Katrina survivor who needed help paying for school.

"My friend Kim said to me: 'I have a young woman who needs a scholarship and you need to pay for it,'" says O'Brien. "I told my husband and he said, 'We should do it. We've been talking about giving back.'"

"The reason we decided to start a foundation was because in a lot of the travels that I was doing and a lot of the stories I was working on, I'd meet incredible people, usually young people, who were this close [indicates an inch's length with her thumb and forefinger] to realizing their dream. Sometimes they just couldn't fund their education. Sometimes they just couldn't pay for day care so they could finish high school. And we realized there was such great need, and I had a good opportunity to meet people, and this was a really good way to underwrite some of the projects that we were really personally committed to." (j-archive.com)

The Foundation has funded the education of students across the country. "I pick people who are sure bets," says O'Brien, proud of her students. "I come in at the point where they've done all these things and I just help them over a rough spot. And we don't give a lot. I don't write checks for $100K. I write tiny little checks."

Read more at essence.com