Carlos Watson (born September 29, 1969) is a journalist, businessman, and television host. He was also a contributor on MSNBC.
Watson was raised in Miami, Florida, with three siblings. His parents are both school teachers. As a working-class family, they often struggled financially throughout his youth, regularly needing help from food stamps. Being labeled a problem child early in life, Carlos was asked to leave kindergarten in 1974, but entered first grade the next year. He attended Ransom Everglades School in Miami, then Harvard University. During high school and college 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 with a degree in government from Harvard University in 1991. He then 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.
After graduating from Stanford Law School in 1995, Watson began work at strategic consulting firm McKinsey & Company. After two years at McKinsey, Watson left to co-found Achieva College Prep Service based in San Mateo, California. Watson sold Achieva in 2002 to competitor Kaplan, Inc..