Gretchen Carlson is one of the nation’s most successful and recognized news anchors, a best-selling author, and a tireless advocate for women in the workplace. Named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” for 2017, Carlson most recently hosted “The Real Story” on Fox News for three years. Prior to that, co-hosted the #1 rated cable morning news show “Fox and Friends” for more than seven years. A no-holds-barred political reporter and commentator, Carlson is known for her witty and astute insights on the political climate, news of the day, and the stories making headlines across the globe. She is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, 2017’s Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back, and the 2015 memoir Getting Real. In January 2017, Carlson was tapped as a columnist for TIME’s online “Motto” newsletter, where her writing focuses on issues largely relating to women in the workforce as well as women’s empowerment issues. Carlson was also a 2017 New York Women in Communications Matrix Award Winner. She is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau.
Carlson began her career as a political reporter, and later served as an anchor and reporter in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dallas. She moved onto the national scene as the co-host of “The Saturday Early Show” on CBS in 2000, where she also served as a CBS News correspondent covering the G-8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, the Timothy McVeigh execution, 9-11 from the World Trade Center, the Bush-Gore election, and many other national and international stories. She also reported and produced a 30-part series on domestic violence that won several national awards.
An honors graduate of Stanford University, Carlson was valedictorian of her high school class and studied at Oxford University in England. She grew up as a child prodigy on the violin, performed as a soloist with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra at age 13, and, in 1989, became the first classical violinist ever to win the Miss America crown.
Carlson has mentored dozens of young women throughout her career. In 2017 she created the Gift of Courage Fund to empower young girls by helping them build self-esteem and confidence.
Carlson serves as a national Trustee for the March of Dimes, a member of the Board of Directors for the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary in Newtown, Connecticut, and a Trustee of Greenwich Academy, an all-girls preparatory day school in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is an active volunteer and teacher at her church and, in 2016, hosted the “Miss You Can Do It” pageant in Illinois to celebrate the achievements of courageous girls and young women with disabilities.
