Soledad O’Brien Productions is a multi-platform production company that creates gritty, authentic and untold stories of marginalized communities living at the crossroads of friction over race, class, progress and access.
Celebrated journalist, documentarian and thought leader Soledad O’Brien founded SO’B Productions in 2013 to create empowering content on the very issues Soledad has explored throughout her career. With an emphasis on character-driven storytelling, SO'B digs into crime and conflict, community and common ground, sports and social issues, race and radical changes to culture, business and politics - authentic stories told by authentic voices. SO’B Productions produces award-winning documentaries, reporter-driven stories, branded content, podcasts and impactful events.
SO’B has produced documentaries for HBO, Netflix, PBS, Discovery, Peacock, Scripps, Paramount Plus, including two with Oscar-nominations, an Independent Spirit Award, 5 Critics Choice Awards, the Peabody, and several others. We also have produced podcast series for Luminary, Quake, Audible and I Heart , including Who Killed JFK with Rob Reiner which debuted at #1 on Apple. We produced stories and content for Matter of Face w/ Soledad O’Brien, a weekly political magazine show that aired for 10 years, winning several Emmys and landing Soledad in the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. The production company won best national long-form reporting on education two years in a row for documentaries released by Time and CBS. Our four-walled branded content includes a documentary short series for P&G’s Girls Can campaign and My Black is Beautiful campaign, a series for Genworth on the cost of care, work for AARP in Haiti, for American Family Insurance on celebrity lives, and a documentary on the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico for Entertainment Industries Foundation, among others. We have also created live televised events for PBS, XQ Institute, Google, and others.
The Team
Rose Arce, Vice President and Executive Producer
Rose Arce, Vice President and Executive Producer, has traveled the world producing groundbreaking films, news coverage, books and podcasts and with Soledad O’Brien since 2005. She leads SO’Bs development and production.
A Pulitzer Prize and four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and author, she has spearheaded award-winning and Oscar nominated documentary films, shorts, series and podcasts for SO’B’s clients, including Netflix, HBO, and CBS/Paramount, NBC/Peacock, and PBS, and Podcast Networks like IHeart, Audible and Luminary. She developed The Devil is Busy (HBO, 2025), which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film, and was an EP of The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix 2025) which premiered at Sundance and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film. She is Director of War on La Radio, a political news documentary reported by Soledad O’Brien (“In Real Life” Documentaries on Scripps TV 2024) which won 4 Silver Tellys, and produced The End of Affirmative Action (CBS/Paramount + 2024) which won a Gold Telly for Social Impact and Best Education documentary from EWA. She also developed, then directed Pandemic in Seattle (Hearst and PBS World Channel 2021) winner of the Silver Telly for directing. Other credits include Hungry to Learn, (Yahoo 2019), and for CNN: Black and Blue, Babies Behind Bars, Her Name was Steven, Rescued and episodes of the Black in America and Latino in America series.
Arce spent 15 years at CNN reporting breaking news around the world, including being one of the few on-air reporters live from Ground Zero while the 9/11 attacks unfolded, for which she received special recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences,, then was recognized by them again for reporting on the war in Afghanistan. Her work in Haiti, Chile and the Congo was also lauded. Previously she had been a producer at CBS News and WCBS, where she won two Emmys for her investigative reports on abortion and policing. She began her career as a print reporter, covering crime for the NY Daily News and later New York Newsday where she shared the Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting with her colleagues.
She is the author or co-author of four books, including the Next Big Story and Latino in America with Soledad O’Brien and has taught graduate school-level journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (now Craig Newmark). She has worked for diversity in media for decades through her leadership roles with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Lesbian Gay Journalists Association, San Francisco State University, Unity: Journalists of Color, and the Radio Television News Directors Association. She is a graduate of Barnard College/Columbia University and lives in New York with her partner and daughter.
Conor Firth, Chief Financial Officer
As serving Chief Financial Officer, Conor Firth provides the financial leadership that helps SO'B Productions grow sustainably. He oversees the company's financial strategy and accounting operations, ensuring the integrity and commercial discipline that underpins every production.
With over 20 years of experience, Conor has served as CFO for several international advertising agencies and a wide range of creative businesses, including TV and video production companies, photographers, animators and filmmakers. He has worked for entities in the US, UK, and UAE, giving him valuable international insight and the opportunity to work with a global roster of clients.
At SO'B Productions, Conor partners with the creative and production teams to provide financial leadership that supports informed decision-making. He oversees production budgets, strengthens cash flow, manages production accounting, and builds the financial systems that enable sustainable growth.
Tristan Nash, Technical Director
Tristan Nash is a Director and Editor living in Brooklyn who serves as a Producer and Technical Director for Soledad O’Brien Productions. Tristan edited our Academy Award-nominated short documentary, The Devil Is Busy, which also won the 2026 Gold Telly Award for Editing. and has worked with Soledad for more than 10 years in different capacities. He is also the founder of the production company NEW ONTOLOGY Pictures.
Honesty Taszhé, Associate Producer
Honesty Taszhé is an award-winning filmmaker from Missouri. Her work often explores the emotional and mental struggles Black and Brown women face amid the Midwest's rich landscape. Recently, Honesty was awarded Best Heartland Short at the Kansas City International Film Festival and Best Short at the International Black and Diversity Film Festival in Ontario for her narrative JEN.
Previously, Honesty had worked as an Archival and Development Producer, collaborating with documentary production companies including Netflix, Story Syndicate, Marshall Curry Productions, and Mariska Hargitay's Mighty Entertainment. Currently, she works as the Associate Producer for Soledad O’Brien Productions. Her directing and producing work has been highlighted in publications such as Netflix Newsroom, Springfield News-Leader, and By Design Magazine.
As an Industry Standard and Netflix resident, Honesty holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Missouri State University. She was recently selected as a 2025 Black Boy Writes and Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative quarterfinalist and a 2026 Antigravity Academy quarterfinalist.
Elijah Sevier, Executive Assistant
Elijah Sevier serves as Executive Assistant to Soledad O’Brien, supporting her work across journalism, speaking engagements, philanthropy, and the operations of SO’B Productions.
Prior to joining SO’B Productions, Elijah spent six years working in the contemporary art world, collaborating with artists, galleries, collectors, and cultural institutions. She studied Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at The American University of Paris, where she developed a passion for storytelling across disciplines and mediums. Her background at the intersection of literature, visual culture, and the arts continues to inform her work supporting nonfiction media and documentary storytelling.
Carrie Beehan, Executive Director of the Powerful Foundation
Carrie Beehan serves as Executive Director of the Powerful Foundation, where she oversees day-to-day operations and supports the organization’s mission of expanding educational opportunities for young women. Since 2019, she has worked closely with the foundation’s leadership on program administration, communications, and organizational development.
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Oscar Nomination
Best Documentary Short Film
The Devil is Busy -
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Oscar Nomination
Best Documentary Feature Film
The Perfect Neighbor -
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George Foster Peabody Award
Documentary Film
The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks -
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Independent Spirit Award
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Black and Missing (HBO) -
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Alfred I. duPont Award
Best Reporting
Soledad O’Brien/Southeast Asia Tsunami -
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George Foster Peabody Award
Coverage of Hurricane Katrina
Soledad O’Brien, Correspondent / Anchor -
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Society of Professional Journalists
Best Investigative Reporting
Rose Arce -
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Edward R. Murrow Award / RTDNA-UNITY Award
Latino in America (2009)
Soledad O’Brien, CNN reporter
Rose Arce, CNN Senior Producer -
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Pulitzer Prize
Spot News Reporting
Rose Arce/NY Newsday Staff
Our collaborators
Geeta Gandbhir, Director and showrunNER
Geeta Gandbhir first worked with SO’B in 2019 when she directed Hungry to Learn. She was Director and Showrunner for our Independent Spirit award-winning series Black and Missing on HBO, Director of Oscar-nominated films The Perfect Neighbor on Netflix and The Devil is Busy on HBO, and Executive Producer of the She Was First Series for PBS.
She embarked on her career under the tutelage of Spike Lee and Sam Pollard, with whom she now runs her own production company Message Pics. “The Perfect Neighbor” won her the 2025 Sundance US Documentary Directing Award, Cinema Eye Best Direction Award, Independent Spirit Best Documentary Award, the Dorian Award for Documentary of the Year, the African American Film Critics’ Association Winner, and was an NAACP Image Nominee for Outstanding Documentary Film, The Devil is Busy, with Christalyn Hampton, won the Jury Award at the River Run Film Festival and Audience Awards at Full Frame, Pan African Film Festival, Shorts Fest, the Black Reel Award and a Gold Telly. She also directed one part of
“Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” for Netflix, "Reclaimed" for PBS, and the Oscar Shortlisted film “How We Get Free” for HBO. Additional credits include the series "Born in Synanon" for Paramount, the series "Eyes on the Prize" for HBO, the Emmy-winning doc "Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power," "Call Center Blues," with Topic Studios which was shortlisted for the 2021 Academy Awards, an episode of Peabody winner, Why We Hate" for Discovery, and "I Am Evidence" for HBO which won a 2019 Emmy, DuPont Award, and ATAS Award. Her film "Armed with Faith" for PBS also won a 2019 News and Documentary Emmy, an episode of the Netflix series "The Rapture," focusing on rap artist Rapsody, "Prison Dogs," which she co-directed with Perri Peltz, and "A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers," for PBS.
Yoruba Richen, Director
Yoruba Richen directed The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks for SO’B which released on Peacock and won a Peabody, a Gracie and was honored by the Television Academy. Yoruba was awarded the Trailblazer award by Black Public Media. Her work has been featured on multiple outlets, including Netflix, HBO, MSNBC, Peacock, FX/Hulu and PBS. Her work includes the Emmy-nominated films American Reckoning, How It Feels to Be Free; The Sit In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show and Green Book: Guide to Freedom. Her film, The Killing of Breonna Taylor won an NAACP Image Award. She co-directed The Fall of Diddy for HBO Max and ID and her latest film, FREE JOAN LITTLE will premiere on PBS next year. Yoruba is the Founding Director of the Documentary Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
Christalyn Hampton, Director
Christalyn Hampton made her directorial debut co-directing the HBO documentary short The Devil Is Busy for SO’B Productions alongside Geeta Gandbhir, earning an Academy Award nomination and a Black Reel Award. She also directed Soledad O’Brien’s 6-part PBS documentary series focusing on women in the arts. She Was First. Her work as both director and producer brings culturally significant stories to the screen with depth, nuance, and emotional resonance. She was also a producer on SO’B’s Peacock film, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, which earned a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, and Television Academy Honors.
Her additional credits include Born in Synanon, Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three Cities, and Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story. Across her work with Soledad O’Brien Productions and other collaborators, Hampton has built a reputation for crafting compelling nonfiction stories that illuminate history, culture, and social change.
Viridiana Leiberman, Director
Viridiana is a director and editor who won the ACE Eddie, a Cinema Eye, and the Critic Choice Documentary award for best Editing in 2026 for THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR which was produced by SO’B, Message Pics and Park Pictures. The Critics Choice Association also nominated her for the larger Critics Choice Awards making her the first documentary editor to ever compete against major fiction motion pictures.
Viridiana wants to create films that push storytelling into new forms, always rooted in personal, character-driven narratives that shape not only our imaginations but what we want our world to look like. Her directorial debut was BORN TO PLAY which premiered on ESPN and ABC in 2020 and most recently she co-directed the feature documentary JEAN-MICHEL premiering at Tribeca Film Festival 2026.
She is editor of the Emmy-winning documentary THE SENTENCE, I AM EVIDENCE, LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER, and THROUGH OUR EYES: APART, Sony Pictures Classic’s CARLOS, the ESPN 30 for 30: BREAKAWAY and QUEER FUTURES series.
Samantha M. Knowles, Director
Samantha Knowles is an award-winning director. Most recently, she directed an episode of KATRINA: COME HELL AND HIGH WATER, which premiered as the #1 show in the U.S. on Netflix in 2025. She also directed the five-part Disney+ series HARLEM ICE, which follows a group of young competitive ice skaters in Harlem over the course of a transformative season. The series has been nominated for a 2026 Emmy Award and a 2026 Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Anthology Series. Samantha was also recently nominated for an IDA Award for directing an episode of the series EYES ON THE PRIZE III, which was deemed an “essential” series by the Hollywood Reporter. The series was also nominated for two Critics Choice Awards. She won a Cinema Eye Honors Award, an NAACP Award, and a Gracie Award for directing BLACK AND MISSING for HBO, and the series also won a Television Academy Honors Award, an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Series, and an AAFCA TV Award for Best Documentary. In 2023 she was named to the DOCNYC 40 Under 40 List, which honors and celebrates talent in the documentary world. Her additional directing credits include the Oscar shortlisted film HOW WE GET FREE for HBO, TANGLED ROOTS, which premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, and THE BLUE LINE, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and is now part of the New York Times Op-Docs series. Samantha has been working in documentary film for over 15 years.
David France, Filmmaker and Director
David is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning investigative journalist. He has directed and produced three Oscar-shortlisted films, won three Peabodys and a BAFTA, and earned five Emmy nominations and two nominations from the Director Guild of America. His fourth book, “How to Survive a Plague” (Knopf 2016), won the Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction. He is founder and president of Public Square Films.
Randy Ferrell, Director
Randy Ferrell is an award-winning director, executive producer, and showrunner with more than 20 years experience delivering premium TV, film, and digital content. A former baseball player and magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California, Randy truly believes that everyone has a story and that telling a great story is the foundation of everything. A passionate storyteller who loves exploring the complexities of the human condition and capturing multiple sides of people, Randy specializes in character-driven narratives across multiple genres including sports, music, biography, true crime, politics, history, criminal justice, and social justice.
Randy started his career producing the long-running, Emmy-nominated series, True Hollywood Story. As the lead senior staff producer for NBCUniversal, he developed and produced numerous projects, including investigative documentaries with journalist Laura Ling, live programming with Ryan Seacrest, and multiple specials with A-list celebrities. Randy has filmed, interviewed, and/or directed everyone from Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, and Hugh Hefner to mayors, governors, and members of Congress. Some of his work includes seminal biographies on musicians like No Doubt, Jason Derulo, Snoop Dogg, Master P, and will.i.am, a pilot with Sports Illustrated and Jerry Bruckheimer, and multiple original short docs for YouTube.
A master of serialized content, Randy has created, showrun, executive produced, and/or directed multiple doc series, including the breakout hip hop projects Death Row Chronicles and No Limit Chronicles as well as the 6-part social justice anthology Disrupt & Dismantle with Soledad O’Brien. Randy served as showunner, EP, and director on the multiple award-winning HBO Max series, Justice, USA, which gives a raw, 360° look at Nashville, Tennessee's criminal justice system. Next, he directed Pillowcase Murders, a limited series about one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, which was Paramount Plus’ most-watched premiere ever at the time. In 2024, Randy directed and was showrunner on Unlocked: Family Secrets, which takes an emotional deep-dive into the previously buried secrets of families across America. Then, in 2025, he directed, executive produced, and co-edited a feature doc, Birdland, about the city of Baltimore, its beloved Major League Baseball team, and the synergies between the two.
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