Kiran Chetry – First Nepalese Anchor on US Television

Kiran Carrie Chetry is an award-winning television journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of the Nepalese American English Magazine. She was born in the city of Patan in Nepal and immigrated to the United States in her childhood along with her parents.

Initial Phase of Career

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, Kiran embarked on a career in journalism at News 21 in Rockville, Maryland. She also worked with WICU-TV and KXTV as a reporter and morning anchor before joining the Fox News Channel. While at WICU-TV, Kiran received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s Best Enterprise Reporting award.

Association with Fox News and CNN

Kiran was associated with Fox News for six years and became well known as a rotating anchor for Fox News Live as also for her popular morning news program on weekends, Fox & Friends Weekend. During this time, the Association of Nepalis in the Americas honored her with the Making our Mark (MOM) Award.

When Kiran left Fox News, she was immediately hired by CNN as an anchor and correspondent. Upon signing the deal, she remarked that, “CNN is the gold standard when it comes to journalism, and I am thrilled to be part of the team.” She worked with the channel from 2007 to 2011 as an anchor of the “American Morning” broadcast, a three-hour flagship morning show. Kiran reported on several breaking news stories of that period covering the Virginia Tech Massacre, Gulf Oil Spill, Michael Jackson Memorial, San Diego Wildfires, the Royal Wedding, 2008 Election and Obama’s Inauguration among others.

Handling Multiple Roles

Subsequently, Kiran took on other challenging roles such as a freelance media consultant, public speaker, talk show host, benefit committee member and so on. She is also working as the Director, Strategic Marketing for the Miss Nepal US Pageant.

When the Nepalese American magazine was launched, to satiate the need of the Nepalese community in the US for an English magazine focusing on Nepal, Kiran became its Editor-in-Chief. She was also featured on the cover page of the inaugural issue.

Personal Life

Kiran was married to Chris Knowles, a former Fox News and CNN meteorologist. They have two children, daughter Maya Rose and son Christopher Chetry Knowles.

Kiran is often referred to as the “Himalayan Beauty” with reference to her roots in Nepal. With a passion for information coupled with a belief in encouraging those around her and making them shine, Kiran Chetry is undoubtedly a huge Nepalese success story.