Najia Ashar

Najia Ashar (born 14 July 1978) is a former broadcast journalist and media development professional   with more than 20 years of experience in Pakistan’s mainstream media. She is currently living in the United States of America with her husband and two children. She is the founder & president of Global Neighbourhood for Media Innovation (GNMI), a Karachi-based nonprofit organization working for media development and peacebuilding in Pakistan.

Development
Najia established GNMI with the intention of reinventing newsrooms all across Pakistan. She has media workers to report on human rights, CVE, gender-based violence and safety and security through diverse digital tools and entrepreneurial journalism.

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.

Fellowships
She participated in a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship to Stanford University from 2014 to 2015. under which she dived deeply into journalism innovation and strategic leadership in Silicon Valley and developed a practical, user-friendly safety guide for Pakistani journalists. In 2013, she participated in a fellowship from the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i, whom she also entered into partnership with in 2021.

Education
Najia holds a Master's (2000) and Bachelor's degree (1999) 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.