It seems that Liz Claman was always meant to be on the air. Her father brought home the family’s first video camera when she was in sixth grade, and she and her four siblings played with it every night. “They all wanted to pretend they were celebrities,” she recalls. “I wanted to pretend I was the person interviewing the celebrity. I wanted to be that person on the other side of the camera.”
Although she dreamed of being a reporter, Claman thought she needed to focus on a more “legitimate” path. She studied French at Berkeley with a diplomatic career in mind, squeezing in every journalism class she could. As graduation approached, the pull was too strong. She got an internship at KCBS in Los Angeles which led to a production assistant job, delivering newspapers and scripts to Ann Curry, Paula Zahn, and Jim Lampley. Her first on-air job was in Columbus, Ohio, then Cleveland, and an anchor position with NBC’s Boston affiliate.
In 1998, CNBC offered Claman a thirteen-week freelance gig. “There were a million reasons not to take it,” she says. “I had a staff job at NBC in Boston. I was an anchor. I had benefits. And [the CNBC job] was the stock market, about which I knew nothing. [But] I knew I had to make the jump to cable.”
Claman inhaled financial information to prepare for the new job. “I kept telling myself sleep was overrated,” she says. “To this day, I never let myself think I know it all.” She still heeds advice from her mother, a trained Shakespearean actress who told Claman, “Darling, never wing it.” After seven weeks in her initial freelance position, CNBC offered her a full-time job.
At CNBC Claman loved the opportunity to do in-depth reporting. “In cable, you could throw out ideas and most often they’d say, ‘Why not? Let’s try it.’” She created “Breakfast with the CEO,” featuring business luminaries in their natural work habitat. The popular series led to her being promoted to anchor.
After nine years with CNBC, Claman was ready to move on. She got a call from Fox, which was preparing to launch Fox Business Network. “Within 30 minutes, I thought, I’ve got to work here,” she recalls. She liked the feistiness of a start-up taking on an established player. “More than that, I sensed that they understood me.”
In addition to the highly rated “Claman Countdown,” Claman’s work at Fox includes “Weekend with Warren” special which culminated in a high-profile interview with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. She is a popular podcaster, and millions follow her on TikTok.
In her off hours, Claman skis, runs triathlons, and takes bass guitar lessons. She advises those aspiring to follow her example, “You have to fight the hardest for it. You have to say yes to everything, including the stuff where you say, well, I’m a Berkeley graduate. I’m not delivering newspapers. You don’t get here without going there.”
