Emily Angwin’s journey from Caulfield Grammar School (Class of 2005) to becoming an International News Anchor for Al Jazeera English is a testament to her hard work, dedication, and passion for journalism.
Emily remembers her time at Caulfield Grammar School fondly and looks back at her high school experience with gratitude and appreciation. She is thankful for the many opportunities offered at Caulfield that paved the way for self-discovery and led to a plethora of cherished memories. One such memory was travelling to Nanjing Campus in Year 9, which Emily says ignited her love for travel and exploring new cultures. This life-changing trip saw Emily return to China post-graduation to live in Beijing for 18 months.
Emily feels incredibly privileged to have been able to attend Caulfield Grammar, stating that education is a critical initial step for any career.
“While you’re there, studying and navigating friendships, it can be all consuming. But the reality is, it’s just one brief moment of your life”.
From a young age, Emily always knew she wanted to be a journalist so after high school she went straight to university to study a Bachelor of Communications at RMIT. Emily thoroughly enjoyed her ‘hands on’ university course as it provided her with great practical training for broadcast news and working in both audio and visual mediums. Nevertheless, she recalls thinking she would never need to utilise some of the lessons she learnt. Today, she is convinced that of all of it has been crucial to solidifying her knowledge and excelling in her career.
Emily maintains that contacts are everything when it comes to getting your foot in the door in journalism. She got her start when her best friend and fellow Class of 2005 member, Natasha Gledhill, left her job in radio in 2009 and suggested Emily as a suitable replacement. The job at Nova Radio Station as an assistant producer for Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek led to Emily spending several years in radio. Eventually she made the move to Channel 7 television at age 23 where she continued to build her extensive network and make the most of career opportunities afforded her.
Emily covered numerous major sporting events such as the Australian Open, Australian Football League and Rio Paralympic Games 2016 and was awarded Best Breaking News Coverage in 2015. In 2019, Emily moved to Bejing and worked as an anchor at China Global Television Network where she was hosting its international news during the outbreak of the Covid pandemic.
Two years later Emily moved to Doha, Qatar, as an International News Anchor for Al Jazeera English. While in Doha her days usually involved working with producers and the news desk to discuss upcoming programs, story ideas, guests and correspondence. Every day was different with no amount of planning preparing her and her team for the unexpected breaking news. According to Emily, they were always kept on their toes!
One of the aspects that Emily loved about working at Al Jazeera was giving ‘a voice to the voiceless’; this sums up perfectly what inspired her to get into journalism initially. While not all the stories Emily covers are positive and light-hearted, she enjoys speaking to a variety of remarkable people and learning something new about the world on a day-to-day basis. Being able to shed light on tragedy, discrimination, difficult life circumstances and other cultures can often enact meaningful change.
A change that Emily hopes to see in her industry is more diversity in the people presenting commercial news in the future. As her career continues to develop, she looks forward to learning more about long-format news programs, such as feature news reports and documentaries. Emily is also eager to learn as much as possible about the Middle East as well as international politics and western bias.
Currently Emily and her husband are in the process of moving to the Philippines. They plan to spend several years in Asia, where Emily will continue to work with Al Jazeera and pursue freelance opportunities. Emily recommends that young alumni take the time to go out and explore the world. With so many adventures to be had, memories to be made and delicious food to be eaten, she is sure this is something they will never regret.
