Journalist and CNN anchor Poppy Harlow CC’05 will deliver the keynote for Columbia College’s Class Day on Tuesday, May 14. The Class Day ceremony honors the achievements of the graduating class.
“We are thrilled to announce Poppy Harlow as our Class Day speaker,” Dean Josef Sorett said. “The empathy and compassion that Poppy has displayed throughout her career serve as a model for our students, and we are incredibly excited to celebrate the Class of 2024 with her.”
Harlow was most recently an anchor on CNN This Morning. She joined CNN in 2008 and has held multiple roles with the network; she anchored CNN Newsroom from 2017 to 2022; created and hosted the CNN podcast BossFiles with Poppy Harlow; and was an anchor and business correspondent for CNNMoney.
Harlow reports and anchors from the field to cover breaking news around the world. She is deeply focused in her reporting on inequality, inequity and solutions to closing the opportunity gap. She has interviewed the world’s top business leaders and CEOs, as well as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg LAW’59 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and has moderated two CNN Presidential Town Halls.
Harlow is also a children’s book author. The Biggest Little Boy: A Christmas Story was published in 2021. Her latest, The Color of Love, co-written with NBC’s Laura Jarrett, will be out on May 14.
But her most important job, Harlow says, is being a mom to her two young children, Sienna and Luca.
She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. She has been nominated for multiple Emmys and her reporting has won numerous industry awards. She also was a 2020 recipient of a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement.
Harlow graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the College and earned a master’s in studies of law from Yale Law School in 2022.
University Commencement, a celebration for graduating students from 18 of Columbia’s schools, colleges and affiliate institutions, will be held on Wednesday, May 15.