Maria Bartiromo

She was born on September 11, 1967 to Italian-American parents, Vincent and Josephine Bartiromo in New York. She is the youngest of three siblings. Her father owned an Italian restaurant.

She went to Fontbonne Hall Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school. She later enrolled at New York University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in journalism and economics.

Her first job was at CNN where she was hired as an intern in 1988. It was a difficult and low paying job, yet she slogged on. She even offered to cover for other reporters after her regular work shift as her own job was primarily off-camera.

By covering for other reporters over a period of five long years, she was able to build an on-air portfolio for herself. In August 1993, she sent her clips to the president of CNBC, Roger Ailes. He hired her promptly.

In 1995 she replaced Roy Blumberg as the analyst at CNBC and began reporting on live television from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It was the first ever time a journalist was reporting live from that venue and the fact that it was a woman who did it made the feat even more special.

Though groundbreaking, the task was far from easy for her. Often she found herself to be the only female on the floor and was sometimes ill-treated by the male traders. Yet the gutsy woman stood her ground and focused on her job.

During the 1990s she also became a frequent contributor to the ‘Market Watch’ and ‘Squawk Box’ segments. In 1997 she began anchoring ‘Business Center’, CNBC’s flagship primetime show along with Tyler Mathisen. She hosted the show for two years until 1999.

Though Maria Bartiromo has several groundbreaking works to her credit, she is best known for being the first journalist to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1995.