Inside Escape to the Country star Sonali Shah's life off screen from 'private' romance to children's book
23.01.2024 - 11:31
/ ok.co.uk
Sonali Shah, known for presenting on BBC's Escape to The Country and Magic FM, has had quite the journey. From reading news on BBC children's Newsround to presenting on BBC's world news, she's had a successful career in journalism. But there's more to Sonali than meets the eye.
Born in 1980, she grew up in Edgware, London with her parents, who migrated from India, and younger brother Amal. She was educated at Longfield First and Middle School, then Harrow's Whitmore High School. She later studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University.
After completing her degree, she became a producer for BBC World Service in 2002 and started presenting on BBC's The World Today and World Business Report. Since then, she's presented on many shows such as Sportsround, BBC's coverage of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Commonwealth Games and BBC One's British Olympic Dreams. Not just a broadcaster, Sonali is also a trained dancer, having trained for over 10 years.
The 41 year old specialised in Streetdance, Indian classical and Indian folk.
She even danced to 'Hey Ya!' by Outkast for BBC's Lets Dance for Comic Relief. Competing with Ore Oduba, her co-presenter on Newsround, they didn't make it to the final round. Despite the defeat, Sonali is still dancing and frequently shows her moves on Instagram.
Sonali is happily married to Ardash Shah and they have two children, Ariana who was born in 2013, and Rafi who was born in 2016. Sonali previously spoke to Express.co.uk about wearing two dresses on her wedding day to husband Adarsh. She described: "I spent two weeks in Mumbai and designed them myself.