Yalda Hakim’s success story
Yalda Hakim was a baby when her family fled Kabul on horseback. Now one of our most courageous journalists, it's her Aussie-ness that is the secret to her success, she tells Celina Edmonds.
When journalist Yalda Hakim lands in a country, she heads straight to a hair salon for a blow-dry. She might be in Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan and she could be there to tell the story of some of the world’s most vulnerable people, or even interview a president. Yalda’s not concerned with her hair though. Instead, the salon is an opportunity to get close to local women.
“I get my hair done, they’re getting their hair done, they take off their head scarves and I suddenly see what’s going on under the scarves – peroxided blonde hair and incredible dazzling outfits,” she says. “Then they talk about everything from how they’re dealing with motherhood to marriage, but also politics and their place in society and what’s going on, and the struggles and challenges they face. That helps me tap into something that my male colleagues just could never, ever do.”
It’s savvy strategies like this – and the ability to speak six languages – which have set the 33-year-old Australian journalist apart and, together with a relentless drive and energy, have earned her global television success and many fans. In just the past 12 months, Yalda has travelled to South Sudan, Afghanistan, Mexico, Ghana, Sweden and Indonesia. Working for
BBC World News since 2013, Yalda lives in London, where she hosts Impact, a daily rolling news program. When she’s not in the studio, Yalda is travelling the world, reporting and producing six documentaries a year, as part of the Our World series.
“Working for the BBC, I think it’s one of the few places now where there is a platform for me to be able to pick off a map a place that we want to go, a story that’s not told,” Yalda says.