[3] Farhat is the founder and chief functionary of BIRD Trust, a non-governmental organisation which works for the upliftment of marginalized women in Odisha.
Farhat completed her early education at P.M. Academy and St.Joseph Girl's high school, she then did her graduation in English Literature (hons) from Sailabala Women's College, Cuttack.
In July 1992 Farhat joined Hindustan Times as its Cuttack Correspondent and wrote news, reports and articles.
Namboodiripad, columnist Kushwant Singh,[10] freedom fighter Manmohini Sahgal and poet Amrita Pritam for various dailies and magazines.
Farhat received a Media Fellowship from Oxfam to work on Violence Against Women in Southeast Asia before the campaign started in Odisha in 2004.
[14] As a part of it she has been organizing awareness programmes for Muslim and Dalit women in 6 districts of Odisha including Cuttack, Jajpur, Khurda, Berhampur, Ganjam and Bhadrak.
[15][16][17] In 2008 she established her own non-governmental organisation called BIRD (Bold Initiatives Research and Documentation), which works for the empowerment, justice, health, education and employment of marginalized women in Odisha.
[24] In 2005 she was awarded the Kalinga Gastroenterology Foundation Samana for spreading public awareness and striving to eradicate the menace of Hepatitis B among children.