Getting fresh with every broadcast

President Kibaki and Information PS Bitange Ndemo exchange pleasantries with Zain at a past event. [Photo:courtesy]

ZAIN VERJEE, 38, was recently in the country on holiday and to visit her family. For the last 13 years, she has worked with CNN International in various capacities and held Kenya’s brand to high esteem and to global recognition, a fact that many Kenyans are proud of. GEOFFREY KORIO caught up with her

Zain Verjee is no strange face, especially to Kenyans. Her skills as a journalist were honed here, with KTN taking pride in being the station that sharpened her talent and launched her career into the stratosphere.

“When I was working at KTN, I had great support from Isaiah Kabira, the then news director, and my immediate bosses Njoroge Mwaura and Catherine Kasavuli.

I learned everything from them and they made me believe I could make it as a broadcast journalist. And I was lucky at the time since there was no stiff competition in media as there is now, which is a great thing too,” she muses.

Seasoned anchor

Today, Zain is co-anchor of CNN International’s European daytime programme World One. Previously, she worked as a newsreader for The Situation Room as a US State Department correspondent, and as a co-anchor of CNN International’s Your World Today and World Report.

She was recently in Kenya on holiday and despite people acknowledging her presence, sometimes in unashamed excitement, Zain maintained her cool and was pleasant to those who sought her attention.

In the US, however, her life revolves much around her work, which she has managed to keep under control through scheduling.

“I wake up at around 6am, read both local (meaning US) and international (meaning European) newspapers, and catch up with the rest of the news on Internet and the social media,” she says.

When she gets to the office a couple of hours later, Zain discuss world events and breaking news with her team, who include producers and editors. It is a job she enjoys immensely.

Since joining CNN 13 years ago, Zain has covered the best and worst in people. However, the multi-award winning news journalist cites Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence as her most frightening one.

“That was a  hard story to do,” she says, “partly because I am Kenyan and partly because I had a professional obligation to tell the truth to the world. I was covering events in a country I consider my home and the situation was looking bad with every passing minute.

As a Kenyan, I did not want to portray the country in a negative light, yet I needed to report the truth. I believe I managed to balance the two, and in the long run, I was able to explain the situation better than a foreign journalist would have done. I just hope there won’t be any violence come this year’s General Election.”

Risky assignments

To this day, she still remembers the feeling of dread as a teargas canister fired in her direction by anti-riot police hit her on the back.Zain also reported on the explosive situation in Somalia and did an in-depth expose of the piracy crisis.

In addition to covering risky and life threatening situations, Zain also boasts of interviewing renowned leaders including former US President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami.

Her highest moment at CNN was travelling around the world with former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and covering the US elections when  President Barrack Obama was running for presidency for the first time.

On air blooper

But even with such impressive highlights, the world still hasn’t forgotten the on air blooper she made four years ago when she mentioned a part of a man’s anatomy instead of a peanut, a slip that attracted more than 500,000 views on You Tube.

“I have been trying to forget that incident, and I never really said that,” she jokingly defends herself.

But the incident made her aware of just how much the public was keen when watching news on TV, and how quickly mistakes spiral out of control.

“After that episode, I don’t recall having any memorable blooper. Besides, it showed that I was a normal human being who makes mistakes like everyone, as opposed to the notion that anchors are perfect,” she says.

The globe-trotting anchor has found it difficult to balance her career with family life, though she has not yet given up. Her future is set to get busier as she prepares to embark on a series of activities ranging from child literacy, girl child education and promoting local arts and artistes.

At just 21 years of age, Zain published the book Live and on the Air that explored the experiences of a young girl who moved from rural Kenya to Nairobi to work as a broadcaster; a story that has slight echoes to her stardom life, though she did not migrate from rural Kenya but from Canada where she was pursuing an English Literature degree at McGill University in Montreal.

Away from the news world, Zain enjoys spending a lot of her free time researching and drafting new book ideas. She is currently working on two books.

The first is an investigative book under the working title Hell’s Gate, which is about a woman detective investigating a murder in Ngong’ Racecourse. Interestingly, the story has an Indian female journalist, which mirrors her faith as a practising Ismaili Muslim.

“My writing style is quite story. I don’t have a set storyline — I just follow the story to wherever it takes me,” she says.

Zain confesses to working on the book for three years now. “I want to show the world that Kenya is a vibrant and modern country brimming with colourful and diverse people,” she quips.

Her second work is a children’s fantasy book about a girl who wants to be a journalist. “I am still in the drafting stages. I’m going to use social media and get suggestions from Kenyans about the books,” she remarks.

When she is not busy writing or anchoring, Zain is intrigued by historical and dramatic moments, the recent one being on December 12 last year (12.12.12).

“That was a moment that will never happen again. It was phenomenal and I appreciate such,” she says.