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The group has also produced media for CNN, Al Jazeera America, BET, and HBO. 1 Furthermore, the organization has worked with the Ford Foundation and the de Beaumont Foundation on Outbreak: Pandemic in Seattle and the Conagra Brands Foundation on Hungry to Learn. 1
Background
Soledad O’Brien Productions is a media production and distribution company founded by left-of-center journalist Soledad O’Brien. The company produced many documentaries and series, focusing on racial, class, and poverty issues, often through personal stories. The group was established in 2013 and has worked with the Ford Foundation and the de Beaumont Foundation on Outbreak: Pandemic in Seattle, and the Conagra Brands Foundation, on Hungry to Learn. 1
Previously, the organization was known as the Starfish Media Group. 2
The group has also produced media for CNN, Al Jazeera America, BET, and HBO. 1
Activities
Soledad O’Brien Productions lists various documentaries it has produced on its website, including The End of Affirmative Action for CBS Reports and The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks for Peacock Original. 3
The company also produced Hungry to Learn for Yahoo, which was described as a look into the life of “4 college students facing hunger and homelessness” in America, describing a situation of them “having no food at all, eating at food pantries or off the trays of fellow students.” 3
Soledad O’Brien Productions produced Honor Delayed for Al Jazeera America, which looked at U.S. serviceman who were alleged to have been passed over for being awarded the Medal of Honor due to reasons of their race. Also for Al Jazeera America, the group produced Kids Behind Bars, which examined the New Mexico-based J. Paul Taylor Center’s approach to juvenile detention, which the group described as prioritizing a rehabilitative approach to juvenile offenders. 3
War Comes Home, produced for CNN, explored the issues associated with members of the military re-entering civilian life after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 3
Some of the series the group has produced include “The Prison Breaker” on Discovery+, “Who Killed JFK” on iHeart, the four-part documentary “Black and Missing” on HBO, and “Disrupt & Dismantle,” a series that explores topics including “environmental racism” on BET. 4
Funding
In 2025, the Ford Foundation, a large left-of-center grantmaking organization, gave a two-year, $50,000 grant to Soledad O’Brien Productions under its “Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice” program tag. 5
People
As of 2026, founder Soledad O’Brien was CEO of Soledad O’Brien Productions, as well as the host of “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien.” She had also reported for HBO Real Sports, the PBS News Hour, and WebMD, and had previously been a reporter or anchor for the networks NBC, MSNBC, and CNN. 6
O’Brien and her husband, Brad Raymond, founded the PowHERful Foundation in 2011. 6 Originally called the Starfish Foundation, it claimed to have started with just six individuals receiving scholarship support for college, and as of May 2026 claimed to have awarded over 35 scholarships. The foundation states that a large part of its founding purpose was facilitating college scholarships for young women. 7
As of 2026, Rose Marie Arce was the vice president of Soledad O’Brien Productions. Previously, she was the executive producer of the Starfish Media Group, the former name for Soledad O’Brien Productions. Arce has also been a senior producer for CNN and producer at CBS News. 8