5 Things to Know About CNN’s Rahel Solomon, from Her Unique Upbringing to the ‘Spicy’ Viral Moment She Can’t Shake

The Sudan-born business reporter is taking over CNN’s 5 a.m. time slot with a new morning news show, ‘Early Start’

CNN’s Rahel Solomon is moving into a new anchor chair as the network refreshes its slate of programming, reviving the morning show’s former name, Early Start, for her new 5 a.m. broadcast.

In January, CNN announced major changes to its schedule, which involved shifting CNN This Morning anchor Kasie Hunt to her own afternoon program, The Arena With Kasie Hunt. In her stead, the network pulled in two of its rising stars to split the 5-7 a.m. hours.

Solomon — who previously anchored CNN Newsroom on CNN International and CNN Max — relaunched Early Start on Monday, March 10, which now airs weekdays from 5-6 a.m. ET. Audie Cornish took over the CNN This Morning brand, now airing from 6-7 a.m.

Solomon got her start in local news, and anchored the morning news at CBS-3 Philadelphia from 2017 to 2019. She then moved to CNBC as a business reporter before joining CNN full-time in April 2022, covering global business news for the network, as well as CNN International.

Here’s five things to know about Early Start’s new host, Rahel Solomon.

She almost had a completely different career

Solomon, who attended St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., in 2010, says she had a last minute change of heart as she was preparing to graduate in 2010.

“I studied finance in college and almost went into banking but realized my last semester — banking wasn’t the best fit,” she tells PEOPLE. “The fact that I graduated not long after the Great Recession and jobs were hard to come by also encouraged me to think differently about next steps.”

She decided to take a year off and later returned to school to study journalism, ultimately combining her academic passions to land in the world of financial journalism.

“Never saw that coming but maybe I should have?” Solomon admits. “Now I get to do both things I love and find interesting.”

She’s lived all over the world

Solomon was born in Sudan to Ethiopian parents, and life has taken her all around the world — from West Virginia to Colorado, and even to France, Spain and Italy during a study abroad program.

“But the place I’ve lived the longest is my hometown Philadelphia — and like most people there, I’m a very loud and proud Philly girl!” she says, adding, “Go Birds!”

She once had a “spicy” viral moment

Solomon was a morning anchor for CBS Philly back in 2017 when the “hot chip challenge” was an online trend. Naturally, she and her co-anchor decided to try it out on air.

“My mom has always said I’ve loved spicy foods since I was a baby,” she explains, proudly noting her Ethiopian heritage. “While [the chip] was spicy, apparently it was much spicier to my co-anchor [Jim Donovan].”

“It was a fun and lighthearted moment, and he was a great sport about it,” Solomon recalls. “It went viral, and even though this was in 2017, people will still ask if that’s me in the video. It recirculates from time to time! I will never live it down.”

She got married at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Solomon tied the knot with lawyer and fellow Philadelphian Marcel S. Pratt on July 13, 2024, and PEOPLE shared the exclusive first look at the couple’s stunning ceremony, which honored their shared cultures — from Solomon’s Ethiopian roots to Pratt’s membership in the historically Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

“The wedding was like a movie, everything and everyone looked so beautiful. The vows were so heartfelt, the music was great and we even had time to quickly enjoy dinner between photos,” Solomon previously told PEOPLE of her two-day celebration, which began at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, aka “The Rocky stairs.”

Of how she met her now-hubby, Solomon now says, “We met at a networking event that I did NOT want to attend but I was dragged along by a friend! I didn’t leave with a job but as fate would have it, I did meet my future husband.”

She can go the distance

Solomon describes herself as an “on-again, off-again” long-distance runner.

“I’ve done a half marathon, a full marathon and multiple 10 milers,” she shares, specifically naming The Broad Street Run in Philly. “When I’m in the swing of it, I love long distance runs.”

Acknowledging that her post-run recovery periods can sometimes turn into “years of rest,” she says: “I’m working on consistency!”