Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s recent remarks on Israel got him under fire as CNN presenter Bianna Golodrya accused him of publicly expressing anti-Semitic remarks.
Who is Bianna Golodrya?
Born in 1978, Bianna Vitalievna Golodryga is a senior global affairs analyst at CNN. She has previously served in Yahoo! News, ABC Network, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and CBS.
The forty-two-year-old anchor is the second wife of Peter R Orszag who is a former Director of Management and Budget for Obama Administration. The couple have two children together.
Born to a Jewish family from the Soviet Republic of Moldova, Golodryga’s parents migrated to Houston as political refugees with no more than $150 in their pockets.
The anchor often boasts about attending High School for Performing Visual Arts in Houston because of the fact that the music sensation Beyoncé Knowles also graduated from there.
After completing her undergraduate degree in Russian/European affairs from the University of Texas, Golodryga began her as a producer for CNBC in 2001. One of her notable initial projects include live coverage of the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2015, Golodryga was chosen by Hillary Clinton to conduct her first interview as a presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Clinton’s staff confused “Bianna” with “Brianna” which ended up with the golden opportunity being allocated to fellow CNN anchor Brianna Keilar instead of Golodryga.
As Golodryga gained fame after being listed as one of the top journalists under 30 in 2004, she also went through various controversies. She was convicted of driving-under-influence in early 2000. Police records confirm that Golodryga was given a 30-day jail sentence which was later dismissed.
Fluent in both Russian and English, the anchor serves as a member of Council on Foreign Relations and has a net worth of roughly $3 million.
