Yalda Hakim Biography

Yalda Hakim is an Australian broadcast journalist currently working for BBC World News.

Early life and education

Born in Afghanistan, Hakim arrived in Australia as a three-year-old migrant. When she was six months old, her family fled Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War. The family traveled on horseback overland to Pakistan with the help of people smugglers. After two years in Pakistan the family settled in Australia in 1986.

Hakim attended Macarthur Girls High School in Parramatta, Sydney, where she played the violin and became a sports captain and prefect. She also attended Parramatta West Public School. She went on to study for a Bachelor of Arts in Media from 2002 to 2004 at Macquarie University, where she was also a board member of the Macquarie University Union. In 2005, Hakim obtained a Diploma in Journalism at Macleay College, Sydney. She graduated with a journalism degree via distance education from Monash University in 2007, in addition to a cadetship at the Special Broadcasting Service.

Hakim speaks English, Persian (Dari Persian included), Urdu, Hindi, Dari and Pashto.

SBS and Dateline

Hakim returned to Kabul for her first Dateline report in 2008 and from then reported from across the world for Dateline and SBS World News Australia. She was awarded the United Nations Media Peace Prize for best Australian Television News Coverage in 2009, and has also been a finalist for the Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Award.

Beginning in 2011, Hakim co-hosted Dateline with fellow video journalist Mark Davis, the two taking it in turns to present the programme in approximately six-week blocks, while the other was away on assignment.

BBC News

It was announced in December 2012 that Hakim was to join the international channel BBC World News and be reporting on the BBC News Channel. She would present a new current affairs programme, report for the channel and present other news programmes. She moved from Australia to London, and her first programme, for the Our World series, was broadcast in March 2013, and her first studio presentation shift was 29 March 2013 presenting BBC World News. On 7 October 2013 she interviewed Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, for BBC Newsnight.

Since March 2014, she has made several appearances as the presenter on Impact, ultimately becoming the programme's main presenter later that year.