Skip to main content

The Mondavi Center Ticket Office will be closed from 12/21–1/6, resuming regular hours 1/7. You may continue to order your tickets online in the meantime.

Women & Philanthropy at UC Davis

A Conversation with Soledad O’Brien

With Special Guests Anna Maria Chávez & Dr. Amishi Jha

Sunday, March 9, 2025

1:00pm

Jackson Hall

Soledad O’Brien sitting down smiling

Join us for a symposium featuring an exclusive conversation with award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, alongside inspiring presentations by Anna Maria Chávez, former CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, and Dr. Amishi Jha, renowned neuroscientist and mindfulness expert. Be part of a thought-provoking event celebrating connection, leadership and impact.

Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning documentarian, journalist, speaker, author, philanthropist and founder of Soledad O’Brien Productions, a media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues. She anchors and produces Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, a nationally syndicated Hearst Television public affairs news magazine that reaches 95% of U.S. markets. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in May 2023.

O’Brien has a national impact through her podcasts, social media, speeches and books, including her critically acclaimed memoir The Next Big Story and her 1.3 million followers on X. She gave Congressional testimony on media disinformation and has anchored shows and specials on CNN, MSNBC, Nat Geo, BET, ABC, and CBS, co-anchored NBC’s Weekend Today, and reported for PBS NewsHour and HBO Real Sports.

Her most recent projects include her top-rated iHeart podcast Who Killed JFK with Rob Reiner and her documentary The End of Affirmative Action. She is the Executive Producer of the Peabody-Award-winning documentary The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the multi-part series Black and Missing, which won the Independent Spirit and NAACP awards. She also works with major foundations, like the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to produce impactful documentaries on topics like hunger, race and education.

O’Brien’s work has been recognized with four Emmy awards, three times with the George Foster Peabody Award, four times with the Gracie Award, which honors women in media, twice with Cine Awards for her work in documentary films, twice with Telly Awards and with an Alfred I. DuPont Award.

She runs the PowHERful Foundation with her husband, helping dozens of young women get to and through college while also connecting thousands more with resources through regional mentoring conferences.

This program is part of the Wisdom of Women (WoW) event series presented by Women & Philanthropy at UC Davis, which unites women as leaders dedicated to using our collective talents and resources for the good of all.

Women & Philanthropy empowers women by convening communities and amplifying stories of achievement and impact. We have a dynamic vision for the world we want to build, and the determination to do so.

 

This event is not eligible for a Mondavi Center subscription package and is not part of the UC Davis Student One Free Ticket or Student Rush deals

Also Speaking: