Yalda Hakim - Australian broadcaster

Long-distance relationships in today’s world are often viewed with a skeptical eye; distance is considered as a relationship killer. But try to tell Australian South Asian ethnic journalist Yalda Hakim and her husband. When they were distinguished for a long time, they got stronger together. And the distance only made them more appreciative of the other. The Afghan-born Australian journalist is renowned for her brave field journalism and her story for SBS World News Australia and BBC World News. She is currently working as a presenter for BBC’s “Impact” or “Yalda Hakim’s Impact”. One of the reasons for Yalda’s journalistic success is her multi-language knowledge-she speaks five different languages apart from English: Dari, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, and Pashto.

Early life

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan on 26 June 1983, Yalda was forced to flee her home country when she was just six months old. After traveling on horseback for days, entering Pakistan, and staying there for two years, the Yalda family moved as immigrants to Australia. Her parents are Zabrina and Wali Hakim and have three siblings. Yalda attended the Macarthur Girls High School in Sydney and studied Art at the University of Macquarie. Yalda is a bit shorter than an average woman.

Career

According to Mariam, Yalda’s sister, Yalda has had an affinity with journalism since a young age. As a result of this affinity, Yalda joined SBS World News Australia and its reporting team Dateline. Later, she was co-hosted by Mark Davis. After nearly half a decade with SBS, Yalda joined the BBC as BBC World News correspondent in December 2012. She made her screen debut with a documentary series, Iraq: ten years on, in a few months. And she presented her own show with Yalda Hakim in 2014.

Net worth

The estimated net worth of Yalda Hakim is around $400 thousand as of 2020. During her time in SBS and BBC, Yalda was renowned for her courageous reporting, diving in war zones such as Afghanistan and Libya during the Arab Spring to discover the truth. Yalda has won numerous awards for her efforts, including the Australian Young Journalist of the Year and the UN Media Peace Prize. For her works, Yalda earns an enormous annual salary of around $80 thousand to one hundred thousand per year.

Personal life

Yalda is as successful in her life as she is in her career. Eight years ago, she stopped being single and married her then-boyfriend Australian avionics engineer and former sergeant of the Royal Australian Air Force, Abed Rashid. While the husband and wife have kept their married life alone for a long time (initially Abed’s duties in the Air Force and now Yalda ‘s journalistic duties worldwide), they have remained married, supported each other, loved each other and sacrificed each other. There have been no rumors about Yalda’s affairs with another boyfriend or so. Even if not on assignments, Yalda works for BBC in London, while Abed lives in Oxford because of his duties. But they manage to squeeze between their times and find a couple of days a week to stay together and keep their married life alive. Hakim gave birth to a child in 2019.