Meet Yalda

I grew up in a multilingual and multicultural environment and have been interested in politics since my teenage years. I swiftly decided to pursue journalism on the basis I could combine all three.

My very first internship as a high school student, at the BBC World Service in London, was followed by diverse stops at radio and TV stations (CNN, ZDF, RTL, WDR, among others) and journalistic experience in USA, Italy, France and Iran. After completing my degree in Media Studies, I did an International Traineeship at Deutsche Welle.

What was your biggest challenge growing up?

To actually grow up. I guess I still haven't managed that quite yet - and I don’t mean physically (I gave up on growing any taller many years ago!). I mean, who wants to grow up anyway?!

How did you work things out?

By knowing that most of the time, things have worked out fine in the end, one way or another. Sometimes by working hard and fighting for something, things just come your way.

Having had to leave my home country as a baby, with parents who risked their lives to get out, I always tell myself, if that has worked out fine, everything else will, too.

What was the first thing you shared - and why?

I’m afraid I shared too much! Being a generous person, I generally like to share a lot - maybe that explains my extreme sharing habits on social media as well... Only joking. I guess it’s the journalistic desire to constantly want to tell and share the stories I come across.