I was born into an Afghan family, grew up in Australia,
dreamt of being a journalist from the age of seven, you know,
and and fought and was an insurgent.
About how I got there. It wasn't a conventional Rd.
Last week I did a story about a 22 year old woman in Afghanistan
who had been arrested and sentenced to death for trying to
coach young women in and girls in Taekwondo, and I highlighted
the story. The Taliban got in touch with me
and 48 hours later she was released.
I think that I'm very comfortable in my style now.
You know, I'm 42, I know what my look should be, whether it's
from my hair to the colour, you know, to the jewellery I wear,
to the clothing I wear. You know, when I was younger, I
used to use the phrase power dressing because I was so young
and I was in a man's world and I felt I needed to look older.
During your career you you must have presented some pretty big
moments. We know you have.
I'd love to understand your thought process into what you
choose to wear for specific interviews.
Today I'm going on a style journey with the international
news anchor and lead World News presenter on Sky News, the
fabulous Yelda Hakim. Hello and welcome, Yelda.
Thank you so much, Iranda. It's lovely to have you here
today. It really is.
I know you're used to being in the interviewer's chair, so I
just wondered how it feels to have the tables turned.
I mean, you are wonderful. So I feel very at ease in your
company. But yeah, there are there are
slight nerves because I'm so used to asking the questions.
So, but we're going to have a conversation, so I'm having.
A conversation, not an interview as we said before.
I mean, do you get nerves before a big interview?
You know, I stay very focused. I remember many, many years ago
asking Jeremy Paxman, who used to be the presenter anchor on
Newsnight, how he prepares for an interview.
I was very young journalist, having just arrived in London,
and he said the way to do it is, first of all, it's like a
seduction. So you're luring someone in
before you maybe whack them. But the way to prepare is to
think about what you want the headline to be and then take it
from there. How do you get to the end goal?
So I remain now very focused. And I always sort of think, you
know, the other person is worried maybe more than me about
what they're going to say. And, you know, their their teams
have prepared them in a certain way.
Last week in Davos, I interviewed the NATO secretary
general, Mark Reuter. And, you know, I really pushed
him on because it was just him and Donald Trump in the end who
managed to get Donald Trump out of this kind of obsession with
trying to purchase Greenland. And I said to him, how did you
manage to convince Donald Trump to, you know, to sort of make
this U-turn? And he just stuck to message,
stuck to message, which made it a slightly frustrating
interview. But because I, we always had a
laugh about how much he was sticking to message.
And then when I spoke to him team afterwards, they said there
is a box. And we asked him not to step
outside of the box. Don't bring your ego into this
because there is so much at stake.
There is the future of NATO, the future of Europe.
We've got a war in Ukraine. You know, this is a relationship
with the US president. Don't give her anything that she
can then, you know, obviously my role is to get as much extract
as much information and get a headline out of the
conversation. So the nerves is maybe about
like, how can I ensure that I get the other person so relaxed
that I get extract as much information out of them as
possible. And I could go 7 or 8 hours
without really drawing breath, just interviewing people.
Yeah, no commercial breaks, no auto queue and just going live
and capturing the moment and helping the audience go on a
journey with me, bring them through the camera with me and
saying to them, you're here with me and I'm now trying to get as
much information for you as possible.
So whether that was when the hostages were being released.
You know, I was in live in hostages square in Tel Aviv and
Donald Trump was arriving to to go and, you know, address the
Knesset. And then he was planning on
going Shaml Sheikh in Egypt, which he did to come up with his
peace plan to end the war in Gaza.
And the hostages were coming out at the same time Gaza look
apocalyptic. Donald Trump was arriving.
So there was like this like split screen moment and my auto
cue because of all the cameras, because of all the monitors,
because of all the cell phones, the auto cue wasn't working.
But not that I would use it anyway.
I was just kind of capturing the energy in the in the space.
Wow, have you ever had a moment live on air that you've thought,
Oh my God, auto cue is gone and you sort of lose your lose your
spot? I think that oh, baby brain, I
had that after my son where I was interviewing people and
thinking what, what, what have they just said?
What do I just ask exactly? And what are they now talking
about? I really have to to focus.
It is, you know, it's such a high pressure environment.
But for me, it's become a lesson in mindfulness to be in the
space, to be in the moment. I can't think about anything
else when I'm live on air. I have to be with that person
also listening in my ear where there's a million people saying
to me, camera 6, camera one. The next guest is coming.
Wrap this up. You've got 20 seconds left, you
know, and they're having and not just to me, they're having.
So I have an open mic which means they're having
conversations with the people next to them, behind them, you
know, technical issues. So I'm hearing all of that
whilst I'm having a. Conversation.
So it's, I always find that really extraordinary, you know,
when it's a whole different skill set because you've got all
of this information being fed in and you're there like a swan.
Peddling hard. Peddling hard.
I mean you, you mentioned mindfulness.
Do you, do you have any sort of rituals before going on air
breathing exercises or a mini meditation or anything like
that? Yeah, I, I really do believe in,
you know, breathing exercises and I try and teach that now to
my 6 year old. Every morning we do a breathing
exercise and we do little affirmations before bed and in
the morning as well. Just to, I guess, you know, one
thing I've realised just raising a small child now and what I
don't think we were taught is regulating emotions.
And you know, I think it, this is language that is really new
to me about regulation. And so I'm almost learning again
and relearning how to manage emotions and how to manage
stress. And so before a massive
broadcast, I get myself in the zone, you know?
What's your ritual so? Often I find if I am in studio,
it'll be hair and make up is my safe space.
That is where I go. And I'm with a team that, you
know, I have a make up artist that I've had for more than 10
years that I brought over to Sky from the BBC.
And we have an understanding, you know, she's become a great
friend and a confidante. It's like a therapist chair.
But I also, you know, I will sometimes look in the mirror and
say, you've got this, you know, and I will do breathing
exercises or I will call someone who's part of my support network
and say, I'm about to go into this and they're like, you're
going to be great. You know, this will be great.
So it's kind of drawing in all of those sort of things.
For example, when I was in, I was in Ukraine and I was
interviewing President Zelensky a few months ago.
He his office called me, you know, on a Saturday night and
said, can you get to Kiev by Monday?
Now there's a no fly zone. It's a 15 hour car journey.
You have to go to Moldova first and then you drive through the
country. Maybe not in the dead of night,
but that's what we did. We had to to get there in time.
And I just remember sitting in the palace, soaking up the
presidential palace and cutting out all the energy around me,
but not even looking at my notes, just realizing the
privilege of the moment. You know, that how massive this
interview is historic. Donald Trump was coming to
London. He wanted to send a message to
Donald Trump through an interview.
And they reached out to me. So I felt the weight of that
interview, the moment, what he was going to say, how he was
going to deliver it. Don't forget he had that massive
bust up in the White House, you know, where he was horrible,
publicly humiliated. And so, and we developed a
relationship because I've been interviewing him for a number of
years. He came to London straight after
the blow up and I interviewed him at Stansted Airport.
And so I, but I, you know, so I have to think this isn't about
me, this isn't about how I feel. This is about me doing the best
possible job I can to help people back home.
And now everything's digital. Audiences around the world
listen to this man and for me to get as much information out of
him but also get his messaging right and then be able to
deliver it to the world. You're fresh out of Davos and
you're very much as the world evolves, you are parachuted into
different stories. Are there any other projects
that you've got going on that you're particularly excited
about, or does that just consume your life?
I mean, I have a foundation for girls education, so I'm
constantly monitoring what's going on in Afghanistan because
it's, you know, in well over 1500 days now since Afghan girls
haven't been able to go to school, The Taliban issued an
edict literally the day after they took power in Kabul and
said all girls must remain at home until further notice.
And we're now talking, you know, 4 1/2 years of that misery for
these young girls who are teenagers, who have all the
hopes and dreams of the world and want to be like any young
person anywhere and cannot, you know, get access to education.
They are being denied their basic human rights.
And, you know, I, I think about sliding doors as well, You know,
how life could be so different if my parents hadn't emigrated
to Australia, if they hadn't given me the opportunities and
the education that I had. And, you know, if my parents
weren't educated and felt the importance of having young girls
who were given access to the best education, maybe I wouldn't
be here now. And my life would be very
different if they hadn't made certain choices for themselves
and for us. So I have been back to those
streets of Kabul many times. I've been to the hospital where
I was born. I met an Afghan female
journalist many years ago who was a month younger than me.
And she, you know, was a journalist at one of the main TV
networks. And I followed her around.
I was filming her doing her work.
And she was like being stopped in the streets.
She was so famous and everyone sort of adored her.
She was, you know, the main one of the main TV reporters in the
bulletins every night that the whole country would watch.
So she was Uber Uber famous. And she was born in the same
hospital as me a month before after me, a mother of four,
married off in the 1990s as a teenager to a Taliban who ended
up getting killed after 911. So she went back to journalism
school with, and she had these four small children.
And, you know, her face was weathered and she looked much
older than me. And her life was very different,
the journey that her life had taken, even though she was now,
you know, this respected journalist in the country, her
life was very different to the freedom that I grew up in as a
young teenager in and and child in Australia.
So I feel a sense of responsibility.
So we have scholarship programs. You know, we have the largest
scholarship program for refugees in the United States.
We have 250 young Afghan women who are studying across America
at the Big 10. I have a scholarship program
here at Oxford University. I'm constantly talking to and
working with, you know, local NGOs to see if we can support
them through funding and other, other means, you know, to sort
of like food for education type programs for their families, for
the local communities without stepping on toes.
So there's, there's little projects that I'm, I'm
constantly working on in the background.
But yeah, I mean, I then my, my work and my journalism sort of
also takes centre stage. And I'm doing a lot of work
around the Iran protests right now, speaking to those in the
country that had an Internet blackout for weeks, you know,
And so the internet's back, we're trying to get more
information. And there are reports that up to
30,000 people were killed in that week of protest.
So horrific, horrific stuff. And that's kind of where my
energy is spent at the moment. I mean, it's interesting how you
talk about sliding doors. And it really, truly is, isn't
it? Are you still in touch with that
journalist? She fled Afghanistan after.
The fall of the government and, and when the Taliban took over
and moved to Canada and she really didn't want to talk to
anyone. She, you know, lost so much
again, you know, and she built a life for herself and for her
children. And suddenly she was a refugee
on on the run, stateless and now in Canada with these older
children, you know, and I think that she just felt like I was
denied an education. I was married off to a Taliban
as a teenager. I then made it.
I became a journalist. I was a female roaming around
Kabul reporting about the state of the country, and now I'm on
the run again. It's so it's, it was quite
heartbreaking. And she's just chosen not to,
really. Communicate.
Yeah. What is going to happen, do you
feel, in Afghanistan with these, you know, with female education?
It's, you know, it's, it's devastating because I think it's
so much worse than the 90s when the Taliban were first swept to
power in 1996, because it was such a dark and brutal system.
And it felt like at some point this is going to break.
This can't go on forever. And then, of course, 911
happened. And, you know, the Bush
administration invaded Afghanistan and they were tied
there for 20 years. So that that was in a strange
way, a moment of hope for so many people in the country.
I remember I was in high school when I heard about 911.
And immediately when there was talk of invasion in Afghanistan,
people were celebrating because they thought this is going to be
the end of a dark chapter. And actually within a few years,
it went dark again and this group reemerged and they were
launching large scale attacks where, you know, many people I
knew ended up being killed in suicide bombings and roadside
bombs across the country, relationships that I developed
over years. Suddenly you'd get a phone call
saying so and so and their family are dead.
But it I think that it's so much worse this time because for the
last 20 years, the post 911 generation, you know, was sort
of a generation of that's not going to happen to us.
What happened to our mothers, what happened to, you know, the
generation before us is not going to happen to us.
This is now a time of hope and the international community is
focused on us and we are going to make it.
And now it just all feels hopeless, you know?
And the Taliban have managed, they've quite clever this time
in their PR. They've managed to balance a
situation where we don't see a rise in global terrorism.
So why then would the West pay attention to what's going on in
this country, whether it comes to security or girls education?
And I guess my messaging always to the Taliban has been, and I
talk to them all of the time. I question them over text and
WhatsApp about girls education and how long is this going to go
on for? And they contact me when I put
out something and they get very frustrated with it because it's
sort of gets attention. They, you know, I feel that
they're very cunning and they they have managed APR campaign
where they're still talking to the outside world and saying
we're not harming anyone. So I unfortunately for now feel
quite hopeless that nothing lasts forever, as we know from
history. But I feel for now, in this
moment, in this period, it's, it's very.
Dark. What is their reasoning?
They, you know, believe that women over the age and girls
over the age of 12 don't have a right to be educated.
They have to. It's almost like a little bit of
hands. Handmaid's Tale, you know, in
the sense that they are there for child rearing, You know,
after the age of 12, once you reach puberty, you should be
staying at home, you should be married and you should have
children. The idea of ambition judges and
activists and journalists and women who are free is not just
alien to their brainwashed minds because they're all
indoctrinated and they all were in these kind of mattresses
across Pakistan and southern Afghanistan and in the east of
the country, predominantly in Pakistan.
They, they don't see that, you know, I always say you can't be
half communist when the Taliban were coming into power.
You know, when people saying good Taliban, bad Taliban, it's
different this time, it's like they're Islamists and they are
going to ensure that girls never get educated again.
And that's exactly what. Happened, but they clearly don't
see you as an Afghan woman if they're prepared to reach out to
you and converse with you. Yeah, it's funny.
I weirdly for them straddle this kind of east and West.
On the one hand, they you know, well, kind of I had one Taliban
send me a message. I I did a series of interviews
on. Your phone must be fascinating.
My WhatsApp messages everywhere between General Petraeus, it was
former CIA and US commander in in Afghanistan and the Taliban
to Israeli officials and Palestinian officials.
So it's, it's, it's a, it's a mishmash of people.
And then my girlfriends so say, what are we doing tonight?
But it's, you know, I, I, I think that they on the one hand,
are terrified of what I represent because I represent
everything that they don't want for Afghan girls, you know, a
voice, freedom, a platform, you know, someone who is clearly has
completely immersed themselves and assimilated themselves into
the Western world. And that is something that my
parents celebrated. You know, when I sometimes I'm
critical of Australia, they get so angry at me, you know,
because they are so such proud Australians, because Australia
gave them life again, you know, when they fled Afghanistan in
the early 80s. But I, I think that they view me
as a, a bridge and A and a bridge that kind of understands
them, but also get has this window to the to the West where
they want to talk. So when Kabul was falling and
the Taliban were at the gates of Kabul, they called me on my
phone and I was live on air. So I took the call while I was
live on air in my ear. They were saying to me, what is
she doing? Because all I was saying was I
looked down the barrel of the camera and I said, you know, can
they hear my phone? Can the audiences hear my phone?
And the studio was like, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, I'm putting my phone on speaker.
And this was all playing out live.
And because we were, like, interviewing people and people
were terrified and crying on air to me and at former ambassadors
and officials stuck in Kabul, planes leaving the country,
people falling out of the sky. Every second there was a new
breaking story. The president of the country
fled the country. A plane just taken off and 20
people fell out of the sky. The Americans are locked into
their bases. You know, it was all just
unfolding. And then my phone rings and I
press the green button and it's a Taliban.
And I put it on speaker and I did a 45 minute interview with
him about what are your intentions?
Are you going to stern women? Are you going to stop them from
going to school? And he answered all of my
questions for 40 minutes. And so it's a weird relationship
with them for me. I'm so critical, critical to the
point where I no longer feel safe going back to the country.
I was going to say, how sweet do you feel?
There. Yeah.
So the last time I went back was about 2 1/2 years ago and
weirdly the leadership in a strange way want to ensure that
when I am there I'm safe. I don't I nothing happens to me.
They can't control the foot soldiers, you know, they can't
control the, the trolls on X. So there was a lot of chatter on
social media once it was known that I was in the country and
they were death threats. So the leadership took me out of
the BBC Bureau and they took me to the Serena Hotel where I had
armed guards outside my room till I left the country because
it just got so terrifying, you know, and and my son was 3 1/2
at the time, so. Do you ever doubt what you were
doing at that moment? I, you know, I, I think it again
comes to when we talked earlier about the awesome
responsibility. I feel the privilege and almost
like sometimes the burden of the responsibility.
You know, I was born into an Afghan family, grew up in
Australia, dreamt of being a journalist from the age of
seven, you know, and, and fought and was an insurgent about how I
got there. It wasn't a conventional road.
And so to be now doing something that I am so passionate about
and to have a platform and to have such a love for the work I
do and then knowing that it has the positive impact, it
highlights things. Last week I did a story about a
22 year old woman in Afghanistan who had been arrested and
sentenced to death for trying to coach young women in and girls
in Taekwondo. Taliban arrested her, took her
away and she was in prison. And I saw a report that the UN
had done asking for her release and I that I clocked that
initially. Then someone wrote to me saying,
do you mind highlighting this? And I highlighted the story.
The Taliban got in touch with me and 48 hours later she was
released. So that is the power of of the
media and journalism and what we have.
And these platforms, you know, we're critical of these social
media platforms, but it sort of goes viral these things and
suddenly a regime feels under pressure, right?
And so, I mean, why do you think the Iranian regime cut the
Internet for two weeks because they didn't want the voices
coming out. So when when you see that and
you know, and you know that it's just going to move the needle
just a little bit, I. Then don't doubt what I do.
I could talk to you all day about your presenting, your
journalism, your adventures around the dangerous parts of
the world, and the. Complex characters.
But actually, today we're here to talk about your style, and
we're going on a style journey together.
So let's start with what you're wearing.
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So I have one of my favourite Australian designers, Gallon
Theodore I when I first came into presentation and anchoring
in Australia, I was about 26 and I had a stylist there.
And, you know, at that age, you're still really exploring
your fashion, you're trying different things.
And I was very experimentative, you know, with my, with my
style. And she sort of steered me
towards more minimalist, you know, and clean cuts and things
that were much more structured. I'm more drawn towards
oversized. And I love sort of a Japanese
fashion and Korean fashion that's kind of my, you know, the
quirky side of me when I'm off duty.
But this is a this is a sort of favorite design I call Scanland
Theatre. I picked this up in New York
when I was covering the UN General Assembly.
I have some framed jeans on and I have a little Zara lace, sort
of, you know, High Street replica of the original and some
Tory Burch bits. Great, great.
Do you work with a stylist a lot?
At the moment, not really. I think that I'm very
comfortable in my style now. You know, I'm 42, I know what my
look should be, whether it's from my hair to the colour, you
know, to the jewellery I wear, to the clothing I wear.
You know, when I was younger, I used to use the phrase power
dressing because I was so young and I was in a man's world and I
felt I needed to look older. So, you know, I'd work with a
stylist to, you know, tried to balance that, still allowing me
to be myself, but helping me look a little bit more grown up
when I was interviewing presidents and, you know, heads
of state and policy makers. But now I kind of find myself.
I just gravitate towards comfort and also what makes me feel
good. Scrolling back, you're born in
Afghanistan, left as a refugee. Six months.
I only know stories of what my parents told me about that.
And over the last few years I've learnt more about their, how
they fled. You know my father it was.
Quite a story, wasn't? It Yeah, my father is an
architect. He's 74.
He still works and he still has his firm in Sydney and he works
6 1/2 days a week. You know, he's just dedicated to
his career and his work. And but he was sent to Prague to
study architecture. You know, it was Afghanistan had
a sort of Soviet backed government and they would send
young men and women to the Eastern Bloc to get an
education. And my dad went there to study
architecture and he was separated from my mum.
They were very young when they got together, and they had two
small children. And he left for five and a half,
almost six years, and they'd only communicate through
letters. And when he returned, he was one
of 140 men who had gone away, men and women.
And when he returned, he was one of two.
And families were just waiting, you know, with their children at
the airport for their loved ones to come back.
Do you mean he was one of two? Well, the others fled, defected,
defected to Europe. You know, they didn't want to
come back to a country on the brink of war.
The monarchy had collapsed, Soviet backed governments had
taken over. And you know, people thought I
have an opportunity to get away from this country.
We're going to be conscripted into the army.
And my dad came back because he had two small children and my
mother and he was conscripted into the army and so he had to
look for a route out. And so my older brother and
sister, they were eight and six at the time and six month old
me, my dad and mum sort of fled, you know, sort of disguised as
kind of family who were impoverished, who were trying to
get medical help in Pakistan and made a journey across
Afghanistan to get there, sort of overcoming all sorts of
dangers with a six month old. So I think that, you know, I and
I've heard so many more details about that journey.
I decided to interview my father a couple of years ago to ask him
because I just thought this is kind of a moment where these are
stories I don't want to be to lose.
So we've had a lot of and I guess the older you get, the
more interested you are in, you know, your family's history and
that sort of generation of how things changed.
And so, you know, I, I've learned a lot about tenacity and
drive and their hunger and quest for life and a better life for
their young family. And I often think I wonder what
I would do if I was in that position.
But I make those sorts of bold decisions to flee and find a
better life. And then, you know, my father
wanted to leave Pakistan and he wanted to come to the West.
And so he reached out to an architect in Afghanistan who
reached out to a friend in Australia who was an architect.
His wife, Nancy, picked up the phone.
And he, you know, this guy Nuristani, told Nancy this
entire story about our young family in Pakistan.
And she rang her husband, who was lecturing in Oslo and said,
you know, Nuristani is called this young family.
And he said we can't save everyone.
They sort of brought over a bunch of Afghan families where
she hung up, ignored him, filled out the form, sent it, and a
month later we were accepted into the country.
Got another sliding door, Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
But things could have been very different if she said, oh, I
won't bother filling out this form.
And my father rang her, You know, he'd ambushed the
Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, in Islamabad for that
entire month, sort of saying, take this form, take this form.
And she, he rang Nancy and said, we've been accepted.
You don't know me, but we've been accepted.
So Sayed, her husband flew from Oslo to Islamabad to meet us
because he had no idea who this family was.
And he was supposed to come for three days and he stayed a
month. So he stayed the entire time and
put us on a plane. And then Nancy met us with a
placard at Sydney airport saying Hucky and family.
And that's the story. Do you remember the?
I remember being on an aircraft and my being terrified of
turbulence. And I have a younger sister and
she was a tiny, you know, maybe sort of 1 1/2 two.
And she sort of kept jumping up and down wanting it to go
higher. So she wanted us to go higher.
And I was terrified because maybe I knew too much at that
point. And so you're in Australia?
At age 3, yeah, 3 1/2. And then what was What were your
earliest memories of clothes and fashion?
Was your mother very stylish? I you know, I remember my
mother, she had these incredible gold high heels and I've spent
my adult life looking for a replica pair.
She loved gold heels and gold handbags and you know, she loved
dresses with big shoulder pads, sort of in the 80s and 90s.
That was her look. And so she wore Western style
clothes. I don't remember Pakistan at
all, her clothing. But when we moved to Australia,
she would, they would go out to dinner parties a lot, you know,
every weekend, Friday, Saturday, sometimes Sunday, they would be
out and sometimes we would go with them, my younger sister and
I. And sometimes we would not.
But there would be days where when I was about 9 or 10 years
old, where, you know, we lived in Sydney and suburbia, very
safe. And my parents would go out, my
mum and dad for lunch or out to see someone.
And my younger sister and I would be left at home on our
own. And we loved it because we would
both get into our mother's clothing and put all her make up
on so she had like a massive dressing table and I would cover
my face and red those sticks. And we would both, we would
have, you know, we would wear her heels and carry her bags and
tease our hair and wear her dresses and just like endlessly
try on all the clothes. But we would we would check with
her before she was coming, what time she was returning.
So we'd put everything back. So they're my earliest memories.
But do you remember a particular outfit, not necessarily of your
mother's, but of yours that you put on and it was just the game
changing outfit? Yeah, I mean, my sort of style
inspiration was always my older sister.
She's very fashionable and she's sort of shaped a lot of my
style. But I think for me as a young
girl, you know, certainly if we went to a wedding party or, you
know, a sort of a gathering and I put on a sort of a beautiful
dress, I always from a very young age felt really good.
Did you wear a school uniform? I did, yes.
Yes. So Australia, all schools wear
school uniform and it was a blue and white dress with white socks
and black shoes. So I did.
I did. Do you like it?
I didn't love it. I mean, I think, you know, I
like the concept of a uniform, something that is uniquely
yours. And there have been different
moments in my sort of style evolution that I've thought
about adopting a uniform, a look that is mine.
And so I, you know, as a young kid, I think I, I sort of liked
days when we could wear whatever we wanted at school.
And I think people always sort of, I personally think that even
at a very young age, other, especially young girls wood
clock that I, you know, like to wear nice clothes and like to
wear things that were a little bit different.
So I, yeah, I, I can't say I loved the uniform, but I like
the idea of a uniform. As your style journey evolved,
were you a very keen shopper? Did you borrow your sister's
clothes? Did you shop in second hand
stores? How did you evolve your own
style? A combination of everything.
So a lot of borrowing from my old shoe, you know, 6 1/2 years
older than me. So she was when I was 12, she
was 18. And she was very much
comfortable in her skin and style.
And so as a 12 year old, it was cool to have an older sister
whose clothes you could take and wear and you know, that would
immediately set you aside, apart from others who were at the same
age as youth. They didn't have an older
sibling. But for me, I was always
experimenting, always like, you know, when I was at university,
I was definitely trying pre loved and second hand clothing a
lot, jackets and trousers and dresses.
I was constantly scouting out flea markets and second hand
stores and sort of looking around for for things that were
slightly different with the kind of combination of shopping a lot
from the High Street in Australia, there's a lot of
malls. So it kind of evolved from that.
And I would follow fashion trends until I realized actually
you don't need to be fashionable.
You can just have your own unique style.
And I think that took a while, you know, but it did help that,
you know, I was 26 and I had a stylist because I became ATV
presenter. And so she, you know, she
definitely played a massive role in those formative years of my
on air look and in the field look.
You know, And did you always agree with her ideas?
Not always because she was incredibly quirky and kind of
out of this world with a pop of colour and big shoulders and
square shoulders and oversized on air, but then structured as
well. So I would often have the news
directors form your side and say you don't have to listen to
Leslie. You know, you can kind of we,
we'll just like manage her because she was, so it was kind
of an insane style that really worked for her.
But that's interesting because as as a news reporter,
journalist, you, you, yeah, my assumption is quite incorrectly
probably is that it's a sort of more play pared down look,
because what you're talking about sort of distressed deaths,
you know, wars, all of that, you know, these big stories.
And and that should the story should be the story.
For sure. And I think Leslie had the
ability to sometimes distract from that and hence the news
director stepping in because it would either be like a really
crazy earring or one earring or you know, something around your
neck that like everyone would spend the whole time looking.
And so I learnt really quickly the art of, you know, the
importance of respect we need to give the story because sometimes
can be quite horrific. And if you've got something on,
especially as a woman that's distracting, it can take away
from what is actually being said.
And so that's why I say the evolution of my style took some
time because I was interested in the quirky.
But I knew, and I learnt from being berated by the news
management and so was she, that when as we were experimenting
that wasn't working for what they wanted and what the
messaging. And did they get, was it just
their feedback or was the feedback through to the studio
from viewers, etcetera? So it was a different.
Time in the sense that social media wasn't, you know, a way at
all of accessing. They can't just go online and
vomit. Absolutely not at all.
They'd have to write a letter or an e-mail.
And so, and because there was the audience was once get
removed from you when you would get those letters, you'd take it
quite seriously, actually, especially if there was an
influx. And I think, yeah, occasionally
there would be criticism of the clothing that all of us
presenters wore across the board because she styled it all of us.
And so she had to then manage that as well, you know, trying
to figure out what we like to wear and then manage that for
how you look on screen. They didn't think about changing
your style list. I think we all, everybody had a
really soft spot for her. And she, you know, she, we're
friends on Instagram still. And I just think, wow.
Tell me, worst fashion moment on air?
It's. In the field.
Well, she bought a dress for me that I then wore to the BBC and
it was a kimono, but it looked like a nightgown, a night dress,
a nightgown. And I remember wearing it and
getting messages from DC, the bureau's in DC, all over Asia,
the news management going what is going on?
What is that outfit? So that never saw the light of
day again. During your career you you must
have presented some pretty big moments.
We know you have. I'd love to understand your
thought process into what you choose to wear for specific
interviews. I gravitate towards black lot
for interviews, so when I was going to see Zelensky at
President Zelensky at Stansted Airport, we got the call to say
he's on his way and he's asked for a very small group of
journalists to come and meet with him.
So me and my A crew from Sky went out to the airport and I
was by the football pitch when I got the call on a Saturday
morning with my son. And I rushed home and I grabbed
a sort of a, just a black, you know, blazer.
And I, I tend to go towards like black and darker colours because
it gives me a level of confidence, but also it's a safe
space for me. Again, it goes back to the
conversation we're just having about no distraction.
The focus is he's just had this horrific experience in the White
House at the Oval Office. It's been this massive blow up
that the whole world has seen. Usually in geopolitics and
foreign policy, these things happen behind the scenes.
You might hear about it through a leak.
You never see it. We're suddenly exposed to the
ugliness of conversations behind closed doors between world
leaders that, frankly, we should never have been exposed to.
And so suddenly, you know, this man who is leading his country
through this war is sitting at Stansted Airport and one of the
criticisms he faced was what he was wearing.
And he was questioned, why aren't you wearing a suit?
You're in the Oval Office. Show some respect.
So I, you know, deliberately just wore a, just a black
jacket, black jeans and a black high neck, roll neck.
You know, it's cold. And so that's what I, I, I wore.
And I try, you know, sometimes I hear, especially in my business
news presenter, especially women say I wear bright colours
because in a press pack or in a scrum, I want to be noticed.
If I'm wearing bright pink or bright red, you know, and
someone is looking at a crowd, I want them to notice me and say,
you know, you asked the question.
I always find black does that for me.
You know, in a weird way, I wear black and I feel I can command a
room that goes back to that power dressing.
And I also then feel like it's not necessarily about what I'm
wearing. I'm just focused on what they're
saying. Yeah, Who was the most
intimidating person you've ever interviewed?
You know, weirdly, I think the the Dalai Lama was weirdly, you
know, he because I saw his. Power.
He's hugely powerful. It's just, it was unbelievable,
actually. I was on a stage with him,
interviewing him, and there were thousands of people in the
audience just losing their minds.
And then I went into a small room afterwards and I was, you
know, asking him about relationship with China and the
next Dalai Lama. And I found his presence and
aura just a lot. So I think you know you in those
moments when you know there's so much heft and pressure around a
person, not so much pressure around him, but the kind of
weight of him. And then the heft of the
interview. I does does kind of feel the
moment can sometimes be stressful or intimidating, I
think. What did you wear?
I didn't wear black. I wore a mustard velvet Dolce
and Gabbana jacket. And I think again, it was kind
of, it really worked with his saffron.
I didn't even do it consciously. I wonder if in my subconscious
when I went to my cupboard, I grabbed something that, you
know, I was sort of the sea of saffron that I was going to see
in the room. Do you keep a journal of what
you wore for really important interviews?
Instagram but we used to I used to so with the stylist in
Australia, she used to keep a log, a book and she would say,
you know, this is these have been your outfits this last
month. So you know, it was funny.
The times have changed so much. She was kind of not about repeat
outfits. And I'm now all about repeat
outfits. I'm all about, you know, we
don't have to wear something different all of the time.
I can have a fortnight where I pull out that pinstripe jacket
or that blouse or, you know, just how I feel that day.
There are days where I just, it's a heavy day or it's a very
intense day and I gravitate towards minimalist and black.
And there are days where I feel a bit cheekier.
I've had a great sort of interview or day or this, you
know, the, the, there's sort of a spring in my step and I want
to have a bit of fun. So that changes my mood and and
then my outfit. Now that your sky so they assist
you with a stylist and budgets and all of that.
Yeah, so they have a stylist actually, I sort of worked with
less out. Yeah, yeah, definitely less out
there. She's yeah, she's wonderful.
And yes, there are budgets and you know, it's it's different to
the BBCI think Style Sky is a a commercial entity and you know,
they take pride in in how talent looks on air.
And I do think it's a matter of respect as well.
You know, to the audience who TuneIn day in day out to watch.
I think it's important that you look the part you've showed
they've showed up for you, you show up for them.
If I said to you, you could dress in only two brands, 1 High
Street and one designer, which two would those currently be?
I, I absolutely love Cos. Cos is my staples and you know,
basics and I gravitate towards the brand because I just love
the minimalist and kind of simple nature of it.
You were wearing Cos when we met.
Oh, yes, that's right. Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
You know, exactly. I, I, I sort of, I feel like
it's got it captures a little bit of, you know, who I feel I
am. And then I am a big sort of
supporter and promoter of any Australian designers.
So it's sort of, I always gravitate back towards them.
So I guess, you know, I, I would say actually someone likes
Scanlan is, is something that I, I, I would be able to do all of
my jobs as ATV anchor in the field, foreign correspondent, a
mom in those outfits. What did you get married in?
I got married. In a Australian designer called
Stephen Kalil and it was Where were you married?
In Sydney, In, Yeah, in Double Bay in Sydney.
And I saw a dress by Ellie Saab and loved it and showed him and
he said we'll make our own version of that.
And so it was very simple. It wasn't quite ivory, but it
was off white and it had a lot of lace.
You know, it was backless and it had lace sleeves and the lace
that was left behind. We had lace on the the the
train, the veil and sort of the back of the train, but the lace
that was left behind we used for the invitations as well.
So yeah. So it had a nice story.
You say you've got a style icon. I always, always loved Audrey
Hepburn's. I know that's sort of, you know,
but I just absolutely adored the simplicity of her style.
I still do. And I think that, you know, she
captures this kind of ability to look so elegant and yet in that
sort of elegance make such a statement.
And I think that is unique. And so, you know, if I was able
to capture that in some way, I would, I would love to.
And you're petite, you know, you're, you know, you're, you
have that sort of little gaming vibe about you.
And and I always think when you choose a style icon, there
should be a relevance to you as a person.
I completely agree with you. I think that, you know, This is
why representation in many ways is so important.
You know that when people look at a screen and or if they're
reading a a story, they should be able to see themselves in
that person on some level, whether it's their accent or
their skin tone or what they represent or their values.
I think I have come to really appreciate representation.
Yes, it's logical. Yes, yeah.
If I were to ask you to describe your style DNA in three words,
or get your husband to describe your style DNA in three words,
what 3 words would they be? I think I would say minimalist,
oversized and black. Do you ever wear vintage?
Yeah, I do. I do yes, I like vintage.
You know, there are a few stores in in on Portobello Road at the
top that I sometimes slip into and find unique pieces.
So I do I do like, you know, pre loved.
I like I like vintage. I like things that others have
worn and and they have a story with that particular item.
Do you have one item in your wardrobe that means the most to
you because of the story that it tells?
I think that I, you know, I, when Kabul fell, it was a sort
of heartbreaking moment for me because I felt like everything
that was worked towards, especially for the women of
Afghanistan, was gone and shattered.
And I reached out to a handful of powerful women across the
world, especially the United States, for help to evacuate
over 1000 young women and girls from the country.
And we evacuated them to Albania, to northern Iraq, to
the university, the American University of Solomonia in
northern Iraq, to Albania, and then to the United States.
And one of those women was Tory Burch.
And she has a women's foundation.
And she dug deep and she signed a massive check to get these, to
help get these young girls out of the country.
And she was and women and she was engaged from start to to
end. And then at the end, you know,
she gifted me this beautiful white jacket, which I still wear
on air. And so that sort of was quite
special because it it captured kind of the pain of the moment,
but also the sisterhood. And, you know, the fact that
these women came into my life and sort of ended up, you know,
using their contacts and networks to support these women
and girls who were fleeing brutality and gave them a chance
at A at a different life. And so that to me, that moment
sort of sums up all of those those feelings.
Would you say you've had a worst fashion moment?
You know, I, I think that I will be traumatized by that kimono
that I, I don't know that I wore.
I would say that is probably and I think you know, colour in your
hair and and that kind of thing and how you do your hair also is
part of fashion and style, obviously.
And I've had I did. Forever horny.
Well, there you go, you know, so we all have sort of moments of
doing and like I said, I experimented a lot.
So I, my hair was always a weird wonderful colour and shade.
And I, I too, went through the Jennifer Aniston sort of friends
look. So I, I I've had some faux pas
and some I look back at my early 20s especially and think, wow,
did my eyebrows need to be so thin?
You're lucky exactly when you're out on location frequently and I
would imagine at times you have no notice that you're going.
Do you have a grab bag in your hall at home with your flak
jacket and everything already packed?
Yeah, absolutely. I have a travel bag and it has
everything. So I have a spare travel blow
dryer. I have a tiny steamer.
I hope that the place I'm going to has electricity.
Sometimes, you know, we're in positions where we don't.
But yes. And I have my basics, the, as
you say, the, the flak jacket, you know, the, the sort of extra
toiletries and makeup bag and the additional clothing.
So whether that's the T-shirts that never leave that bag or
will get washed and, and go back into that, that bag and, and you
know, underwear and things like that, that, that sit, sit in
that bag for sure. And because, you know, those
things can happen to me at any given moment.
I mean, I, I remember when Iran launched a strike on, on Israel,
they launched missiles over actually Israel launched the
strike first. And it happened at about 3:00 in
the morning. And I woke up to a phone call at
about four to say you'll be deployed to Israel because Iran
will hit back. And again, I had a bag at 7:00
in the morning. I was heading to the airport.
I didn't really have to think about what I was taking.
So your phone is on 24/7? Yes.
So what? Stay at home, chill out.
Stay at home, chill out is well, usually kind of loungewear.
You know, I, I sort of really love a hoodie and AT shirt and
if I'm ducking out, I'll wear a pair of jeans and and trainers.
So it's really like pulled back and and no makeup.
Be very conscious of being spotted in the street or spotted
in an airport. Yes, sometimes.
And you know, I yesterday I was having a meeting and it was an
off the record, quite an intense meeting in Marylebone and a sort
of wonderful group of women sitting down at the table next
to me. Maybe they were in their 80s.
They were having a wonderful breakfast together, a group of
friends and I, I was in this intense conversation.
And then one of them leaned over and said, see you at 9:00.
And it was very sweet. So I'm aware that, you know,
people are very respectful actually.
And, you know, we'll just make lovely comments about the show
or the work or the journalism. But I'm aware, yes, when I'm out
and about how I present myself. Coming to your wardrobe, you've
got a lot of clothes. How do you keep it organized?
How often do you rotate it? I try and keep it very
organized. So when I was moving from Sydney
to London, we made sure that we sent everything air freight.
Nothing was coming in a container to get all of those
clothes, The bulk of the the clothes that Leslie had built in
Sydney for me. And she did.
She built, she always sort of felt the quality was the most
important thing. When she would get through the
clothing budget quite quickly, management would get quite
upset. How have you managed to finish
this budget so quickly? Because she would ask for more
always. And she would say to me, the
most important thing is quality. These clothes will last you for
the rest of your life if you buy properly.
And so those clothes that I bought at age 26 and 27 with
Leslie, I'm 42, I'm still wearing on air that's.
So lovely to hear. Yeah, it really is.
Now, we've established that you get pounds per wear out of your
clothes, and I'm not asking you for the price tag, but what is
the most expensive item you've ever bought?
US elections last year, we were presenting out of the NBC Meet
the Press studio and it was a white Dolce Gabbana, you know,
suit and a silk blouse that went on underneath.
And so that is the most recent. Yeah.
And actually, what was sad was just as a matter of precaution,
I took a pair of wide leg black trousers with me and I needed to
wear it because, like all of these things, just because we're
women, you end up getting your period on the day that you.
So I couldn't wear my my white trousers.
But because I was also sitting in that chair for 14 hours.
Oh, my goodness. From 5:00 in the afternoon right
through to 7:00 the next morning, we did the whole night
of just seated and occasionally getting up.
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. Well.
What's your approach to sustainable fashion?
I love sustainable fashion. I'm all about, you know, re
wearing, reusing, passing down, handing things to other people,
you know, because I realized actually there was a story that
I did in Bangladesh about maybe 13 or 14 years ago when the Rana
Plaza collapsed and 2000 people were crushed to death and they
were all working in a sweatshop tailoring international chain
stores and High Street fashion. And I saw the impact.
I went there three or four weeks after, and I went into another
factory where I met a young girl whose hand had been amputated
from that. But she needed to support her
family. And so she was back at work in
another quite, you know, fragile factory where we were worried
about even being inside there, let alone, you know, these
machines operating out of their generators on the top floor
rather than the bottom floor in these buildings that just should
never have been built and should never have anyone inside them.
And so that made me really conscious of, you know,
sustainable fashion, how to tackle big brands that use these
spaces and many of them children in these sweatshops.
And I think a lot has changed from those incidents, but a lot
of those, you know, factories still remain.
So I think it's, it's really important that we think about
when something is 6 lbs or 10 lbs or 20 lbs, why is it so
cheap when it has been made and come from somewhere else, you
know, made in Bangladesh or somewhere else.
We have to question why an item is is that?
Cheap because someone is not being paid a living wage.
Fact. Exactly.
I wanted to ask you about handbags.
Where are you at on that? When?
What's the most expensive? Again, I'm not asking the price
tag bag that you've ever bought. I went through a phase where I
was buying expensive handbags and I'm just trying to think now
because I don't really use them anymore.
And you know, I've sort of either given away or sold some
of them and bought mid range handbags that are more practical
now. But I used to buy all the big
brands and, you know, spend money on, on these bags.
And I, I, I think about it now and it kind of almost makes me
cringe to think that I would spend thousands on a handbag And
it's not something I would, I don't judge anyone who does.
I think that, you know, fashion is so subjective and you go
through these phases, you go through different points in your
life and it gives you different amounts of joy.
But I don't get that anymore from handbags.
I like to carry a beautiful bag, but I don't necessarily think
you need to spend a lot of money, you know, and I buy pre
loved bags as well, a lot of pre loved bags now.
What platform do you buy them from?
I'm hardly ever worn it. I love, I think they always
have, you know, unique things that pop up, especially around
bags and, you know, and Buggiester and some of these
brands that, that, you know, but sometimes it might be I know
someone who's selling a bag and they'll and I love that bag or
they'll love it and, you know, we'll sort of exchange or, you
know, go to a Selfridges and, and do that.
But I, yeah, I, I, I don't judge anyone for the decisions they
make around any fashion choices because I think it's important
for us to feel good about ourselves and.
Totally. Let's spin on some quick fire
questions. What fashion advice would you
give your 20 year old self? Don't try so hard.
Which fashion trend or era would you most like to see make a
comeback? I think definitely the 90s.
I feel like I just missed that because I was quite young.
But I again, my older sister shaped so much of what I wore
and she was a real 90s teenager and young woman.
And I sort of I, I, I quite like the make up style, the hair and
the clothing of the 90s. Fashion or beauty trend that you
would consign to room one O 1. I think fashion trends in
general, I don't think people should necessarily chase what
the latest trend is. I think that, you know, you can
take something from a trend and adopt it into your style, but I
don't think you need to necessarily chase a particular
moment because it it's fleeting and you know, it's for that
moment. Talk about the moment your last
impulse buy. I, I am at airports a lot.
I spend a lot of my time at airports and just in the last
few days I was on my way to Davos and I bought some eyeliner
from Boots. So I'm always, you know, it's,
it's sort of obligatory to go into boots on the way to an
aircraft for us, even if I'm there every week.
So that's that's the last big. Your views on tattoos.
For a long time I wanted to get them and get one, get something,
but I think if you don't know what you're getting or why
you're getting it, maybe steer clear until you know.
Grooming or well-being treatment?
You couldn't give up. I think right now I'm going
through a microneedling period and I'm quite enjoying what red
light therapy and microneedling is doing to my.
Skin looks amazing. I'll take it.
I'll take. It high maintenance or low
maintenance? High maintenance in the right
moments. High end or High Street quality
Crocs. Cute or puke puke cashmere.
Unless it's for a six year old. Cashmere or cotton?
Cotton Sports Lux or Rock'n'roll?
Rock'n'roll. Trophy or Tracy?
Tracy Trend or style colour on monochrome?
Monochrome pattern or. Plain pattern order or editor,
editor, charity shop or retail? Charity shop?
Shapewear or lingerie? Lingerie bikini or one piece
bikini? And finally, traditional last
question at the end of the day, what do you or don't you wear in
bed? Sometimes I don't, but it
depends. I can.
I can go anywhere between nothing to a pyjama set.
If I'm I was in Davos and I was, I had to wear a pyjama set
because we're in a chalet with the rest of our colleagues or a
T-shirt. Wonderful.
Yeah, Elda, thank you so much. What a wonderful, wonderful
insight into your world. I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Amanda. I really, really enjoyed that.