Poppy Harlow Net Worth

What Is Poppy Harlow's Net Worth?

Poppy Harlow is an American journalist, television anchor, author, and media entrepreneur who has a net worth of $8 million.

Poppy Harlow spent 16 years at CNN, where she became one of the network's most recognizable anchors and built a reputation for business reporting, major breaking-news coverage, and interviews with prominent executives, politicians, and cultural figures.

Harlow joined CNN in 2008 after working at Forbes.com and NY1. She eventually anchored "CNN Newsroom," created and hosted the business-interview series "Boss Files," and in 2022 became one of the original anchors of "CNN This Morning" alongside Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins. After CNN ended that version of the morning show in 2024, Harlow declined another role at the network and left CNN.

She subsequently moved with her family to Paris and founded Day 2 Media, a company focused on stories about reinvention, loss, major life transitions, and what happens after life changes unexpectedly. Harlow is also the author of children's books including "The Biggest Little Boy" and "The Color of Love" and has developed the Day 2 concept into a larger book and media project.

Early Life

Katharine Julia Harlow was born on May 2, 1982, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received the nickname "Poppy" as a child, and it remained with her throughout her life and career.

Her father, James Lee Harlow, was an attorney who died when Poppy was 15. Harlow has frequently spoken about the profound effect his death had on her and the influence his legal career had on her own interest in law and public affairs.

She attended The Blake School in Minneapolis before enrolling at Columbia University. Harlow graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in political science and also studied Middle Eastern affairs. During college, she spent several years interning at CBS MarketWatch, an experience that convinced her to pursue journalism rather than immediately attend law school.

Early Journalism Career

After graduating from Columbia, Harlow worked at CBS Newspath, helping producers and reporters with research, footage, and field assignments. She subsequently moved into on-camera reporting at NY1 News, where she covered Staten Island and New Jersey, including local politics, business, and community stories.

In 2007, Harlow joined the Forbes.com Video Network as an anchor and reporter. Her work there expanded her focus on business and finance and gave her experience interviewing executives and covering major companies.

CNN hired Harlow in 2008. She initially anchored CNNMoney.com's video programming while also reporting business and economic stories for CNN, CNN International, and HLN.

CNN Career

Harlow gradually moved from financial journalism into a broader reporting and anchoring role. In 2012, CNN named her a New York-based correspondent, and in 2015 she became an anchor of "CNN Newsroom Weekend."

Her assignments included major breaking-news events in the United States and overseas. Harlow covered the Boston Marathon bombing and spent years following survivors of the attack. She also reported from Paris following the November 2015 terrorist attacks, remaining in France for two weeks and focusing much of her coverage on victims and their families.

Harlow's reporting received a Gracie Award for an investigative feature involving financial fraud as well as a Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing Best in Business award.

In 2017, she moved into CNN's weekday morning schedule as an anchor of "CNN Newsroom." She initially shared the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. block with John Berman and later co-anchored the program with Jim Sciutto.

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Steubenville Controversy

In 2013, Harlow drew criticism for her coverage of the sentencing of two high-school football players convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio.

While discussing the defendants after their convictions, Harlow described the emotional reaction in the courtroom and noted the potentially devastating effect the convictions would have on their futures. Critics argued that the segment showed excessive sympathy for the convicted teenagers while giving insufficient attention to the victim. An online petition calling on CNN to apologize attracted more than 250,000 signatures.

The episode became one of the most widely discussed controversies of Harlow's career.

Live-TV Health Scare

In December 2015, Harlow briefly lost consciousness while anchoring live television. She was pregnant with her first child at the time.

After the broadcast cut away, Harlow returned and told viewers that she was fine and had simply become overheated. She was later examined at a hospital and said both she and her unborn daughter were healthy.

Boss Files

Business journalism remained an important part of Harlow's work even as she became a general-news anchor.

She created and hosted "Boss Files," a CNN podcast and interview series focused on prominent business leaders and entrepreneurs. Her subjects over the years included Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jamie Dimon, Sundar Pichai, Howard Schultz, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jay-Z.

CNN planned an expanded version of "Boss Files" for its CNN+ streaming service in 2022, although CNN+ shut down only weeks after launching.

Yale Law School

Harlow returned to school while continuing her CNN career. In 2021, she stepped away from her daily anchoring duties to enroll in Yale Law School's Master of Studies in Law program.

The program allowed Harlow to study constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal law, and other legal subjects without pursuing a traditional three-year law degree. She received her Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale in 2022 and then returned full-time to CNN.

Her return to law had a personal connection as well. Harlow had long considered following her father into the legal profession before choosing journalism.

CNN This Morning

In September 2022, CNN announced that Harlow would co-anchor a completely redesigned morning show with Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins. "CNN This Morning" debuted that November and was intended to become one of the network's flagship programs.

The original lineup did not last. Lemon left CNN in April 2023, while Collins moved into a solo primetime role. Harlow subsequently co-anchored the program with Phil Mattingly.

CNN reorganized its morning lineup again in February 2024, effectively ending Harlow and Mattingly's version of "CNN This Morning." Harlow came off the daily schedule while she and CNN discussed possible new assignments.

In April 2024, Harlow announced that she would leave CNN after 16 years. The network had offered her another position, but she chose to depart rather than move into the proposed role.

Books

Harlow expanded into children's publishing while still at CNN.

In 2021, she published "The Biggest Little Boy," a children's picture book about a boy learning that being "big" is about more than physical size.

She later co-wrote "The Color of Love" with journalist Laura Jarrett. Published in 2024, the children's book uses a classroom discussion about colors to explore the different forms love can take.

Harlow has also developed a nonfiction book centered on the same themes of change, loss, resilience, and reinvention that later became the focus of Day 2 Media.

Day 2 Media

After leaving CNN, Harlow moved with her husband and children to Paris and began developing a new media venture.

She founded Day 2 Media around the idea that major disruptions divide life into a "before" and an "after." The company focuses on people navigating events such as career upheaval, relationship changes, illness, grief, and personal reinvention and explores what happens after the initial crisis or headline has passed.

The concept grew partly out of Harlow's own experience leaving CNN after spending most of her adult professional life at the network. She has described the period following the cancellation of her morning show as an unexpected opportunity to reconsider what she wanted to build next.

Day 2 has expanded into interviews, storytelling, speaking engagements, community content, and a book project. Harlow has also become a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Personal Life

Harlow is married to Sinisa Babcic. They have two children, daughter Sienna and son Luca.

The family lived in New York for many years before spending an extended period in Paris following Harlow's departure from CNN. Harlow has continued dividing her professional work between the United States and Europe.

In addition to her journalism and media work, Harlow has served on nonprofit boards and has remained involved with Columbia University. Columbia honored her with its John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement.

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