Each weekday morning, I'm up - reading, reading, reading.
— Brooke Baldwin
CNN was just a glimmer in my eye when I was growing up in Atlanta.
When I'm covering a story, it's not just about gathering facts, but it's gathering the human element as well.
It's so important to talk to the first responders.
In life, it's amazing how often people will say yes. You just have to ask.
You never ask a Maasai warrior how many cattle he has; it's like asking someone how much money they've got in their bank account.
It's a funny thing when you finally have an excuse to get all of your favorite people from all corners of the globe together in one room for my wedding. Other than saying 'I do' to my hunky Englishman, that is the thing I am most excited about!
Wedding dress shopping is basically like dating. You pick the one based on how you feel.
I grew up in Atlanta, which meant the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was a mere 200 miles away.
Yes, I'm grateful for technology. But I'm also happy for the off switch.
I'm the biggest ice cream eater you've ever met!
I knew the second I slipped on my dress that it was the one. I felt sexy, not super bride-y, and just entirely me.
It's important to stay a human, to be a journalist, to be a human covering the stories and trying as best as I can to put myself in their shoes, to be respectful, to just listen.
My job is to be OK without a precise plan.
I think viewers know CNN delivers time and time again on the most important stories.
I run into viewers all the time who have no idea I've moved to N.Y.C. I think, for many of them, a studio is a studio is a studio.
I really focus on giving the viewers compelling television, and hope that more and more people watch.
Feeling physically strong in the morning truly helps me keep focused the rest of the day.
When either major stories break or something just really touches me, I initiate and pitch, then follow through. I will literally march across the newsroom and bang on the president of CNN's door. He knows when I'm coming.
My drive comes from my parents and from Westminster.
I'm sick of pundits. Don't get me wrong. I love the guests I have on every day. I love their energy and smarts and sass. But I'm sick of pundits because they don't always have their ears to the ground.
I'd been invited to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2017 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Speaking live on television is one thing... speaking to 30,000 people in a football stadium is another.
What does 'home' really mean? Is it merely geography, where you were born? Could it include straddling two continents and cultures? Or perhaps it's a place with a spiritual magnetism - a feeling toward a culture or people - that's tough to put into words?
I'm fortunate enough to get hair and makeup every day because of what I do, but it's the same, consistent look. Great for TV, not so fun for a wedding!
I've covered tornadoes and other natural disasters. I wasn't on the ground for Katrina. But as our helicopter descended toward Mexico Beach, I just saw an entire town gone. Leveled, with the exception of a condo still standing here and there.
At age 12, it was obvious. I had to go to Space Camp.
Seriously, how many places on this planet exist in which you get to say to your boss, 'Sorry, but I'm leaving to climb a mountain, and I won't have Wi-Fi or cell service for a week.'
The first time I ever saw James in a tux, I told him, 'Oh, my: wherever and whenever we get married, you have to wear one of these again!'
I'll never forget coming home after covering Sandy Hook. Seeing the faces of family members. The firefighters who could never unsee the unthinkable. Those tiny caskets. I came home, sat in my dark apartment because I didn't even bother to turn the lights on, and wept.
Having covered the crazy campaign of 2016 and seeing a lot of young women showing up, I just had this ah-ha moment. I went to my bosses and said, 'Guys, I want to make women my priority.'
There are often days when I've sat down in my office for hours and prepped for a show knowing, three minutes before I go on, some big crazy thing happens where everything is thrown out, and the teleprompter goes blank.
Just ask my boss - any time a major story breaks, I'm banging on his door to send me.
My rule - and I feel like this is a pretty good rule for life - no drinking while on television. I do not ever imbibe.
I always believe with a great day, you also have a not-great day.
I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with degrees in journalism and Spanish in 2001 and landed my first on-air job in Charlottesville, Va.
It's not always easy, but I love my job.
Westminster is no joke. I took some tough classes there. It prepared me for a tough career.
People are full of great advice... Professors, parents, friends mean well... But in the end, the person driving this thing called life is you. Listen to you. Spend time being alone. Learn your worth. Dream. And never forget where you came from.
Home, for me, is not just a place but a feeling.
With hard work and some good help, I eventually landed an exclusive interview with Auma Obama, President Obama's half-sister.
I actually love being a little older and doing this wedding thing. At 38, I know what I like and what I don't.
Spoiler alert: I did not become an astronaut.
One of my early heroes was Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
Whether it's summiting Kili or achieving my next work goal - Look forward for a moment, but then keep your head down and trudge on.
My 'something borrowed' was a stunning pair of vintage diamond drop earrings from my friend Afshin at Estate Diamond Jewelry in N.Y.C. My 'something blue' was my tanzanite right hand ring that I bought for myself in Tanzania after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.
I know we journalists have a reputation for being cynics. We do. It's our job to question - everything.
Just because someone says something, whether it's at the podium during the briefing or the president tweets, I can't always assume that's factual. That's insane. We have to be very quick on our toes in fact checking.
I got my first migraine on my first day of work in TV in 2001... it was debilitating.
Reporting makes you a better anchor and vice versa.
There's a genuineness that I hope I offer to viewers.
