Anderson Cooper

Host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360

Dispatches from the Edge: an Evening with Anderson Cooper

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Anderson Cooper anchors Anderson Cooper 360, a provocative alternative on CNN/U.S. each weekday to the typical network evening newscast, going beyond the headlines to tell stories in-depth and from multiple points of view. Cooper, who joined CNN in December 2001, served as CNN's weekend anchor before moving to prime time in March 2003 following the war in Iraq and then to a two-hour, late evening time-slot in November 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. He is also the host of his own nationally syndicated talk-show Anderson.

Since the launch of Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper has covered nearly all major news events around the world. Often reporting from the scene, most recently covering the BP oil spill in the gulf and the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. In 2005, Cooper spent more than a month along the U.S. Gulf Coast covering the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and has returned more than 20 times to follow the reconstruction progress. Cooper has reported multiple times from Afghanistan and Iraq, including several anniversaries of the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraqi elections. Cooper also covered the ongoing violence in Mexico, the bombings in London and the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. He also anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City in 2005 and traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the tsunami in 2004.

During most of 2007 and 2008, Cooper traveled around the world for Planet in Peril, a high definition documentary about issues threatening the planet, its inhabitants and its natural resources.

Cooper also has played a pivotal role as part of the Best Political Team on Television for CNN's America Votes 2008 coverage, reporting and anchoring coverage from both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. In 2007, Cooper moderated the groundbreaking CNN/YouTube debates for Democratic presidential candidates from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., and for Republican presidential candidates in St. Petersburg, Fla., and, in 2008, moderated a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

In addition to reporting for CNN, Cooper also provides reports for CBS's 60 Minutes. Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper's memoirs about covering the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and other news events, recently topped the New York Times Bestsellers List and other bestseller charts.

Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network's reality program, The Mole. Cooper anchored ABC's live, interactive news and interview program, World News Now, as well as providing reports for World News Tonight, 20/20 and 20/20 Downtown. Previously, he was a New York-based correspondent for ABC News, reporting primarily for World News Saturday/Sunday.

Cooper joined ABC from Channel One News, where he served as chief international correspondent. During that time, he reported and produced stories from Bosnia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa and Vietnam. He also reported national stories that were broadcast over the Channel One News school television network and seen in more than 12,000 classrooms nationwide.

Cooper and Anderson Cooper 360 have won several major journalism awards, including multiple Emmy awards. Cooper has also earned a National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage, an Emmy Award for his contribution to ABC's coverage of Princess Diana's funeral; a Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian civil war; a Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia; a Bronze Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam; and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for his 20/20 Downtown report on high school athlete Corey Johnson.

Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi. Cooper is based in New York City.

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GAYLE LEMMON at TEDxWOMEN

"If you're going to talk about jobs, then you have to talk about entrepreneurs," says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. "And if you're talking about entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict settings, then you must talk about women." Lemmon is the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and a Contributing Editor-at-Large for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She has devoted her life to shedding light on the resiliency of female entrepreneurs, and their remarkable power to reshape local economies. By recognizing and investing in these female breadwinners, Lemmon says, we can help grow economies of all development levels around the world.