An award-winning broadcast journalist and long-time CNN correspondent, Soledad O’Brien has made a name for herself through hard-hitting documentaries and deeply personal memoirs that touch on some of the most important issues and events of our time. Whether it is the state of education, race relations, or the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, O’Brien is a master storyteller who shows viewers how many of these disparate issues intersect.
One of six children born to immigrant parents -- her father is of Irish descent from Australia and her mother is Afro-Cuban -- O’Brien grew up with a strong work ethic and love of learning.
O’Brien is a general speaker at NSBA’s 2012 Annual Conference in Boston. Between filming segments and covering breaking news, O’Brien took time out of her busy schedule to speak with ASBJ Senior Editor Naomi Dillon.
What was one of the most memorable interviews you ever had?
That’s such a tough question. In some ways, it was Jim Carrey when I was on the “Today Show.” We had this big picture window behind the set and he would talk to the people at the window who came to watch. It was fun, he was hilarious, and I got to play the straight man. And then, a lot of our reporting during Hurricane Katrina was really important because we were educating the nation about what was happening. We were really letting people at the highest levels [of government] see what was happening on the ground in New Orleans. I’ve had such a long career now, I’ve had some really great opportunities to really do important stories and then just silly, crazy, ridiculous fun stories.
What do you like the most about your job?
It’s the opportunity to really understand in-depth someone’s life and their experiences. I love that. I love sort of dipping in and trying to really understand their motivation, why they did what they did? What happened? I’m always really fascinated by motivation.
Let’s talk about race. It’s played a prominent role in your life.
It was very formative to my childhood. I grew up as a black girl in an all-white community in Long Island. Luckily I had a big family. We all supported each other and I had friends. But every so often you’re made to feel like “Oh, you’re not one of us.” And then certainly when it came to work in terms of the stories that I ended up telling in the documentaries, I like having the opportunity to tell stories about people who are different ... and maybe it all comes back to motivation. What goes into making people who they are? Sometimes that’s race, sometimes that’s how they were raised, sometimes that’s values.
Census figures show we are becoming an increasingly multiracial society and we have a sitting president who is multiracial. How do you think this blending of cultures is changing the dialogue on race?
It’s more in the forefront. It also makes you have to have conversations that are much more real. We’re not foreigners in a foreign land. We’re the people you run into every day.
Tell us about your documentary “Don’t Fail Me: Education in America.”
Oh, I love that documentary. It was about a bunch of kids from different parts of the country who were trying to compete in a robotics competition. But ultimately it was about the quality of education in the United States today. And we were able to tackle both of those things, since we had an hour, and see what makes a good education. What parts the country have access to that, what are the different rules, and how does each community have a different standard that applies? And even what culturally are some of the challenges for students?
What did you discover from doing that project?
In every documentary, the lessons are always what we want it to be. If we decide we’re going to invest in education, then here’s a great opportunity. Using robotics to teach kids math and science is very practical, and we saw it was successful. On the other hand, we also saw that having different standards across the country is a real challenge.
To take the title from your most recent book, what’s the next big story?
The election is a big story, and, of course, with the election, many questions will be asked about how does the country invest in education. But for me the next big story is about what’s breaking now. So it depends. Tomorrow when something happens, I’ll be on a plane to go cover it. That’s what I love about my job.