Najia Ashar

Najia Ashar is a broadcast journalist and media development professional with more than 20 years of experience in Pakistan's mainstream media. She is the founder & president of Global Neighbourhood for Media Innovation, a Karachi-based nonprofit organization working for media development and peacebuilding in Pakistan.

Journalism

Najia started her news media career in 2002 at state-owned Pakistan Television as a writer and researcher.
As a media professional, she has hosted a number of programs on sensitive human rights issues which included influential stakeholders of the society and worked as a host of a news morning show at GNN TV and served as Editor News Strategy and Planning at Aaj News. She also hosted a daily news show "News Hour With Najia". Prior to that she worked as a news presenter at Geo News for 12 years.
In 2013, she attended the East-West Center media exchange program in Honolulu, Hawaii, She attended Stanford University in 2014-2015 as a Knight Journalism Fellow.

Education

Najia holds a Master's and bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Karachi.

Personal life

Najia was born in the Qasba Colony, a neighbourhood in Karachi housing diverse ethnic groups. She is married to Ashar Ali, a news executive. The couple has two children.