Femi Oke ( ; born 30 June 1966) is a British

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Early life and education

Femi Oke was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

n parents of the Yoruba ethnic group. She is a graduate of

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, where she received a bachelor's degree in English literature and language.

Broadcasting career

Oke began her career at the age of 14 working as a junior reporter for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's first talk radio station, London Broadcasting Company. During 1992 and 1993, she worked for a cable station called Wire TV. Oke presented several shows for the station, including the popular ''Soap on the Wire'' on a Saturday afternoon, with soap-opera expert Chris Stacey. In the early 1990s, Oke presented the BBC's flagship educational science programme Science in Action and was also a presenter of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. She has also worked for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

(1995–1999), Men & Motors (1998–1999) and

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

(1994–1995). She is a former anchor for

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

's World Weather service at the network's global headquarters in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. She presented weather segments for the programs ''Your World Today'' and '' World News''. She also regularly hosted ''Inside Africa'', now fronted by

Errol Barnett Errol Barnett (born 3 April 1983) is a broadcaster on American television. He is an anchor and national correspondent for CBS News based in New York City. He anchors the ''CBS Morning News'' solo''.'' Previously he covered the Trump administra ...

, a programme that looks into the economic, social and cultural affairs and trends in Africa. She joined CNN in August 1999, and worked there until 2010. She used to appear as a daily newscaster, contributor and interviewer on

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

/WNYC's morning public radio news program, ''

The Takeaway ''The Takeaway'' was a weekday radio news program co-created and co-produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Its editorial partner was GBH; at launch the BBC World Service and ''The New York Times'' were also editorial partners. In a ...

''. Currently, she hosts '' The Stream'' on

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is ...

Public speaking

She has accepted an invitation to teach on behalf of the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, conducted guest lectures for the University of Liberia,

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in Atlanta and been a guest speaker at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, addressing the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy.

Film

Oke appeared in the short film ''The Last Hour'' (2005).

References

External links

*
The Real Femi Oke blog

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 17 July 2006. *
The Takeaway's Official Program website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oke, Femi 1966 births Living people 21st-century American women Alumni of the University of Birmingham American people of Nigerian descent American people of Yoruba descent American radio journalists American women radio journalists American women television journalists Black British television personalities British women television journalists CNN people English emigrants to the United States English people of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent English women journalists Nigerian television journalists Nigerian women journalists Public Radio International personalities British television weather presenters Yoruba women journalists Yoruba journalists Yoruba women television personalities