Advocating for Veterans and Military Families

Empowering Those Who Support Them

Research on Soledad O’Brien & Starfish Media Group

Bio:

(Pulled from Starfish Media Group website): Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning journalist,
documentarian, news anchor, and producer. At the forefront of the biggest breaking news stories of the
past two decades, O’Brien is one of the most sought-after journalists today. In June 2013, O’Brien
launched Starfish Media Group, a multi-platform media production and distribution company, dedicated
to uncovering and producing empowering stories that take a challenging look at the often divisive issue
of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity through personal narratives.

Recent and Past Projects:

 “The War Comes Home” (CNN)

o Documentary Official Trailer
o Description: Delon Beckett and Garrett Combs came home from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan ready to resume the lives of promise they had left behind. Within months
of coming home, their relationships were crumbling, their children were frightened of
them, and suicide began to look like a solution for their anguish. Then, a new program
that treats post traumatic stress gave them hope. Produced by Soledad O’Brien’s
Starfish Media Group in association with MediaStorm, “The War Comes Home” follows
the journeys of these two young veterans and their personal battles to recover from the
effects of the wars that came home with them.
 “Honor Delayed”
o Documentary Official Trailer
o Description: Despite their extraordinary acts of heroism, the nation’s highest honor long
remained elusive for a group of exceptional American veterans. In the hour-long Al
Jazeera America documentary, “Honor Delayed: A Soledad O’Brien Special Report,”
Soledad O’Brien profiles U.S. servicemen who, for reasons of race or ancestry, were
overlooked for the Medal of Honor for 50 years or more. The Medal of Honor, which
comes with both tremendous prestige and tangible benefits in the form of increased
retirement pay and benefits, has been awarded 3,512 times in U.S. history. Of these
medals, only 234 have been awarded to minority service members.
 “Black and Blue”
o Documentary Official Trailer
o Description: Soledad O’Brien uses graphic videos and incisive interviews to show how
the lives of young men are fractured by aggressive policing. Her documentary film,
“Black and Blue”, takes the viewer into the lives of men frisked without cause, some as
many as 100 times, and the police officers who insist they’re just doing their jobs.

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Empowering Those Who Support Them

 “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien”

o Description: Democracy is loud, complex and endlessly fascinating. Discover a fresh take
on political coverage – watch “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien” on TV and online to
get hard-hitting, balanced coverage of issues that impact your future; break through the
noise with insights about what’s really going on.
 Highlights: Strong Latino Turnout Crucial to Clinton Victory
 Highlights: Politically Engaged Millennials Tired of Election

Full Documentary Catalogue: http://www.starfishmediagroup.com/library

In Development at Starfish Media Group:

 “Babies Behind Bars”

o Documentary Official Trailer
o Soledad O’Brien takes us inside a unique women’s prison where inmates are raising
their babies behind bars. In America, 1 in 15 women enter prison pregnant. Typically,
the mother is stripped from her newborn within 24 hours of birth, causing possible
lifelong trauma to both the child and mother. At the Washington Correction Center for
women, inmates are able to live with their newborn for up to two years. The
documentary follows Kristie Ebey and Margaret Taggert, the former a newly
incarcerated mother fighting to get into the program and keep her baby, and the latter a
veteran of the program facing release from prison as a single mother.

Starfish Media Group Content Partnerships:

 Starfish Media Group partners with some of the world’s leading brands, agencies, non-profit
groups and organizations to produce non-fiction programming, profiles and stories with
powerful messages that resonate with global audiences across multiple platforms.
o More about Content Partnerships: http://www.starfishmediagroup.com/content-
partnerships

Reporting and Hosting:

 Soledad O’Brien is a featured correspondent on several networks and shows to include:

o HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
o America Tonight on Al Jazeera America
o National Geographic Television
 O’Brien is also the host of many high-profile live international events, festivals, ceremonies and
summits, including the Global Citizens Festival and Big Brothers Big Sisters Annual Sidewalks
Dinner
o More on O’Brien’s Reporting and Hosting Projects:
http://www.starfishmediagroup.com/reporting-host

521 Sophia Street

Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401
ScoutComms 202-957-2688
www.ScoutCommsUSA.com
 Advocating for Veterans and Military Families
Empowering Those Who Support Them

Starfish Media Group Social Media:

 Facebook
 Twitter for Starfish Media Group
 Twitter for Soledad O’Brien
 Vimeo
 YouTube
 Instagram for Soledad O’Brien
 LinkedIn

Previous Roles:

 Co-anchor of “Weekend Today” on NBC

 Contributed to segments to the “Today” show
 Contributed to segments to “NBC Nightly News”
 Anchored the morning news program at CNN
 During Hurricane Katrina, O’Brien and her husband, Brad, created the Soledad O’Brien & Brad
Raymond Starfish Foundation to help disadvantaged young women get to and through college

Awards:

 Won two Emmy awards from her coverage of race issues at CNN – won a third for her reporting
on the 2012 presidential election
 Coverage of Hurricane Katrina for CNN earned her and the network a George Foster Peabody
Award
o Also won a Peabody award for coverage of the BP Golf Coast Oil Spill
o Her reporting on the Southeast Asia tsunami helped CNN win an Alfred I. DuPont Award
 Named Journalist of the Year in 2010 by the National Association of Black Journalists
 Featured in Newsweek magazine’s “10 People who Make America Great” in 2006
 Harvard University (her alma mater) named her a Distinguished Fellow in 2013
o Appointed to board of directors of the Foundation for the National Archives in 2013

Notes:

o Soledad O’Brien is the originator of the well-known CNN documentary series, “Black in America”
and “Latino in America” and is produced under Starfish Media Group

521 Sophia Street

Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401
ScoutComms 202-957-2688
www.ScoutCommsUSA.com