Bianna Golodryga
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bianna Vitalievna Golodryga (
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Бианна Витальевна Голодрыга;
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
: Bianna Golodrîga) born June 15, 1978) is a Moldovan-born American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and
news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
who is currently serving as a senior global affairs analyst at CNN. She was previously the news and finance anchor at
Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
. She was also previously co-anchor of the weekend edition of
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
's '' Good Morning America'' and a co-host of ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
''.


Early life and education

Golodryga was born to a working-class family of
Bessarabian Jews The history of the Jews in Bessarabia, a historical region in Eastern Europe, dates back hundreds of years. Early history Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their m ...
in
Căușeni Căușeni () is a town and the administrative center of Căușeni District, Moldova. Its population at the 2014 census was 15,939, of which 12,056 Moldovans, 1,119 Romanians, 747 Russians, 545 Ukrainians, 204 Bulgarians, 69 Gagauzians, 12 Gypsi ...
,
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...
(now independent
Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
), the only child of Zhanna and Vitaly Golodryga. In 1980, when she was 18 months old, her family left the Soviet Union as political refugees, each with $75. They settled in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, Texas, after initially moving to Galveston, Texas. She has returned to Moldova only once since then, visiting her grandparents and cousins in 1988. That same year, her grandmother joined them in Houston. Her mother is the chief digital and administrative officer for Phillips 66, and previously worked as chief information officer of
Hess Corporation Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petrol ...
and her father, a mechanical engineer, was a consultant for DuPont. Golodryga attended the
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Kinder HSPVA, HSPVA or PVA) is a secondary school located at 790 Austin Street in the downtown district of Houston, Texas. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School Distri ...
in Houston but was interested in becoming a journalist instead of an actress. She was inspired to look closer at what was going on in the world after performing in a play about AIDS written by her teacher. She graduated from the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
in May 2000, with a degree in Russian/East European & Eurasian studies and a minor in economics. She is fluent in
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
.


Career

Golodryga had planned for a career in the financial services industry after she graduated from college. She became a licensed trader and worked at several financial companies. After a sharp drop in the market, however, she decided to pursue journalism. She moved to New York in February 2001 and began working as a producer at CNBC, where she later became an on-air correspondent. In 2004, Golodryga was named one of the top journalists under the age of 30. She was a correspondent for
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
between 2007 and 2010, and was named co-anchor of the weekend edition of '' Good Morning America'' in May 2010, following the departure of former co-anchor
Kate Snow Kate Snow (born June 10, 1969) is an American television journalist for NBC News, serving as Senior National Correspondent to various NBC platforms, including ''Today'', ''NBC Nightly News'', ''Dateline NBC'', and MSNBC. Snow also anchors the Sund ...
, who went to work for
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
. In April 2013, Golodryga was the first person to interview Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of Boston Marathon bombers
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (; October 21, 1986 – April 19, 2013)russian: link=no, Тамерла́н Анзо́рович Царна́ев ; ce, Царнаев Анзор-кIант Тамерлан ; ky, Тамерлан Анзор уул ...
and
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Dzhokhar "Jahar" Anzorovich Tsarnaev born July 22, 1993)russian: Джоха́р Анзо́рович Царна́ев, link=no ; ce, Царнаев Анзор-кIант ДжовхӀар o; ( Kyrgyz language, Kyrgyz: Жохар Анзор уу ...
, and called this "the most emotional moment" of her career. At first, she assisted her colleagues with the proper pronunciation of the name, but then was tasked with calling Anzor in Chechnya. He had very few details to offer but called her back the next day, trying to find more information about what was happening and whether or not Dzhokhar, who had been taken into custody severely injured, was still alive. Golodryga served as weekend co-anchor of ''Good Morning America'' until August 4, 2014, when she left it to join the business and finance news department of
Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
. She was a guest host on ''
Way Too Early ''Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire'' is an American morning news show that airs weekday mornings on MSNBC. The network has had shows with the title ''Way Too Early'', both with and without the name of the host at the time, during two differen ...
'' and was a regular contributor to '' Morning Joe'' on
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
. In 2017 she was a guest co-anchor of the CBS Morning News. She joined CBS on a permanent basis as a correspondent in September 2017 and simultaneously joined CNN as a contributor. In December 2016, Golodryga confronted then-Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (; born June 21, 1947) is a former American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. A Republican, he represented for the last three terms of his House tenure. Rohrabacher ran for r ...
, a Republican from California, over his defense of Russian
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
. At the time, Rohrabacher was considered a candidate to be appointed Secretary of State by then president-elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
and was criticizing China for its record on human rights. Golodryga then asked about Putin, who has been consistently praised by Trump. Rohrabacher answered, "Oh, baloney. Where do you come from? How can you say that?" to which Golodryga replied, "I come from the former Soviet Union—that's where I came from. I came here as a political refugee. That's where I came from." Rohrabacher appeared flustered and accused Golodryga of being biased before he compared Putin to Mikhail Gorbachev. Golodryga is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has contributed to the
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
, most recently credited as a News and Finance Anchor at
Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
. In 2015, Golodryga, whose husband was a former Bill Clinton staff member, was selected by Hillary Clinton to conduct Clinton's first interview as a presidential candidate. However, Clinton expressed her choice as "Bianna", which was misinterpreted by Clinton's staff as "Brianna" and an interview was scheduled with CNN's
Brianna Keilar Brianna Marie Keilar (born September 21, 1980) is an Australian-born American journalist who formely was the co-anchor of ''New Day'' with John Berman on CNN. She previously worked as a White House correspondent, senior political correspondent, ...
, who conducted a tough interview. Golodryga responded, "It happens all the time that my name gets butchered. I never thought it would impede me from participating in what would be one of the biggest stories of my life." On October 3, 2018, it was announced on ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'' that she would be joining the team as a co-host. On April 3, 2019, CBS News announced that she had chosen to leave the network. Later that year CNN announced that Golodryga had accepted a full-time role at the network as a senior global affairs analyst. In May 2021, during the
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot ...
, Golodryga interviewed
Shah Mahmood Qureshi Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi ( ur, ; born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 29th Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. He has been a member of the Nationa ...
, the Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the interview, Qureshi said: "Israel is losing out. They are losing the media war, despite their connections." Golodryga asked Qureshi: "What are their connections?" to which Qureshi replied: "Deep pockets," adding, "they are very influential people. They control media". Golodryga alleged several times during the interview that she considered this remark anti-semitic. After her exchange with Qureshi became a matter of international discussion, she elaborated further: "There should be zero point zero doubt that accusing Israel of 'controlling the media' and having 'deep pockets' is antisemitic."


Awards

Golodgryga is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program, the Keystone Policy Center Leadership Award and the University of Texas at Austin Pro Bene Meritis Award among others.


Personal life

In September 2010, Golodryga married
Peter R. Orszag Peter Richard Orszag (born December 16, 1968) is the CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard. Before June 2019, he was the firm's Head of North American M&A and Global Co-Head of Healthcare. Orszag previously served as a Vice Chairman of Corporate ...
, the former
Director of the Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, poli ...
for the Obama Administration and the CEO of Financial Advisory at
Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's la ...
, a financial services firm. They have a son and daughter. She has completed the 2019 New York City Marathon in 4:01:37 and has run several half marathons in the New York City area.


See also

*
New Yorkers in journalism New York City has been called the media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, business, entertainment, and New York metropolitan area-related matters. New Yorkers in journalism A ...
* Moldovan-Jewish Americans


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golodryga, Bianna Living people 1978 births ABC News personalities 20th-century American Jews American television journalists American women television journalists American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni Soviet emigrants to the United States Moldovan diaspora People from Houston CNBC people 21st-century American journalists People from Căușeni District High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumni CBS people CNN people 21st-century American women 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American women Orszag family