Williams Girl Makes Good

The New York Times profiles Erin Burnett:

Every rising star needs a narrative, and Ms. Burnett believes hers is about taking risks. After graduating from Williams College in 1998, she says, she spent a forgettable year as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Unhappy in banking, she wrote a letter to Willow Bay, a former morning show correspondent and weekend host who had just become a co-anchor of the business news program “Moneyline” on CNN. It was a “stalker letter,” Ms. Burnett joked, but it worked: before long, she was Ms. Bay’s assistant and then a writer at CNN. But at first she didn’t want to stay in television.
“For some people, it’s love at first sight, but it wasn’t for me,” she said. Her high school classmates in Mardela Springs, Md., a farming town on the Eastern Shore, seemed to know her better than she knew herself: they voted her most likely to host a TV talk show in 20 years, because they thought she talked a lot. “It’s true,” she said. “I’m kind of a motor mouth.”
Ms. Burnett quit CNN and wound up writing the business plan for an Internet media start-up at Citigroup, the banking giant. When it came time to find an on-camera host, she decided to try it herself. From there she moved to Bloomberg, the news and data company that has become something of a farm team for CNBC. She started as a producer there before quickly snaring an anchor job.
As with any anchor role, looks play their part and Ms. Burnett’s striking features have complemented her hard work, smoothing her ascent.

Sheesh, get a room!

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am

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