A Conversation with Soledad O'Brien - Part One

A very special "Buzz" edition ...

Last Monday afternoon (11/19/07), I had the privilege of being able to conduct a telephone interview with Soledad O’Brien! As I mentioned the following day, I am especially appreciative that she could spare some time on what was obviously a busy travel day for her!

Admittedly, Soledad has granted a number of interviews during her prestigious career, so there is already much information available in the ‘public domain’. Some background information may sound routine, but there’ll be a number of new insights along the way, so starting at the beginning:

Maria de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien was born on September 19, 1966 to a mother (Estella) of Afro-Cuban heritage and an Irish-Australian father (Edward). Both of her parents were immigrants and met at John Hopkins University in Maryland, circa 1958. They married one year later in Washington, DC – as inter-racial marriage was still illegal in Maryland at that time. Soledad grew up in Smithtown, a small North Shore community on Long Island, NY – and graduated from Smithtown High School East.

Soledad is the fifth of six children – all of whom are Harvard graduates. Although there isn’t an ‘O’Brien Library’ on campus, she’s joked in the past that after six tuitions, there should be! Her three older sisters include a law professor, a corporate attorney and an eye surgeon; her older brother heads up a documents company and her younger brother is an anesthesiologist.

Our first conversation topic was about how and why she moved into journalism, when she started out attending Harvard with thoughts of becoming a doctor. Soledad explained that while taking a chemistry class, she finally realized that she just didn’t have a ‘passion’ for science and probably wouldn’t be a very good doctor. Note: the word ‘passion’ will probably be one of the most frequently used words in this recap, because there weren’t many subjects that Soledad wasn’t passionate about!

In her quest to discover a career that she could fully embrace, and also encompass her love of literature and writing, Soledad accepted an internship at WBZ-TV in Boston. As she explained to me: “I loved it immediately and knew this is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to pursue. It didn’t matter what I did – run errands, get coffee – I would do anything no matter what (or how little) it paid.”

Soledad’s willingness to always work hard and continue learning from many different mentors along the way helped propel her career forward at an accelerated pace, resulting in her working for NBC News in New York City in 1991. In 1993, she moved to San Francisco and joined KRON, while also co-hosting “The Know Zone” for the Discovery Channel.

When MSNBC was launched in 1996, Soledad used her experience from "The Know Zone" to convince her bosses at the new network to allow her to host an hour-long broadcast called “The Site”, focusing on technology and the ‘newly’ popular Internet. (My, my, my – how time flies!) This was the show that brought Soledad national recognition and fame, and became the catalyst for all of the continued success and increased visibility that followed. During her remaining years at NBC, Soledad anchored “Morning Blend” on MSNBC and “Weekend Today” on NBC, while also reporting for Nightly News and Dateline. Some major stories that she reported on included on-location coverage of Pope John Paul’s historic visit to Cuba in 1998, the accidental death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in 1999, and the 9/11 attacks from Ground Zero.





In July 2003, Soledad accepted an offer from CNN to co-anchor “American Morning”, along with Bill Hemmer. During her almost four years in that position, Soledad has covered even more of the major news stories that have occurred – the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the London terrorism attacks. She is currently a special correspondent for CNN: Special Investigations Unit and serves as a substitute anchor for Anderson Cooper 360°, as well as continuing to provide in-depth reports on major news stories. When I asked Soledad if she preferred anchoring over reporting, she replied that while anchoring provides a certain amount of stability to help keep a routine intact for her children, she still loves to travel and meet new people – and reporting allows for more of that. But she added that at CNN, she can still easily do both, and enjoys that flexibility.





In the beginning, I mentioned the word “passion” and the frequency of its use. No where during our conversation was that more apparent than when I asked Soledad about New Orleans. Her voice becomes more forceful (though still friendly) and her words quicken. Her best friend (and her oldest daughter’s godmother) lives in NOLA, so she still visits the city – even more frequently since Katrina. Soledad’s first story about the actual ‘on-the-ground’ conditions still found there starts with her friend’s stolen bathtub. Which is funny, from one perspective, and seriously exasperating from another perspective. “Who steals a bathtub”, I ask? Her reply is that kind of theft is all-too-common – because of the continuing lack of police personnel to provide the level of enforcement needed.

Soledad also shared a recent conversation that she had with a sheriff from St Bernard Parish; there had been a bad car accident in an intersection and a baby sustained serious head injuries. But the closest (OPEN) hospital is 45 minutes away. (Remember all of the 360° reports about the lack of hospitals that have re-opened since Katrina??) The baby didn’t survive the trip.

Soledad’s ‘passion’ for fairness and justice heightens when she talks about the fact that even middle class NOLA residents who are making valiant efforts to return can’t find housing, can’t rebuild because they aren’t being offered insurance settlements that come close to their home’s market value, and to make matters worse - are having to wait far too long for this devastating news. And for the most part, these are individuals who have the knowledge and resources to attempt to ‘navigate’ through governmental red tape. Soledad worries “What about the poor residents who don’t already have this advantage? Who is helping them?” She’s frustrated that ‘financial fixes’ are funneling in to the area much too slowly and many times are much too meager to qualify as ‘fair and equitable’.

So when I asked Soledad what she believes are the most urgent challenges facing New Orleans, it’s no surprise that she cites “health care” as first on the list. She specifically mentions mental health care, and we briefly discuss the dramatic and tragic rise in suicide rates. She makes a point of emphasizing that people are angry – in part because there remains a feeling that no one who would ‘normally’ be responsible for large-scale, long-term solutions, seems to care. Soledad also emphasizes that the rebuilding and recovery progress made to date has been due in large part to individuals banding together with charities, churches and students to forge ahead, in spite of the continuing lack of pro-active governmental support.





Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Part One of “A Conversation with Soledad O’Brien”. Tomorrow, we’ll find out more about Soledad’s Special Investigation Unit reports, Presidential Politics, the role of religion and faith, her interview “wish list”, her best memories of David Bloom and whether or not she’ll be writing a memoir! Thanks for visiting and stay tuned!!