Tara Kangarlou is an award-winning journalist who has reported and produced breaking news stories, investigative pieces, and magazine-style print and broadcast stories on both domestic and international issues. Over the years she has reported and produced for CNN, CNN International, NBC Los Angeles, Huffington Post, Al Monitor, NPR and Al Jazeera America. As a multimedia journalist, Ms. Kangarlou has reported from the United States and around the world including Canada, Europe and the Middle East, in countries such as: Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and the UAE.

She recently led Al Jazeera America’s unprecedented access to report and produce from Iran during the Nuclear Negotiations in July 2015. While at CNN, Ms. Kangarlou was involved in covering major domestic and international events including the 2013 US Presidential Inauguration,
Boston Marathon bombings, the 2013 Iranian presidential election, Nelson Mandela’s death, the 2014 Russia-Ukraine crisis, and the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria. She has also interviewed many high-ranking politicians and senior government officials as well as top UN officials in various conflicted areas around the world.

In 2012, she was the only US-based journalist who got an exclusive interview with Asghar Farhadi, the Academy-Award winning Iranian Director of “A Separation.” Ms. Kangarlou also has an expertise and passion for covering lifestyle and culture; and has reported from the New York Fashion Week and other major events across the country.

Ms. Kangarlou was born and raised in Tehran, Iran and moved to California with her family in 2003. Also a philanthropist, Ms. Kangarlou aspires to objectively and openly report and tell stories that shape, influence, and impact people’s lives all over the world. Her primary areas of expertise are the Middle East, socio-cultural affairs, foreign policy, women’s issues in developing countries as well as domestic and international human-interest and investigative stories.

She is fluent in both Persian and English languages and some knowledge of Arabic and French. Ms. Kangarlou has a Bachelor’s Degree from UCLA in English Literature, with an emphasis on World Literature; and a Master’s Degree in Broadcast & Digital Journalism from University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication (USC).

Ms. Kangarlou currently works for Al Jazeera America and lives in New York City.