Welcome to the 8th episode of the Daria Hamrah Podcast! Today I had the rare opportunity to talk to one of my most inspiring guests that I am lucky to call a friend.
What makes her so special is the very essence of what my podcast is about, success! Success, not measured by monetary value but rather than fulfillment and happiness. To me, the only true measure of success. People that follow their dreams and passion no matter what the odds are, people that believe in themselves and step out of their comfort zone in order to achieve their goals.
My guest Rudi Bakhtiar is best known for anchoring CNN Headline News Tonight, a prime time national three-hour newscast in the US. Not only she was anchoring this Emmy nominated CNN Newsroom, but she also worked as a dedicated correspondent for Anderson Cooper 360 at that time only 8 years into her career with the network. All of this after starting off as an intern for CNN in Los Angeles only to become a line producer at the network in a very short period of time.
In this very up-close and personal interview, Rudi, one of the biggest celebrities in the Persian-American community, walks us through her life, from being born in California to moving back to Iran until moving back to the US after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Having had an inspiring father who was a Professor in Mathematics at the top Science and Tech university in Iran, as well as a great uncle who was the Shah of Iran’s last prime minister, she had two inspiring figures in her life who influenced her greatly in achieving her successful career. Most importantly giving her the confidence in believing in herself.
Making her right career choice however came after reading a book about: “Finding Your Passion”.
She walks us through her struggles and successes, from being destined to become a dentist and being accepted to NYU dental school, to studying architecture at the career discovery program at Harvard School of Design, to then making a complete 180 and going into journalism, only to become one of the youngest news anchors at then the biggest news agency in the world, CNN. Having all the stars lined up, her career took an unexpected turn when her father was diagnosed with cancer and she decided to leave her successful career in order to take care of her sick father knowing that she would not be able to return to her anchor job as threatened by her boss at CNN. Her love for her father and loyalty to her family was greater than her career which speaks words about who she is as a human being.
As if life as the daughter of Iranian Immigrants in the US wasn’t hard enough, she became a victim of a sexual harassment case while working for FOX news that was featured in a recent blockbuster movie “Bombshell” featuring Charlize Theron, that unveiled the story around the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Gretchen Carlson against longtime Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016.
After her father’s passing, she then became a humanitarian going to the war zones in Syria and Iraq to report as an independent contractor for Reuters about the crimes and human rights violations in those war zones. It is her experience during the time that led her to produce her upcoming documentary about Syria, ISIS, and the truth about the middle east conflict.
I hope you will be as inspired as I was after listening to her story and
Tweet me @realdrhamrah
IG @drhamrah
