Fareed Zakaria is a prominent Indian-American journalist and author.
Early life
Zakaria was born in Mumbai on the 20th of January 1964 to parents Rafiq Zakaria, a politician and Islamic scholar, and Fatima Zakaria, who was the editor of the Sunday Times of India at that time. In his younger days, he was enrolled in Mumbai’s Cathedral and John Connon School.
Zakarai also enrolled into Yale University, where he participated actively in numerous unions and societies. He was the President of the Yale Political Union, the editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, and a member of the Scroll and Key society and Party of the Right.
Zakarai graduated from Yale University with Bachelor in Arts. In 1993, he also obtained a P.hD from Harvard University in Political Science.
Career
At the young age of 28, Zakaria became the managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine. He held this post for 8 years, before he became the editor of Newsweek International in 2000. During his stint at Newsweek, he wrote his award winning article, Why They Hate Us, which appeared as a headline story on the cover of the October 2001 issue.
Since 2008, Zakaria has also been hosting Fareed Zakaria GPS, which airs worldwide on CNN. He has interviewed numerous high profile leaders and personalities on his show like Barack Obama, King Abdullah II, Dmitry Medvedev, Muammar Gaddafi and the Dalai Lama.
Fareed Zakaria GPS is broadcasted in approximately 200 million homes across the globe and received an Emmy nomination in its first year.
Zakaria has written best-selling books like From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s World Role, The Future of Freedom, and The Post-American World. He was also the co-editor of The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World.
Awards
The Anti-Defamation League awarded Zakaria with a Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize in 2005. However, he returned the award to the ADL as a sign of protest after the organisation opposed the building of an Islamic centre two blocks away from Ground Zero.
In 2010, Zakaria received the the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, by the Government of India. In the same year, he was named as one of the top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy. Zakaria also received a National Magazine Award that year.
Personal life
Zakaria is married to Paula Throckmorton Zakaria, with whom he has one son, Omar and two daughters, Lila and Sofia. Zakaria, a naturalised American citizen, lives with his family in New York.
This biography will be updated regularly.
References
source: http://www.southasiandiaspora.org / Home> Author, People / by Jaclyn / August 02nd, 2012