Soledad with her parents, Estela and Edward.
O’Brien has reported on widespread use of unregulated muscle-building
supplements taken by American troops; an inspiring summer camp for blind children;
an innovative fight club for war veterans suffering from PTSD; the heroin epidemic
among young athletes; a Pinball wizard with autism; the explosive growth of the video
gaming industry and much more.
“If there is a story that everyone else is doing, we literally run the other
direction,” O’Brien explains. “We get to tell these stories beautifully in 60 minutes.
That’s a lifetime on TV.”
She says the idea is to tell the stories of people who wouldn’t get much air
time otherwise.
“And let them tell their story. It feels like I’ve been fighting for that my entire
career and frankly it was getting pretty exhausting,” O’Brien shares.
Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, O’Brien co-anchored Weekend Today and
reported for the Today show and NBC Nightly News. In 2003, she began working
at CNN and was the face of CNN’s morning news shows for several years.
She anchored the CNN documentary unit where she created the In America
documentary series giving the spotlight to various communities of color.
Soledad covering the Japan Quake and Tsunami. March 2011.
In 2013, she became special correspondent on the Al Jazeera America news
program America Tonight along with working as correspondent with HBO’s Real
Sports. That same year she formed her own production and distribution company,
Starfish Media Group.
O’Brien decided to start her own company after waiting in line, along with 60
other reporters, to cover the killing of JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen,
in her Boulder, Colorado home.
No reporters were able to get close enough to their sources to add anything
new or of value to their coverage. She realized the time she was spending covering
a story all mainstream media was also reporting on, she could be using to uncover
under-reported or new stories entirely.
“I like to go do the things that by being there, I can add value and my voice and
being in the mix, it matters that I’m there,” O’Brien says.
She recalls another time working with producer Rose Arce, who is now
executive producer of Starfish Media Group, in Haiti. Most reporters were covering
the adoption story of 1,200 Haitian children. But the duo knew the bigger story was
the children not getting adopted. The ones whose parents were struggling to find a
way to keep a roof over their children’s heads and food on the table without being
forced to give them up.
“I think the two of us together helped shift that narrative reminding people that
while rescuing a plane of kids is a feel-good story, it’s not the prevailing narrative,”
O’Brien explains.
Joining HBO’s Real Sports came naturally for O’Brien because the team has
committed nearly 30 years to producing investigative pieces and in-depth profiles
from the sports spectrum.
O’Brien, who had worked with Gumble as an associate producer in the early 90s,
was honored to join his show.
“He was always a very smart guy who required a lot from his correspondents.
Do not bring him anything half done. To be able to work with someone of that rank
and on a series of such high quality, I think is what makes the show great,” O’Brien
says.
Soledad with orphans at Lighthouse Orphanage. Photo by
Jonathan Torgovnik/Reportage by Getty Images for CNN.
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