For women, building a media career based largely on presenting political opinions can be a treacherous endeavor. The political world has become something of a minefield, and in our current divisive climate, opinions are often interpreted in all kinds of distasteful ways.
Ana Kasparian, though, has negotiated that minefield with poise and intelligence. Using the likes of Barbara Walters as her inspiration, she’s gained a reputation as a smart progressive commentator, and her achievements to date have been impressive.
Given all that, let’s take a closer look at her journey and the things in her background that shaped her approach to her career.
Early Days
One formative element in Kasparian’s background is her ethnicity. She’s the daughter of Armenian immigrants, and her great grandparents experienced the Armenian genocide first hand back in 1915. Raised in Los Angeles, she speaks fluent Armenian, and it quickly became apparent that she had many diverse talents.
Kasparian studied ballet growing up, and she’s performed professionally as a ballet dancer as well. Her first calling, however, was journalism, and she graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a journalism degree, then went on to get a master’s in political science in 2010.
Career
Kasparian landed a job working in the news division of CBS, but she knew right away that the environment wasn’t right for her, calling it “robotic.”
She got her big break when she became producer and co-host of “The Young Turks,” a Sirius satellite radio show that quickly got a lot of attention. The show is sharp, opinionated and progressive, and along with Cenk Uygur they take a freewheeling but fascinating approach to presenting the news.
Net Worth
That show led to her being a featured part of other analogous shows – “Think Tank,” “The Point” and “The Raw Story,” most prominently. In addition, Kasparian branched out to form various YouTube channels, a combination that’s allowed her to build a nice fortune. Ana Kasparian has an estimated net worth of $2 million in 2023.
At this point the 36-year old Kasparian is something of a one-woman media empire, and she’s definitely in the prime of her career. Early on she was featured in a Forbes “30 Under 30” piece that focused on the media, and has clearly lived up to the potential implied by that piece.
Kasparian also teaches at CSUN, and her website features photos of her with both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, so she’s clearly not intimidated by crossing the political aisle to ply her trade.
Personal Life
Kasparian’s stunning looks are definitely part of her presentation package, but she’s done an admirable job of keeping her focus on her intellect and sharp journalistic instincts. Her one flashy move was marrying Christian Lopez, an actor, musician, model and former minor league baseball player who’s also serious eye candy.
They eloped in 2016 a year ahead of their wedding date, and the fact that the marriage has stood the test of time speaks to the fact that true love was the real motivator.
Kasparian is obviously smart and ambitious, so it makes sense to assume she’s got designs on further climbing the media ladder. Where that takes her is anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to say she’s got the talents and instincts to go after and get just about anything she wants.
