24 Facts About Indira Naidoo

Indira Naidoo is an Australian author, journalist, and television and radio presenter, of Indian South African descent who hosts the Compass show on ABC TV.

Indira Naidoo's father was a dentist and her mother a teacher.

The family lived in Pietermaritzburg, before leaving the country when Indira Naidoo was two years old, owing to the discrimination which limited her parents' occupations.

Indira Naidoo was educated in England, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Tasmania, attending 12 schools, completing year 12 in Adelaide, South Australia, after which she completed a degree in journalism at the University of South Australia.

Indira Naidoo joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Adelaide in 1990 as a news cadet.

Indira Naidoo then moved to the ABC's National Late Edition News in Sydney where she developed a cult following as the ABC's youngest national news host.

Indira Naidoo has written extensively for several food and travel magazines including Australian Gourmet Traveller, The Sydney Morning Herald's 'Good Living' and The Sunday Herald's 'Sunday Life' Magazine.

In 1997, Indira Naidoo was head-hunted to present SBS News' inaugural Late News, which she hosted for three years, during which she covered the independence struggle in East Timor, the coups in Fiji and the Balkans war in Kosovo.

In January 2020, the ABC announced that Indira Naidoo would be the host of Nightlife on ABC Local Radio, replacing Sarah Macdonald.

In December 2022, the ABC announced that Indira Naidoo would replace Sarah Macdonald as host of Evenings on ABC Radio Sydney in January 2023, and Suzanne Hill would replace Indira Naidoo as host of Nightlife.

In 2006, Indira Naidoo became the media manager and spokeswoman for CHOICE, an Australian independent consumer watchdog, and has appeared on shows such as A Current Affair and The 7.30 Report in that capacity.

Indira Naidoo established the Shonky Awards for the worst consumer products, which became a highly anticipated annual media event.

In 2009, Indira Naidoo was one of 261 candidates selected to be trained in Melbourne by former US Vice President Al Gore to conduct regular presentations about the impacts of anthropogenic climate change.

In 2013, Indira Naidoo was the sustainability curator with the Australian Garden Show Sydney.

In September 2009, Indira Naidoo was a contestant on the premiere episode of Celebrity MasterChef Australia.

Indira Naidoo co-hosted Breakfast with Indira and Trevor on Sydney's 2CH radio station from 2018 to 2019.

Indira Naidoo was part of a five-actor ensemble which performed The Serpent's Table, a food installation performance piece for the 2014 Sydney Festival.

Indira Naidoo won the South Australian Justice Administration Award for Television in 1993, the Dalgety Award for Excellence in Rural Journalism in 1994, and the Better Hearing Australia Clear Speech Award in 1996.

Indira Naidoo was appointed an ambassador to the Wayside Chapel homeless crisis centre in 2012.

Indira Naidoo conducted weekly gardening classes for homeless visitors on the Wayside's rooftop community vegetable garden.

In 2012, Indira Naidoo won the lifestyle award from InStyle Magazine for her food activism work.

In 2017, Indira Naidoo was awarded the Peter Sculthorpe Alumni Prize by the Launceston Church Grammar School for her contribution to broadcasting and the community.

Indira Naidoo is a gay icon, and had a float dedicated to her in the 1997 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Indira Naidoo married Australian television producer and director Mark Fitzgerald in 2002.