SeanChron | New Chapter for Nicole Lapin

9/8/11. Back in 2007 when Future-ish was barely out of the starting gate, Nicole Lapin was the very first post in our 'Emerging Minds' profiles. At the time, she had already been the youngest anchor on CNN for a year (at age 21!) and had just started a special series at CNN called Young People Who Rock in which she interviewed people under the age of 30 who were doing remarkable things. She also was part of a campaign called 'Being Smart is Cool' with the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. In 2010, Nicole joined CNBC as anchor of CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange where she became well respected for her in-depth interviews, spot on analyses, and ability to present information on world developments, commerce, trade, and finance in ways that were accessable and valuable to audiences ranging from Wall Street to Main Street. Since that time, she has also served as a correspondent on The Today Show, MSNBC, The Golf Channel’s Morning Drive and Wake Up With Al and is a frequent online contributor to CNBC.com, USA Today, and The Huffington Post. There's no question that her smarts and great style have brought many new fans to both CNBC and the broader world of business and finance news. Her beauty and brains placed her easily on our list of Glamour Geeks.

So I was very excited to see on her blog today that Ms. Nicole has started a new chapter in her career. At age of 27 she is starting her own production company, 'Nothing But Gold'. The enterprise will be a multimedia production company focused on creating accessible financial content across various platforms. Along with the production company she has several books in the works and an online personal finance and investment project in development. One of the things that has always impressed me about Nicole is her passion for inspiring young people to be all they can be. She's also notched that up in this new chapter...she will continue her philanthropic efforts by launching her own charity, “Lost Girls,” which will provide a helping hand to young, well-educated women looking to find work during the tightest job market in decades by offering gently-worn workplace attire and specialized career advice.

Given all this going on in Nicole's new chapter, it's clear that a new financial guru has arrived...consider her a younger, hipper, and (sure, I'll say it) hotter Suze Orman.

Emerging Minds - Nicole Lapin

Nicole Lapin first appeared on our radar in 2007 when we identified her as one of our 'Emerging Minds'. Today, she has become one of the most respected journalists in the news industry. A first generation American, she is the daughter of a former Nobel Prize nominee and a beauty queen. Nicole created her own American dream and serves a a role model for other young journalists by becoming the youngest anchor ever on CNN and, now, CNBC.

Nicole studied European Union politics at L'Institut d'Études Politique de Paris. She graduated summa cum laude and as valedictorian of her class from the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, also earning honors for a second major in political science.

At 21, Nicole was tapped as one of the first anchors to launch CNN Pipeline. She served as a reporter for all of CNN's networks, including CNN/U.S., CNN Headline News and CNN International. With the idea that there are other young people like herself defying convention, Nicole launched a series called “Young People Who Rock.” Each week, she profiled a different person under 30, from community leaders to politicians and entrepreneurs. Her columns appeared on CNN.com every week, with broadcast interviews to follow.Expanding her reach as a positive young figure, Nicole created a campaign called “Being Smart is Cool” in partnership with the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. She was appointed global ambassador for the charity and traveled on its behalf to inspire youth to care about issues in the news. Nicole currently serves as an ambassador for other youth-driven organizations, including Operation Smile and DoSomething.

Nicole currently anchors "Worldwide Exchange," the only global show on CNBC, which airs in the United States, Europe and Asia. She reports live daily on breaking global financial news and geopolitics. Recently, she was the first CNBC anchor to report on the killing of Osama bin Laden and has anchored live coverage of the Japanese earthquake, the “Flash Crash” and the uprising in Egypt. In addition to anchoring “Worldwide Exchange,” Nicole is a regular contributor on MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co.” and “Morning Joe,” and serves as a personal finance expert on NBC’s “Today Show.” She also writes regular opinion pieces for the Huffington Post and USA Today, gaining acclaim for the correlation she drew between economic hardship and mental health issues following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. For her reporting, she picked up accolades from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Association of Women Journalists and Society of Professional Journalists, and the Radio Television News Directors Association, among others. She was also honored with a "Power 30 under 30" Award.