Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning documentarian, journalist, speaker, author and philanthropist. She is the CEO of Soledad O’Brien Productions, a multi-platform media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues and a thought leader whose public engagement garners wide attention.
O’Brien has had national impact with her books and speeches, and her presence on the nation’s op-ed pages, including the New York Times and Huffington Post. She is very active on social media, particularly Twitter where she has over 1.3 million followers.
O’Brien currently anchors and produces the Hearst Television political magazine program “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien” which is distributed by Sony Pictures. She also reports regularly for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”
She has anchored shows on CNN, MSNBC and NBC, and hosted projects for Fox and A&E. O’Brien has contributed to the three major broadcast networks, Oxygen, Nat Geo, the PBS NewsHour and WebMD. She was a special correspondent on Al Jazeera America’s news program, America Tonight, and produced several documentaries on social issues for the network.
Earlier in her career, O’Brien anchored a show for MSNBC, before moving on to co-anchor NBC’s “Weekend Today” and contributing segments to the “Today” show and “NBC Nightly News.” In 2003, O’Brien transitioned to CNN, where she was the face of CNN’s morning news shows for many years and a frequent reporter and analyst for breaking news stories and election coverage. She also anchored the CNN documentary unit, where she created the “In America” documentary series “Black in America” and “Latino in America” which she continued to produce under Soledad O’Brien Productions as speaking tours.
O’Brien’s was recognized with three Emmy awards -- for her coverage of the Haiti earthquake, the 2012 election and a series called “Kids and Race.” She was also honored twice with the George Foster Peabody award for her coverage of Hurricane Katrina and her reporting on the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Her reporting on the Southeast Asia tsunami garnered CNN an Alfred I. DuPont Award.
Upon founding Soledad O’Brien Productions, she continued to produce documentaries and series on topics that included youth incarceration, police brutality, veterans with PTSD and the opioid epidemic for Al Jazeera, CNN and the PBS NewsHour.
Besides HBO Real Sports and Matter of Fact, O’Brien hosted “American Injustice” a BET Town Hall on the future of criminal justice reform. She was a host of the A&E special “Shining a Light: Conversations on Race in America.” She was the Host and Executive Producer of the Oxygen series “Mysteries & Scandals” as well as “O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession” and “Who Shot Biggie and Tupac,” both for Fox. She was also host of National Geographic Channel's “Live From Space” and moderator and executive producer of the annual National Geographic Bee. She was Executive Producer of the Lifetime Billboard Music Awards.
She has served as Chair of the board of The After-School Corporation (now ExpandED Schools), and as a director on the boards of the Rand Corporation and the National Archives. She was a Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Distinguished Visiting Fellow.
O’Brien frequently speaks on a variety of social issues at college campuses and corporate events. She was named on People magazine’s list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 2001 and was on People en Español′s 50 Most Beautiful list in 2004. She was named to Irish American magazine’s "Top 100 Irish Americans" on two occasions, and was on Black Enterprise magazine’s 2005 Hot List. Also in 2005, she was awarded Groundbreaking Latina of the Year by Catalina magazine. In 2006 she was featured in the Newsweek cover story "15 People Who Make America Great".
She is the author of two books, her critically acclaimed memoir “The Next Big Story” and “Latino in America.”
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, O’Brien and her husband, Brad, created the PowHERful Foundation to help young women get to and through college. The foundation hosts the PowHerful conferences that support hundreds of young women with mentoring programs, professional advice and other services.
She lives in New York with her husband and four children.
Joie Chen brings her unique storytelling style to Matter of Fact. “What I love about the program is its commitment to understanding history, and how events of the past continue to shape our world today,” she says. Her reporting has taken her across the country and around the world. Joie is most often recognized for her decade as an anchor and correspondent for CNN International and CNN. She’s also been a Washington, DC correspondent for CBS News, reporting from the White House, Capitol Hill and contributing to the legendary CBS Sunday Morning. Most recently, she served as host and correspondent for Al Jazeera America’s flagship program, America Tonight. When she’s not producing reports for Matter of Fact, Joie is pursuing her other professional passion: making journalism better. She has been a senior leader at the Poynter Institute, the world’s leading non-profit journalism education organization. A Chicago native, she now lives outside Washington, DC.
Leone Lakhani is a TV journalist with nearly two decades of international experience at the BBC and CNN. As a correspondent for CNN in London and Abu Dhabi, she covered everything from the government crackdown in Bahrain, to the first Egyptian elections after the Arab Spring. Leone has also interviewed celebrities including Tom Cruise on his Mission Impossible series, John Travolta on his life as a pilot, and sports stars like Kobe Bryant and Roger Federer. Upon returning to Washington, DC, Leone reported and produced content for digital news platform The Cipher Brief, which focused on U.S. national security issues. Leone has written and produced several long and short-format stories, covering world events like the Israel-Lebanon War from Gaza, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the death of Osama Bin Laden. Leone currently divides her time between Washington, DC and London.
Dina is an award-winning correspondent and producer who crafts stories that illuminate the humanity at the heart of any policy issue. In addition to reporting for Matter of Fact, she is also a correspondent at CBS News. She began her career at ABC News where she worked for many years at Nightline and Good Morning America. Dina has reported and produced in-depth investigative, social justice and underreported stories for KCET/PBS, Al Jazeera America, and A&E Network. Dina anchored a weekly public affairs show and documentary specials at Spectrum News 1. As a documentary director, she led a team to Nicaragua filming the stories of an orphanage, aid workers and the people they assist in the Nicaragua’s toxic and dangerous garbage dumps. Dina is the recipient of five L.A. area Emmy Awards, six L.A. Press Club Awards including for her groundbreaking California fracking investigation, and four RTNA Golden Mike Awards. She lives in Los Angeles and is a native of the Detroit area.
Laura Chavez is an award-winning journalist with a passion for her profession. Starting in 2008, her career allowed her to cover several historic events ranging from the Inaugurations of several United States Presidents to the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic. Before coming to Matter Of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, Laura worked for several O&O news stations in Washington D.C. and Chicago, both in front of and behind the camera. She also produced and directed shows and docu-series for major networks, like Discovery, HGTV, FYI, A&E, Food Network and others, including multiple shows about the impact of Climate Change and the growing wealth gap in the U.S. Along with reporting, Laura is also the Executive Producer of her own production company, What Is Productions, where she works with organizations of all sizes to share their stories and raise awareness for causes in which she believes.
Dan is an award-winning investigative journalist who has a unique eye for finding and telling underreported stories around the world. His reports for VICE and CBS News include in-depth news documentaries that aim to expose injustice and promote policy debate and social change. Dan's work has appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC Nightline, BBC World News & PBS NewsHour. His superpower is connecting with people from all walks of life, and his passion is helping their voices be heard to inspire them & others who need lifting up.
Diane Roberts is an Emmy, Murrow, Telly, AP and SPJ award winning journalist. She has been working in broadcasting since she co-hosted a news program about her high school on a small-town radio station in Georgia. She's been working in radio and television ever since! After graduating from Georgia State University in Atlanta, she worked as a general assignment TV reporter in Des Moines, IA. She worked as a weekend TV news anchor in Columbia, SC and Tampa, FL. In Washington DC she worked as a sports anchor/reporter for Fox5DC and WUSA9 covering Washington's professional, college and high school teams for 20+ years. She's been an update anchor at SiriusXM Sports and a news update anchor at Voice of America radio. She has been working at WTOP as a sports update anchor since 2022 and added news update anchor to her duties in 2023. She also is a freelance field producer for Entertainment Tonight covering celebrity events from Kennedy Center Honors to the Mark Twain Awards and more. As Pres /CEO of Diane's Talking, she produces videos for companies and non-profits, is a media/public speaking coach and a voiceover artist.
Alexis Clark is a journalist and author who reports on overlooked U.S. history. Her stories often focus on race, culture and politics during World War II and the Civil Rights era. Her narrative non-fiction book, "Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse and an Unlikely Romance," was published by The New Press and first featured on Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien. Her book was subsequently covered by The New Yorker, The New York Times, PBS Newshour Weekend, NPR, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Essence, WNYC and Bloomberg TV. Alexis has written a variety of features for The New York Times over the years, from stories about the treatment of Black servicemembers in World War II to sibling separation in New York State’s foster care system. She also helped launch “Past Tense,” a special digital series that brought narratives of the past to life in a series of articles that showcased photos from the New York Times archive. Alexis has been a contributing writer for History.com, with numerous works on racial and social justice. A Dallas native, Alexis is a former senior editor at Town & Country magazine where she covered cultural and philanthropic events across the country. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Spelman College, an M.A. in Government from the University of Virginia and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School where she’s currently an assistant professor.
Matter of Fact Executive Producer, Rita Hagen Aleman, a longtime member of the Hearst Television family, is a veteran journalist, producer, storyteller, and writer. She is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle, honoring a lifetime of dedication to the television industry. She has earned multiple Emmy awards and a USC Walter Cronkite Award for her work producing politically themed programming, including a highly rated prime time news magazine show. A Wisconsin native, she is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, and holds a Master's Degree from the University of Wisconsin. Go PACK Go!
Gail Austin is a senior producer with more than a decade of experience in broadcast news. Before joining Matter of Fact, Gail was the deputy executive producer of National Public Radio’s flagship show, “Morning Edition,” and popular podcast, “Up First.” Joining Matter of Fact was a return to Hearst for Gail. She previously worked at Hearst for six years, most recently as a producer at Hearst Television’s Washington, D. C. News Bureau.
Rob brings over 30 years of experience in the media industry. His international production experience spans from Broadcast to Documentaries and gives this award winning Director of Photography & Editor a broad world view that continues to serve him—and those who work with him—to this day. His passion for the moving image drives him in the pursuit of not only those images which are beautiful, but also those that need to be shared.
Ashqelynn Ayers is the Supervising Producer with more than ten years of experience in broadcast television and production. Before joining Matter of Fact, Ashqelynn covered breaking news as a content producer at NBC Washington. As a segment producer at NewsOne Now with Roland Martin on TV One, she covered the major headlines from the African-American perspective. Ashqelynn began her career in her hometown of Missouri City, Texas, which is just outside of Houston.
Sidney Holmes is an associate producer with years of experience in broadcast news, film and television. Sidney started her career in her hometown of New Orleans as a Fred Young Hearst Television Producing Fellow. Following her fellowship, she accepted a role as a full-time news producer at WDSU-TV. In her freelance work, Sidney is credited on productions by Animal Planet, Blumhouse and Very Local. She is a proud alumna of Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor's and Master's degree from the university.
For over 30 years, Greg has produced, shot, and edited hundreds of commercials and dozens of long-format presentations for businesses and non-profits. As an accomplished live-TV director and technical director in a top 20 market, he’s directed countless newscasts, political debates and live specials. Greg holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Ohio University.
As the Assistant Director for Hearst Television’s centralized design department, Stephanie oversees a team of artists that create graphics for 26 of HTV’s markets each day. Since 1999 she has the opportunity to work with newsrooms in 45 markets, but it all started with an amazing opportunity to learn television from the ground up at WWBT, Richmond’s NBC affiliate. She received her Bachelor’s in Visual Communication from Towson University and lives in sunny Florida with her family.
Over the years, Jean-Louis has provided graphics for multiple stations around the country, utilizing new tools and growing every step of the way. Since 2011, he has worked with FOX, Treehouse Education and Marriott, creating motion graphics as well as branding and print for them as well. Jean-Louis holds a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts from Full Sail University. When he’s not digging into After Effects, he’s digging into rabbit holes for Florida history.
Jessica Mathies has been working in television for over 15 years. As a development executive in unscripted television, she was the creative force of original programming for shows like, OWN's 2 Fat 2 Fly, UP TV's hit series, Expecting, and Investigation Discovery's, The Last Goodbye. Before transitioning into Development, Jessica worked in production on various projects for Spike, HGTV, and NBC. Her career began in local programming, where she worked with KQED, the PBS member station serving Northern California. Coming back full circle, Jessica is currently the Executive Producer of local programming for Hearst Television.
Karen Holmes Ward is the Director of Public Affairs and Community Services as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB-TV’s award-winning weekly magazine program. Holmes Ward oversees the station’s public service and community outreach efforts earning national recognition, including an Emmy nomination and a National Association of Broadcasters ‘Service to Community in Television’ award for the station’s efforts during and following the Boston Marathon attack. A graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Communications (now COM), Karen has received numerous awards for her work including the National Association of Black Journalists Region I Journalist of the Year; the ‘Silver Circle’ Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and has received honorary doctorates from Merrimack College, Cambridge College and Boston University.
Stevland Wilson is an award-winning producer, a director, contributor, writer, public speaker, and entrepreneur. In his 20-year career, Stevland has worked in radio, television, print, digital, live production, news, and sports. After spending more than a decade at ESPN, Stevland served as the Vice President of Production for the XFL. In addition to his role with Matter of Fact, Stevland is also the Supervising Producer for the Matter of Fact Listening Tour. Stevland is the Founder and President of Landmind Productions, and the Chairman of Hofstra University’s Herbert Lawrence School of Communications Dean’s Advisory Board.
Tara Cleary is an accomplished audio and video journalist. She began her career in South Africa in radio, soon moving to television, and subsequently founded her own company, Tin Rage Productions. Her small team produced an award-winning literary magazine series, and soon after, she worked with author and playwright, Eve Ensler on the South Africa portion of an Ensler documentary. Following those successes, Tara moved to New York City chasing a long-term professional goal of working in the U.S. What started as a short-term assignment editing for a local TV news station, quickly grew into rewarding production opportunities with the BBC, Reuters, and with the Al Jazeera America show, "On Target with Ali Velshi" . At Reuters, Tara added voice reporting to her skillset, producing and narrating stories for the news agency. She joined the MATTER OF FACT team in 2020. Tara lives in New York City where she loves to explore the many diverse neighborhoods, creating videos of the tours for Walks NY.
