Quotes from Brooke Baldwin

I grew up in Atlanta, which meant the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was a mere 200 miles away.

Just because someone says something, whether it's at the podium during the briefing or the president tweets, I can't always assume that's factual. That's insane. We have to be very quick on our toes in fact checking.

Seriously, how many places on this planet exist in which you get to say to your boss, 'Sorry, but I'm leaving to climb a mountain, and I won't have Wi-Fi or cell service for a week.'

When President Ashraf Ghani gave his 2014 inaugural speech at the presidential palace, he choked up thanking his wife for her support and announced that she would take on a public role. That a male leader in Afghanistan would thank his spouse - let alone go on to promote her work and appear with her publicly - made news around the world.

I'd been invited to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2017 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Speaking live on television is one thing... speaking to 30,000 people in a football stadium is another.

As for being an objective journalist? That's easy. I want what everyone else wants: the truth.

At age 12, it was obvious. I had to go to Space Camp.

In the most polarized and passionate, the most angry and aggressive news environment in recent memory, my job as a journalist requires me - often - to push back in live interviews against comments that are unfair, untrue, or leave me thinking, 'Is this seriously happening right now?'

I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with degrees in journalism and Spanish in 2001 and landed my first on-air job in Charlottesville, Va.

I'd definitely have some butterflies if the day ever came when I'd get to sit down with Oprah.

Whether it's summiting Kili or achieving my next work goal - Look forward for a moment, but then keep your head down and trudge on.

Reporting makes you a better anchor and vice versa.

Spoiler alert: I did not become an astronaut.

CNN was just a glimmer in my eye when I was growing up in Atlanta.

It has always been important for women to empower other women.

It matters that we have balance and facts and push people when they need to be pushed so that we can give the accurate, fair, balanced piece to the viewer, and then it's up to the viewer to be the judge.

I invite a variety people on my show with wide-ranging opinions - sometimes even my jaw hits the floor, too - but I let them speak. Whether it's left, right, or center, I want to expose my viewers to other perspectives. Agree with them or not, the nation needs to listen.

I really focus on giving the viewers compelling television, and hope that more and more people watch.

There's a genuineness that I hope I offer to viewers.

I run into viewers all the time who have no idea I've moved to N.Y.C. I think, for many of them, a studio is a studio is a studio.

I think viewers know CNN delivers time and time again on the most important stories.

My 'something borrowed' was a stunning pair of vintage diamond drop earrings from my friend Afshin at Estate Diamond Jewelry in N.Y.C. My 'something blue' was my tanzanite right hand ring that I bought for myself in Tanzania after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

I love living in Manhattan, but every time I leave, I say that I'm so happy I'm leaving.