María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is a #mixed #American broadcast journalist & executive producer. Since 2016, shes been the host for Matter of Fact with #SoledadOBrien, a nationally syndicated weekly talk show. Shes chairwoman of her own Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production company & distributor that she founded in 2013. She is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia. She was born & raised in St. James, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island to Edward Ephrem O'Brien, who was a mechanical engineering professor at Stony Brook University & Estela O'Brien, who was a French & English teacher at Smithtown High School West. Her parents were both immigrants & met while they were students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was from Toowoomba, Queensland, in #Australia & was of #Irish & #Scottish descent. Her mother was from Havana, #Cuba & was #AfroCuban. #Interracialmarriage was illegal in Maryland before 1967, so in 1958 her parents married in Washington, D.C., where marriage laws were less restrictive, just like #TheLovings had done. The Loving's were the infamous couple who stood up against the Supreme Court to make interracial marriages legal. She is the 5th of 6 children, all graduates of Harvard College. "My parents were both immigrants—my mother from Cuba, my father from Australia. Both attended daily Mass at the church near campus. Every day my father would offer my mother a ride. Every day, she declined. Finally, she said yes. One year later, the day after Christmas, the two of them were married." Unfortunately in 2019 her father passed away and then her mother passed just a month later. In 1995, she married Bradford "Brad" Raymond, co-head of investment banking at Stifel, who is #White. They have 4 kids. On NPR, she explained that in #Spanish her full name means "The Blessed Virgin Mary of Solitude". When she started working in TV, many people recommended that she change her name, but she refused. Shes said she does not speak Spanish fluently. (via Wikipedia) 🇨🇺 🇦🇺🇮🇪🏴 #wcw #latinxheritagemonth #hispanicheritagemonth https://www.instagram.com/p/CUs_38BlKm0/?utm_medium=tumblr
