What does it take to get to the top — without losing your center? Our “Making It Work” series profiles successful, dynamic women who are standouts in their fields, peeling back the “hows” of their work and their life, taking away lessons we can all apply to our own.
Soledad O’Brien has a lot going on.
She’s the CEO of the Starfish Media Group, a production company and distributor she founded in 2013 with a focus on “life’s untold stories.” Alongside her work there, she’s reporting for HBO’s “Real Sports” and Al Jazeera America and producing her two documentary series, “Black In America” and “Latino in America.” Oh, and she’s raising four kids, too.
The 48-year-old broadcast journalist started her career in 1987 as an associate producer and news writer at WBZ-TV in Boston — and she’s come a long way since. She’s co-anchored NBC’s “Weekend Today” and CNN’s “American Morning,” and anchored CNN’s “Starting Point.” She’s won awards for her coverage of events ranging from Hurricane Katrina to the Haiti earthquake to the 2012 elections. And in 2011, O’Brien and her husband Brad Raymond started the Starfish Foundation, which helps send young women to college.
–
As a new CEO, I have found that very true. I have never had a single person who I called up and said “listen, can I pick your brain about something that I’m working on,” never once has someone said “yeah, you know what, no.” And I think the same is true for the young women that I mentor, and the young women in our foundation. When they go up to someone and say, “I am stuck on a thing, can you help me figure this out?,” they always get support. They always get help. Not just from the people who are mentoring them, but from random people who are happy to take a moment to try to help them be successful. The world is really full of those people.
Women have to open themselves to saying, “I am not perfect. I am not flawless. I am going to get help, and I am going to get better.” That is a really good first step. And really trying to decide what kind of opportunities exist, and advocating for them. The whole argument about likeablilty. It matters, but at my age, you get to the point where you’re like “eh, screw it.” I’m too old. I don’t care anymore. You get to a point where you’re like, “I don’t care if you like me. You just need to think that I’m good.” And that’s a very freeing thing. I just want to be good. I want to be clear, I want to be straightforward, I want to be respected, I want to have good quality work — I don’t give a sh*t if anybody likes me. I don’t need to go and be their best friend. When I got to that point, it was really a great moment.
The last thing I wanted to talk about was your involvement with CoverGirl’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign.
I’ve been working on a project for them that should be launching very soon. They sent us out to go and do documentaries — find young, amazing women who are overcoming challenges. The greatest assignment ever. When you invest in women, you can change communities. Literally.
