Poppy Harlow

Award-winning Journalist and Author

Poppy Harlow is an award-winning journalist and author who spent nearly 20 years breaking news and leading important conversations on CNN. She co-anchored CNN This Morning on weekday mornings, anchored CNN Newsroom, and created and hosted the CNN podcast “BossFiles with Poppy Harlow.” Known for her hard-hitting reporting with a compassionate human touch, she brings to the stage the same valuable insights on business, economics, global affairs, and social issues that made her one of the most respected and influential voices in journalism today.

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Harlow imparts her deep economic knowledge by interviewing the world’s top business leaders and CEOs including Warren Buffett, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Bill Gates, Melinda French, Jay-Z, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others. She has also interviewed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and moderated two CNN Presidential Town Halls.

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Harlow’s human touch is made evident in her field reporting during breaking news events. She was sent to cover the 2015 Paris terror attacks and anchored from the ground there for two weeks, focusing her coverage on the personal stories of the victims and their families. In 2013, she anchored extensive coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and for years following the attacks, she reported on the recovery and resilience of several women who lost limbs in the bombing. Outside of major tragedies, Harlow is deeply focused on income inequality and solutions to closing the opportunity gap for women and minorities. She is the co-author and author of the children’s books The Color of Love and The Biggest Little Boy.

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A multiple Emmy Award-nominee, Harlow has won numerous industry awards, including the Gracie Award for Best online investigative feature on financial fraud, and SABEW’s Best in Business award for online video.

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Prior to joining CNN in 2008, Harlow served as an anchor for the Forbes Video Network and an anchor and reporter for NY1 News. She graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University. In 2020, she received the University’s John Jay Award, given to alumni for distinguished professional achievement. She holds a master’s in studies of law from Yale Law School and has also studied at King’s College London. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow.

Topics

Resilience is a Super Power: Preparing for Day Two

What happens when your worst day becomes your best? For nearly twenty years at CNN, Poppy Harlow had her dream job. She was a top anchor and host of the network’s flagship morning show. Out of the blue, her show was canceled and she was left to make a crucial decision: would she take a leap of faith? Little did she know at the time, the following day, her day two, would be the beginning of a remarkable adventure and set the course of her future. In this talk, Harlow shows us that we all have a day two. For some of us – it is planned. For others – it’s unplanned. Harlow shares the valuable lessons learned when your life gets upended and how what we do with those days tells us everything about who we really are, what we’re made of, and what we really want.

Moderating CEO conversations

Award winning journalist Poppy Harlow brings her extensive interview experience to the stage as a moderator. Having facilitated panels at major industry events like the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Microsoft CEO Summit, TIME 100, and the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, she provokes discussion, summarizes insights, and leads thoughtful Q&A with her signature journalistic polish and expertise.

From the Newsroom to the Boardroom

As a former CNN anchor, Poppy Harlow stood on the front lines of breaking news each day. In this talk, she draws on her years of journalistic experience to make sense of the latest in global events, business, and economic news. With insider access from interviews with newsmakers and business leaders, she looks at the stories driving our daily conversations, offering her analysis and sharing her outlook for the future.