Carlos Watson (television host)

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Carlos Watson (born September 29, 1969) is an American television host, lawyer, and businessman.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Business 3 Television and media 4 Basketball aficionado 5 Acclaim 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early years

One of four children, Watson was raised in Miami, Florida, the child of school teachers. He was kicked out of kindergarten in 1974.^[1] Upon graduation from Ransom Everglades School, Watson moved north to attend Harvard University. During this time Watson wrote over 50 articles for the Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press, and worked for Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez and Sen. Bob Graham. Watson graduated with honors from Harvard in 1991 with a degree in Government. Watson worked as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for Florida Representative Daryl Jones and managed Bill Clinton’s 1992 Election Day effort in Miami-Dade County. He then attended Stanford Law School, where he was editor of the Stanford Law Review and president of the Stanford Law School Student Government.^[2]

[edit] Business

Shortly after graduating from Stanford Law School in 1995, Watson began work at McKinsey & Company, a prestigious global strategic consulting firm. After two years at McKinsey, Watson left to co-found Achieva College Prep Service, an educational company aimed at helping middle and high school students prepare for college. Based in San Mateo, California, Achieva quickly became highly acclaimed in publications such as Forbes and The New York Times and grew to become one of the leading college preparatory forces in the country. Watson sold Achieva to a publicly traded corporation in 2002 but remains very active in promoting education for underprivileged students in the Bay Area. He is currently on the board of directors for College Track, a program he co-founded that aids students in East Palo Alto and Oakland.^[3]

[edit] Television and media

Watson began his television career in 2002, with guest appearances on Fox News and Court TV. On Labor Day, 2003, Watson hosted a highly rated prime-time interview show on CNBC featuring presidential candidate Howard Dean, quarterback Joe Montana, and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria. Watson hosted a second successful interview show and was offered his own continuing interview show on CNBC, before joining CNN as a regular newscast contributor. For two years, Watson appeared regularly as a political commentator on CNN, most notably covering the 2004 presidential election with Wolf Blitzer, Larry King and Jeff Greenfield. Also while at CNN, Watson wrote a popular column on cnn.com and hosted two airings of his own prime-time interview show. This time, the lineup included basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and supermodel-cum-Project Runway star Heidi Klum. Watson also hosted a show called Meet the Faith on BET. Currently, Watson is in production for a new conversation show called The Edge with Carlos Watson that premieres nationally in 2007.^[4]

[edit] Basketball aficionado

Watson is a huge basketball fan, and plays pickup games wherever he travels. Watson has notably played games in Iceland, France, Brazil and Zimbabwe.^[5] When in the Bay Area, he often plays pickup games at Stanford, where he is well known for making kissing noises or shouting "The Daddy!" upon taking jump shots. He also coined the phrase "Fouls...multiple." Carlos Watson, or Big Buck as he's known on the court, is not just revered for his antics, but his devastating 3-point shot as well. In the 2004-2005 pick-up league at Stanford University he posted an average of 25 ppg and a 72% 3-point field goal percentage (a record that still stands).

[edit] Acclaim

Watson was named one of People’s “Hottest Bachelors” in 2004.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• From Silicon Valley to CNN, cover story in Stanford Lawyer, Winter 2006
• CarlosWatson.com, official website