The Stunning Transformation Of CNN's Rahel Solomon

Rahel Solomon is most well-known for her role as host of the morning show "Early Start" on CNN, but her journey to becoming a respected news anchor on the network did not come without hard work and dedication to her field. From the time she first moved to the United States until she announced her departure from the news network that helped to make her famous, Solomon has grown and changed in both her career and personal life. Like other CNN news anchors before her, including Kaitlan Collins, who underwent a glamorous transformation, and CNN's Abby Phillip, who also transformed stunningly, Solomon has undergone quite an evolution herself.

Solomon achieved a lot in her career as a news broadcaster at an early age; she reported on a national news story during her time as a news anchor in Colorado, and later she even went viral for her poise during an on-air challenge with her co-anchor at the time. As the daughter of Ethiopian parents, Solomon has lived and traveled all over the world for school, work, and pleasure, from West Virginia to Rome. Read on to learn all about the stunning transformation of CNN's Rahel Solomon, from a young girl abroad to a respected and accomplished financial journalist in her chosen field. 

Although she now lives and works in the United States, CNN news anchor and reporter Rahel Solomon was born in Sudan to Ethiopian parents. She lived in Sudan for the first three years of her life before moving to the United States with her parents and two brothers. Although she never actually lived in Ethiopia, she visited extended family there later in life.

After leaving Sudan, Solomon's family eventually settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a city that she considers her hometown. In an interview with People, the news anchor expressed her hometown pride for the city known for its sports and cheesesteaks. " ... [T]he place I've lived the longest is my hometown Philadelphia — and like most people there, I'm a very loud and proud Philly girl," Solomon said. "Go Birds!" Like many Philadelphia natives, she is a proud Eagles fan and has rooted for her hometown football team since she was young.

Solomon was also a studious child; she attended Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast High School, a Catholic school near Philadelphia, where she was taught by nuns. While she was a student there, the Delaware County native worked on the high school newspaper. However, she never seriously considered a career in journalism or media until years later. Solomon spoke with the Philadelphia Inquirer and said (via Delco Today), "[I]t never dawned on me to go into journalism – partially because I didn't really think that I could or that it was an actual career path."

After graduating from high school, Rahel Solomon left her home in Philadelphia and moved further east for college where she attended St. John's University in Queens, New York. Although the college she attended was only a few hours away from her hometown, her time as an undergraduate student took her halfway across the world; the finance student studied abroad in France, Spain, and Italy.

While some people end up working in the field they first went to college for, Solomon took a more unique career path. She studied finance at St. John's University and intended to work at a bank, but during her last semester, she realized she did not want to pursue finance. In her interview with People, Solomon further explained the reason behind her career transformation. "The fact that I graduated not long after the Great Recession and jobs were hard to come by also encouraged me to think differently about next steps," she said.

Still, her extracurricular activities during her time as an undergraduate student were an indication of what was yet to come. Along with being a member of the African Students Association and Haraya, the CNN personality worked as a reporter for the independent student run newspaper, "The Torch." The Philadelphia native graduated from her university with high honors and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance in 2010 before taking a year off to figure out what career field she really wanted to pursue. 

Part of the stunning transformation of CNN's Rahel Solomon was her decision to further her education after her undergraduate studies. Solomon went back to school for journalism, and this time she combined her passions of finance and journalism at a prestigious university. Like ESPN host Cassidy Hubbarth — who also had a stunning transformation – Solomon attended the Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University just outside of Chicago, Illinois.

During her time as a graduate student, Solomon interned for the company she would one day work at, CNN, as part of the Special Investigations Unit in Washington. She covered the 2012 presidential election for CNN as an intern for the company before graduating with a master's degree that same year. The transition from the world of finance and Wall Street to journalism even surprised Solomon herself. "Never saw that coming but maybe I should have?" she admitted to People. "Now I get to do both things I love and find interesting." The news anchor's passion for financial journalism shone through in her thorough reporting for the many broadcasts she went on to be a part of after her graduation from Northwestern University. 

Although she is known for her work at CNN, Rahel Solomon began her news career working as a reporter, not at major news networks but rather at local news stations across the United States. The Northwestern graduate briefly worked as a multimedia journalist in Charleston, West Virginia, for WSAZ-TV, and her career took off from there.

In January 2014, the Philadelphia native moved west to Colorado, where she joined the team at the news station KCNC-TV as a reporter and occasional anchor. She established herself as a reputable journalist and covered topics such as floods and crime in the Denver area. After her stint at the local station in Colorado, she moved back to her beloved hometown of Philadelphia in 2015, where she eventually worked at CBS-3.

Although she gained praise for her previous reporting at local news stations, she felt some pressure moving back to Philadelphia. In her interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Delco Today), Solomon explained, "You always take it [reporting] seriously, but there's an additional level of seriousness. You don't want to make a fool of yourself because you know your friends, your classmates, and your teachers are all watching." Despite some nerves, the trajectory of her career and reputation only went up. From 2015 until 2019, Solomon was a familiar face on the morning news at CBS-3 KYW-TV Philadelphia, where her love and knowledge of the City of Brotherly Love and its people were evident to viewers.

Being an anchor on the morning news is not just about covering typical topics such as local traffic, weather, and human interest stories. When news anchor Rahel Solomon was working at KCNC-TV (also known as CBS-4) in Denver Colorado, she covered a number of stories for the news station, from local events in the Denver and Boulder area to trials that became national news. Solomon was recognized for her diligent work as a reporter in Denver where she covered the catastrophic floods of 2014 and the national trial of the horrific Aurora Theater shooter; in 2015 she earned the distinction of being named the Colorado Association of Black Journalists' Broadcast Journalist of the Year. The nonprofit organization, which is part of the larger National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), awards distinguished Black reporters for their work in the field of media.

Later in 2018, Solomon was named one of the 30 individuals under 30 by Fun Times, an organization that recognizes recipients primarily for their work being a trusted source for the African Diaspora. The news reporter was nominated for the prestigious award by the president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, Melony Roy.

Working in live television means occasional blunders and viral moments. There are plenty of awkward talk show moments that were caught on camera and went viral, and the same has happened during various on-air news segments. Some news anchors discussed occasional viral challenges over the years, from the ice bucket challenge to a viral milk crate challenge that doctors called out. In 2017, CNN's Rahel Solomon chose to participate in a challenge that was popular at the time called the "one chip challenge" that had famous celebrities like Shaquille O'Neal sweating from the spice level of one Paqui Carolina Reaper chip.

The news personality and her co-anchor, Jim Donovan, did the "one chip challenge" during an on-air broadcast. The chip clip (pun intended) of the two news anchors went viral because of Solomon's calm reaction to the extreme spice versus her colleague's intense reaction. Rahel shared the video on Facebook herself, and wrote, "Hats off to Jim for even taking the challenge but leave the spicy food to me, friend!" Solomon stated that since she grew up eating spicy foods, she did not find the chip too hot. Meanwhile, Donovan looked miserable as sweat poured down his face and he tried to shake it off while glaring at his co-anchor for her lack of an intense reaction to the spice.  In the clip that went viral, Solomon joked that they should get a medic and told Donovan, "You can just give up and drink some milk." 

Rahel Solomon was a familiar face on the Philadelphia news station before the one chip incident, and after the clip went viral, she began to be recognized by people across the country. In 2019, Solomon left her position in Philadelphia and joined CNBC where she became a general assignment reporter at the business news network in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Her first day on the job was March 25, 2019, and during her time at the network, she gained even more recognition as a business reporter and was well on her way to becoming a nationally known journalist. During her time at CNBC, Solomon was part of programs such as "The News with Shepard Smith," "Halftime Report," and "Power Lunch."

Eventually, Solomon underwent another stunning professional transformation when she transitioned to working at CNN full-time in April 2022. At the prestigious national news network based in New York, the journalist and news anchor covered business news internationally for CNNI and other CNN networks. For four years, the Northwestern alum worked at CNN, where she eventually hosted the popular morning show "Early Start," a show whose name is no joke; it airs at 5 a.m. on the network. At "Early Start," Solomon put her finance degree to use and reported on topics like affordable housing and inflation, among other issues.

While CNN's Rahel Solomon has undergone a stunning transformation professionally, major moments happened in her personal life as well. While she had mostly kept her romantic life under wraps until this point, she shared details of her wedding with People. The broadcaster got engaged in May 2023, and about a year after her engagement, she married her now husband, lawyer Marcel S. Pratt, on July 13, 2024. The happy couple tied the knot at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the location of the couple's second date together. In her interview with People, Solomon revealed, "The wedding was like a movie...The vows were so heartfelt ... We truly experienced and enjoyed our wedding!"

As for Solomon's wedding dress, her gown was designed by Eva Lendel and had a unique detachable skirt for easier dancing. The CNN anchor said her stunning gown had a "princess feel," much like the wedding gown of the Princess of Monaco herself. Part of the untold truth of Grace Kelly is that her dress was once on display at the renowned museum.

With 200 guests, Solomon's wedding was a lavish affair. There was a celebration the next day as well, known as a "Melse," that was full of food and dancing with 500 guests. For the Melse, Solomon wore traditional attire that honored her Ethiopian roots while her husband paid homage to his historically Black fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. The happy couple looked stunning in embellished gold jackets and gold jewelry as they celebrated their big day. 

The year after CNN's Rahel Solomon married her husband, Marcel S. Pratt, she celebrated another major moment in her personal life. The news broadcaster went on maternity leave from CNN's "Early Start" in June 2025, and by the end of the year, Solomon and Pratt shared that they had welcomed their first child together. Solomon returned to Instagram after a long break from the app to announce the birth of her baby. On New Year's Eve, the news anchor shared a picture of herself when she was pregnant as well as a picture of her newborn baby. 

"2025 brought me my greatest gift yet – motherhood," Solomon wrote in her Instagram caption. She explained that her social media absence was mainly because she wanted to soak in everything that being a new mother brings. "After taking a long 6 month break from social media to be present and enjoy all the little, special moments — happy to be back," the CNN reporter wrote. 

Solomon clearly protects her child's privacy; she only posted one picture of her child as a baby, and she has not publicly shared the name or the baby's gender assigned at birth as of April 2026. The CNN morning news anchor soon returned from maternity leave and was back at her job for good, or so viewers thought. Solomon returned to her regular position at the national news network for only a few months before she announced more big news on-air during "Early Start." 

Business reporter and news broadcaster Rahel Solomon was the anchor of the morning show "Early Start" on the network for a year, and her familiar face was one of the first faces many early risers across the nation would see before heading off to work. However, her time hosting a morning show at the major news network was relatively brief, and on March 23, 2026, at the end of the morning broadcast, Solomon declared on "Early Start" that she would no longer be a part of CNN.

The on-air announcement shocked many viewers, especially since she would leave the network so shortly after the official announcement of her exit. CNN Early Start shared Solomon's announcement on X after the live broadcast. "I've decided that this will be my last week at CNN," Solomon stated. "More to come on what's next for me, but I'm really excited about this next chapter. For now, a huge thank you to the team here on 'Early Start.' It has been such an honor, truly, to serve as a business correspondent for CNN."

Solomon's last day working at CNN was March 27, 2026. Whether she stepped back from the show to focus on motherhood, move to another project, or just take a break, she did not elaborate on what the "next chapter" will be. While fans speculated why she left the network, Solomon did not show any ill will towards the network that launched her into reporter fame.