Julia Boorstin Samuelson is an American news correspondent, reporter and author. Since 2006, Boorstin has been reporter and the Senior Media & Tech Correspondent for

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

, focussing on new media and technology.

Early life and education

Julia Boorstin is the daughter of Paul and Sharon Boorstin. Her father is a screenwriter and producer for film and television such as the series ''

Hart to Hart ''Hart to Hart'' is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset ...

'' (1982) and '' Fame'' (1982), and the film '' Fire with Fire'' (1986). Her mother, Sharon Boorstin, is an author. Julia Boorstin's late grandfather was the Pulitzer-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004). Her grandmother, Ruth Frankel (1917-2013), was a published poet and reviewed books for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in the 1940s in addition to helping to edit her husband Daniel's academic writing. She attended the

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 2000, Boorstin graduated with honors from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in history. While studying at Princeton, she was an editor at the Princeton student newspaper ''

The Daily Princetonian ''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University. The newspaper is owned by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Co. and boasts a cir ...

''. After finishing her degree at Princeton, Boorstin had planned to study at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

but instead decided to work for a year at ''Fortune''.

Career

''Fortune''

In June 2000, Boorstin joined ''Fortune'' as a business writer. There, she wrote on topics such as media companies, retail and business trends.

CNBC

Boorstin first joined CNBC in May 2006 as a general assignment reporter and news correspondent. In December 2006, she became the new media and entertainment reporter for CNBC's Los Angeles bureau. Soon after joining CNBC, Boorstin told her boss that she wanted to report on a then-newly established, small company called

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, though he wasn't entirely convinced of the importance of Facebook as a company. In 2013, Boorstin created the CNBC Disruptor 50 list, an annual list that highlights economically transformative private companies that are challenging established industries. In September 2023, an interview that Boorstin conducted with Twitter CEO

Linda Yaccarino Linda Yaccarino (born December 21, 1963) is an American media proprietor serving since June 2023 as chief executive officer (CEO) of X Corp., X Corp. She previously served as chairwoman of global advertising & partnerships at NBCUniversal from 2 ...

at Vox Media's Code conference went viral for Yaccarino's inability to answer questions. Boorstin pushed Yaccarino to provide quantifiable numbers for Twitter's daily users and loss of advertisers. Yaccarino was asked by Boorstin if she was merely acting as "CEO in name only" with Elon Musk actually making key decisions at Twitter and overseeing product development. Boorstin contrasted this Meta's product team who reports to CEO Mark Zuckerberg whereas Twitter's product team reports to Elon Musk. Yaccarino waived away the notion that she was in more of a COO role at Twitter and responded with "Yeah, not nice".

Writing

Boorstin's first book ''When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them'' was published by Simon & Schuster on October 11, 2022. In the book, Boorstin discusses the stories of over sixty female CEOs and business leaders, including interviews with businesswomen like Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake and

Bumble Bumble is an online dating and networking application launched in 2014. Profiles of potential matches are displayed to users, who can "swipe left" to reject a candidate or "swipe right" to indicate interest. The app is a product of Bumble Inc., ...

founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. Boorstin said that the book has relevance as "women have been hit so hard by the pandemic" and barriers to women remain as "pay gaps have not made any progress toward closing". ''When Women Lead'' was included in ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle c ...

''s list of "must-read non-fiction books" in 2023.

Personal life

Boorstin met her husband Couper Samuelson at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in January 2004. They married on December 16, 2007, in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

Accolades

Boorstin was nominated for a 2023-2024 News & Documentary Emmy Award for her contribution to NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. In 2003, 2004 and 2006, ''The Journalist and Financial Reporting'' newsletter included Boorstin in their "TJFR 30 under 30" list of the most promising business journalists under 30 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boorstin, Julia Living people American journalists 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists American women television journalists American television reporters and correspondents Harvard-Westlake School alumni CNBC people Princeton University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)