[4] After her family left Afghanistan and settled in Australia in 1986, she grew up in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta and went on to study journalism.

[5] Hakim attended Macarthur Girls High School in Parramatta, Sydney, where she played the violin and became a sports captain and prefect.

She then went on to study a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism via distance education at Monash University[6] from 2007 to 2009, in addition to a cadetship at the Special Broadcasting Service.

[9] Beginning in 2011, Hakim co-hosted Dateline with fellow video journalist Mark Davis, the two taking it in turns to present the programme in approximately six-week blocks, while the other was away on assignment.

[15] In February 2023, it was announced Hakim would become a chief presenter on the BBC’s new news channel for both UK and international viewers launched in April 2023.

[20] The Yalda Hakim Foundation (YHF) was established in 2018 to support the education of exceptionally talented young women from Afghanistan, through scholarships, internships, and mentoring.

[21] In 2021 the Yalda Hakim Foundation partnered with Oriel College at Oxford University to provide a scholarship for a young Afghan woman, offering a fully-funded one-year masters degree course.