Wikipedia Bio / Profile Background
Introduction :
Afua Hirsch is a person of many talents, as evinced by her foray into diverse areas. She is a barrister, social worker, writer, and broadcaster, all rolled into one interesting package!
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Afua was born on June 12, 1981, in Stavanger, Norway.
- She has a mixed parentage, with her mother being Ghanaian & her father being English. There is also some Jewish blood in the family.
- Afua’s mother and her family had left Ghana in 1962, seeking a better life in the UK.
- Therefore, Afua’s family shifted to London too, when she was just a child.
- Initially, Afua was ashamed of her African roots, since it connected to slavery and identity crisis. She used to tell everyone that she was from Jamaica.
- A trip to Ghana’s capital, Accra, in 1995, however, sufficed to change her whole outlook towards her native continent.
- Afua is married, but she does not comment much upon it, merely stating that she has a six-year-old child.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Afua chose to study at St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford.
- She studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) from 1999 to 2002 & earned her Bachelor’s degree.
- She received a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) from BPP Law School, after completing a one-year course from 2004 to 2005.
Journalism Career, Salary and Net Worth :
- Afua remained in charge of the ‘written word’ at The Voice Newspaper, from 1995 until 1999.
- From August 2002 until March 2004, she took up the post of Special Projects Coordinator with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
- Doughty Street Chambers appointed her as a barrister, from September 2006 until April 2008.
- She also took up the role of tutor at BPP Professional Education, during this period.
- From November 2007 until April 2008, Afua taught students of law the finer nuances of Constitutional and Administrative Law.
- The Guardian/Observer Newspapers were glad to offer her the post of Legal Affairs Correspondent from September 2008 to December 2011.
- Afua continued with them, right until January 2014, albeit in a different position. She was now their West Africa Correspondent in Accra.
- Currently, (since February 2014), she is with Sky News at their London office, as their Social Affairs and Education Editor.
Fun Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Afua is completely into “Africa” now! She just cannot stop devouring everything she can about African women, politics, literature, etc.
- She has a keen interest in criminology, journalism and international development.
- She has penned her thoughts about the difficulties of acquiring an identity amongst a typical English crowd, in a book titled, “Brit(ish).”
- The book will be released to the public by Jonathan Cape in 2018.