Gretchen Carlson

Journalist, Author, Champion for Workplace Equality

About This Expert

Gretchen Carlson is one of the nation’s most successful and recognized news anchors and a tireless advocate for workplace equality and the empowerment of women. In the recent past, she hosted “The Real Story” on Fox News for three years, and prior to that co-hosted the #1 rated cable morning news show, “Fox and Friends,” for more than seven years. In 2015, Carlson’s first book, Getting Real, became a national best-seller.

An honors graduate of Stanford University, Carlson studied at Oxford University in England. Carlson grew up as a child prodigy on the violin, and, in 1989, became the first classical violinist ever to win the Miss America crown. In 2016, Carlson became the face of sexual harassment in the workplace, gracing the cover of Time Magazine and standing strong in her determination to promote a safe working environment for all women. To that end she plans to testify before Congress about workplace inequality and the prevalence of forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts that often keep sexual harassment claims shrouded in secrecy.

In January 2017, Carlson was tapped as a columnist for TIME magazine’s online Motto newsletter, focusing on women and empowerment issues.

Carlson has mentored dozens of young women throughout her career. In 2017 Carlson created the Gift of Courage Fund, a foundation to empower young girls by helping them build self-esteem and instilling within them the confidence of knowing that they can be anything they want to be. Carlson is married to sports agent Casey Close and mom to their two children, 11 and 13.

Carlson was honored with a Matrix Award for her work for the empowerment of women and for fearlessly opening the conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace.