Biography
Kristen Aldridge has worked all over the world as anchor, host, journalist, writer, producer and content creator. With two decades of experience in media covering a wide variety of genres such as news, business, entertainment and sports, she's been awarded an Emmy, a Davey, an American Advertising Award and seven Tellys. She's also covered just about every star-studded event, including the Golden Globes, the Grammys, the Emmys and the Oscars, where she had the honor of being co-host for the national red carpet pre-show on ABC.
Her interest in television hosting and entertainment journalism began early on. A self-professed "pop culture junkie", Kristen discovered Entertainment Tonight (1981) on television when she was 12 and her dream of becoming a television personality was born. Yep, she was hooked.
With a naturally inquisitive nature and energetic personality, the dream job of a television host seemed a perfect fit. While growing up in Minnesota, Kristen did anything she could to get her questions answered about TV journalism.
As a teenager, she would often pretend her hairbrush was a microphone to practice her interviewing skills on a mock red carpet in the family room (embarrassing to admit, but so true). In high school, Kristen wrote for the school newspaper and after countless hours bugging her journalism teacher with questions, he decided to make her T.A. Kristen's tenacity and ability at getting the "inside scoop" was just starting to pay off.
After majoring in Broadcast Journalism, Kristen packed her bags into the family's red pick-up truck and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her entertainment career. With hard work, loads of determination and a little luck, she got hired as an entertainment reporter for "Your LA" on NBC and writer/producer/reporter for the nationally syndicated-Hollywood Previews: Fingerprints Interview (2009) and that mock red carpet from the family room finally became a reality.
Soon, Kristen Aldridge caught the eye of Hollywood heavyweights Cynthia Biamon (co-founder of Leonardo DiCaprio's production company and former manager of Cameron Diaz) and Bradley Cramp (executive producer of Lord of War (2005) with Nicolas Cage and S1m0ne (2002) with Al Pacino). Out of hundreds of applicants, they hired Kristen to host "AT&T U-Verse Buzz", an entertainment news program seen across the country, where she got the chance to cover the red carpet for big name events like "Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week".
In 2007, Kristen joined the CNN family as anchor for their premiere broadband news service, CNN Pipeline (2005).
In 2008, she was seen by sports fans across the country as co-host of ESPN Road Trip (2008). The ESPN series gave college football fans a look at the rituals, revelry and rivalries that seize college campuses each week. "ESPN Road Trip" joined a growing lineup of "ESPN Original Digital series" on ESPN.com, with videos viewed monthly by fans an average of more than 120 million times.
In 2011, Kristen was instrumental in launching Yahoo!'s omg! NOW, where during her tenure as host for the next four years it become the most popular pop culture platform online at the time, garnering over 775 million streams to date. She helped build the viewership both online and on television, partnering with The Insider on CBS in 2013 for the newly branded omg! Insider, where she was anchor and correspondent.
She also transformed the digital experience as a longtime contributor to Shape Magazine, building out their celebrity wellness coverage on shape.com.
After her time with Yahoo!, Kristen was an anchor, writer, and producer for the nationally syndicated morning TV series, The Daily Buzz, where she covered the biggest news stories impacting communities, the country, and the world at large. She then joined forces with ABC in Los Angeles as an anchor and reporter where she presented an inside look at the top trending stories people couldn't get enough of online.
In 2020, Kristen became the creator, director, producer and host of How Brands Are Born, a new original series in partnership with Entrepreneur.com and Facebook Watch that features the origin stories behind the world's most impactful companies. Spotlighting candid one-on-one interviews with pioneering entrepreneurs, brands featured in Season One included Sweetgreen, Beyond Meat, Beautycounter, Ring and Patron Tequila, bringing in over 2.5 million views.
Some of the celebrities Kristen has interviewed include Oliver Stone, Anthony Hopkins, Liza Minnelli, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Gosling, Anne Hathaway, Jared Leto, Richard Dreyfuss, Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Jon Voight, AFI, Alicia Keys and 30 Seconds to Mars: The Making of 'The Ride' (2010), to name a few.
As an actress, Kristen has been featured in dozens of national commercials, including "Secret Deodorant" (Academy Award-winning Director), "Bud Light Beer" (Super Bowl Spot), "Mercedes-Benz" and "K-Swiss" (with Anna Kournikova). She also starred in "Two for Paula", a romantic comedy with 4-time Emmy nominee Marla Gibbs.
As a model, Kristen has been featured in print campaigns for "Target", "Nordstrom", "Lily McNeal" and "Schweppes Ginger Ale" in Allure, In Style and US Weekly, to name a few. She was a semi-finalist in Maxim Magazine's "Hometown Hotties" Search for the Sexiest Girl Next Door.
As a Midwestern girl at heart, not much has changed since Kristen's childhood growing up in the suburbs of Minnesota - she's still asking lots of questions - only this time the microphone is real.
