Bermudian journalist live on BBC

Bermudian journalist Clare O’Connor made her live television debut yesterday on BBC.

Ms O’Connor, 30, is a writer at Forbes specializing in wealth.

She previously worked for Mid-Ocean News and The Royal Gazette before studying for her Masters at Columbia University.

Yesterday, she was featured on the BBC to talk about the high rollers (see video below).

Speaking to us today, Ms O’Connor said: “I was on the BBC News to talk about the launch of Forbes' 2013 World's Billionaires list, which we launched online on Monday.

“The issue will be on newsstands at the end of the week.

“The BBC just wanted to talk about who's new to the list, who's dropped off, and which Brits made the cut this year.”

She continued: “I was in Forbes' TV studio in New York with an earpiece and mic, staring into a camera, so couldn't see who was interviewing me let alone that my face was being projected across a giant screen in their studio. I chuckled when I saw the clip.”

Asked if she was nervous, Ms O’Connor said: “I've done press for Forbes before so I wasn't nervous, although I think this was my first time live on BBC TV on very little sleep.

“Putting together our rich lists twice a year - World's Billionaires in the winter, then the Forbes 400 richest Americans in the summer - is a huge undertaking requiring long hours and teamwork.

“I was halfway through a 16-hour day at that point.”

Ms O’Connor explained exactly what her role is at Forbes.

“I'm a staff writer on Forbes' wealth team, covering the ups and downs of billionaires.

“I write news and profiles on the super-rich when I'm not crunching numbers for our lists.

“In my almost three years at Forbes, I've written cover stories on the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world, who made her fortune inventing Spanx shape wear, and a more recent cover for September's Forbes 400 issue on the only African-American woman on our list, Oprah Winfrey.

“I went to her girls' school in South Africa to write about how she's trying to change the way we educate girls.

“Interviewing her was surreal and, of course, exciting.”

Ms O’Connor is from Paget and went to Bermuda High School for Girls until the age of 13 and then was educated abroad.

She has a BA in English Lit from the University of Pennsylvania and an MSc in Journalism from Columbia University.

“I interned as a college student at the now-defunct Mid-Ocean News where editor Tim Hodgson taught me feature writing by throwing a copy of the Yellow Pages at me and telling me to make calls until I found someone worthy of profiling,” she said.

Ms O’Connor also worked in London for business publisher Haymarket, writing about communications and lobbying for trade magazine PR Week.

She hopes to do more TV work.