Being Smart Is Cool

Who: Nicole Lapin
Age: 23
What: Hosts “Young People Who Rock” on CNN and started “Being Smart Is Cool” campaign

Nicole Lapin should be interviewing herself on her weekly series, “Young People Who Rock.” At just 23, Lapin is on the fast track to becoming one of the most well known reporters at CNN. Working hard to give young people a positive role model, Lapin is doing her part to step up and make a difference. “Young People Who Rock” is a weekly interview series focused on people under 30 — from CEOs to entertainers to athletes to community and political leaders — who are doing remarkable things. Lapin introduces them on her blog, then interviews them Fridays on CNN Live Video (log on in the 3 p.m. ET hour to catch the interviews).

Lapin also started the “Being Smart Is Cool” campaign, featuring a series of chats with young people, for the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. Check out the article below from CAA Speakers:

Nicole Lapin is one of the brightest young stars in journalism today. The child of a former Nobel Prize nominee and a beauty queen, it is easy to see where Nicole gets her brains and her beauty. But, this first generation American has created her own niche as the face of online news and a powerful role model for young people worldwide.

Often described as the Doogie Howser of news, Nicole became the youngest anchor on CNN at 22. She started as one of the first anchors to launch CNN Pipeline, now CNN.com LIVE. Reporting on the forefront of the digital revolution, Nicole contributes to various divisions of the network, like CNN Headline News, CNN U.S. and CNN Student News, with what’s hot online. She also produces and stars in a podcast about new gadgets and tech gizmos.

With the idea that there are other young people like herself making a difference, Nicole launched a series Young People Who Rock. Each week, she profiles a different person under 30, from community leaders to politicians to entrepreneurs, doing amazing things. Her columns appear on CNN.com on her own blog every week with broadcast interviews to follow. She incorporates nominations through the network’s user-generated content initiative I-Report so that unknown young people have a chance to tell the world what they are doing.

Expanding her reach as a positive young figure, Nicole created a campaign called Being Smart is Cool. Every week she holds a chat about current events with children from the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. She was appointed ambassador for the charity and travels on their behalf to inspire youth across the globe to care about issues in the news.

Utilizing her unique and conversational communication style, Nicole has made a name for herself anchoring major events like the Israel-Hezbollah War, Gerald Ford’s death and the Virginia Tech massacre. Prior to CNN, Nicole worked as a business and technology reporter on the floor of major stock exchanges. She also paid her dues as an investigative reporter and local news anchor at several news markets across the country. On the way, she picked up accolades from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Association of Women Journalists and Society of Professional Journalists, among others. Nicole graduated as valedictorian with honors in political science from the prestigious Medill School Journalism at Northwestern University.