Brooke Baldwin

CNN was just a glimmer in my eye when I was growing up in Atlanta. ”

When either major stories break or something just really touches me, I initiate and pitch, then follow through. I will literally march across the newsroom and bang on the president of CNN's door. He knows when I'm coming. ”

I tend to gravitate toward gender- and race-related stories. ”

I want to help lift women's voices. And I realize, in doing that, I need to use my own. ”

What's been fascinating about shooting my series 'American Woman' is the ubiquity of a woman's experience - and no matter who you are: a rockstar, film director, mom - we all are celebrating this movement of female empowerment, but we also realize we have a long way to go. ”

It has always been important for women to empower other women. ”

All I know is what I do each and every day and what we do here at CNN, which is all about the facts, asking tough questions, challenging leaders and our own leadership in this country. ”

Westminster is no joke. I took some tough classes there. It prepared me for a tough career. ”

I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with degrees in journalism and Spanish in 2001 and landed my first on-air job in Charlottesville, Va. ”

My job is to be OK without a precise plan. ”