Financial journalist Maria Bartiromo driven to succeed

In 1995, Maria Bartiromo became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and the first female journalist inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.

The Emmy Award winner and former host of CNBC’s Money Honey is sweetening the pot at Fox.

Bartiromo, 46, is host of Opening Bell With Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network and anchorwoman of Sunday Morning News on Fox News Channel.

She is married to Jonathan Steinberg, CEO of Wisdom Tree Investments.

Q: How did you take on the challenge of being a woman in what was very much a boys’ club, especially at first?

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A: I guess it was difficult when I first got down to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A handful of people really didn’t want me there. It was new to all involved having a woman on the floor reporting on what these guys were doing — no less, a woman with a camera.

So I can understand, in retrospect, why some were uncomfortable.

Q: You have said you are competitive. Was that always so?

A: I like to work. I like to win. What drives me is the love of the work. I really love what I’m doing. That’s why I want to get up early and start the day and have the best guests.

I am certainly driven. I think as a child I was driven, too. To compete, you have to do good work and you have to be on your game. I guess I’ve always been a competitor.

Q: Do you find that big CEOs are reluctant to talk?

A: I think it goes back to understanding the content. If you understand the content and you’ve done your work, there is nothing difficult about anything. You may very well be able to have an even conversation with the other person because you are both talking the same language. If you are not prepared and don’t know the subject matter, you will be intimidated.

Q: You had a good run at CNBC. What was the main reason you decided to move on?

A: I was there 20 years, and I was looking at my career and thinking, “Do I want to do the same thing for another five years?” They made a very nice offer to me to stay there. There was always a pressure for me to have four and five people on at once. There was always a pressure to do short interviews — five minutes, six minutes.

I feel like sometimes these are complicated subjects — business and markets and economy — and you really can’t get it in six minutes.

Q: Now that you know your stuff, where do you stash your cash?

A: I am a big saver. My mother just drilled that into me as a girl. So I do have money in money markets and savings accounts. But I also have money in the stock market. We are not allowed to invest in particular companies or do selective stock picking, but I do it in a diversified way.

I do not have a lot of debt. I do not like debt. The best debt you can have is your mortgage.