Lukwesa Burak (; born ) is a news presenter and former weather presenter for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

in the UK. Previously, she worked for

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

and before that ''Africa Edition'' on

eNCA eNCA, also known as eNews Channel Africa, is a 24-hour television news broadcaster owned by e.tv that focuses on South African, African stories and events. The broadcaster became South Africa's first and most watched 24-hour news service aft ...

(formerly known as ''eNews Channel''), based in South Africa. She was formerly a weather forecaster and then news presenter in the United Kingdom, for ''

East Midlands Today ''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. The ...

'', a regional television news programme covering the Midlands area of

Central England The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

, followed by news presenter for ''Sky News'', the 24-hour television news service operated by Sky Television, part of

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

, based in London. She became a news presenter for eNCA in August 2012."Good News: Africa gets the best"
''Independent Online'', 29 November 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013. She is a regular presenter of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' on

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, and the

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

in London with

Sharanjit Leyl Sharanjit Leyl (born 1973) is a former Singaporean producer/presenter, for the BBC. She regularly anchored ''Asia Business Report'' and ''Newsday'' on BBC One, the BBC News Channel and BBC World News from the BBC's Singapore studio. She was also ...

in Singapore and also on ''

Focus on Africa ''BBC Focus on Africa'' was a quarterly magazine established in 1990, based in London, UK, and available widely in Africa and in English-speaking countries globally. The magazine covered news, politics, economics, social events, culture and sport ...

'' on BBC World News and ''

World News Today ''World News Today'' is a current affairs news programme, produced by BBC News presented on Friday-Sundays with Philippa Thomas, Karin Giannone & Kasia Madera. Presenters alternate the weekend shifts. It was originally conceived as a morning ...

'' on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, BBC World News and the BBC News Channel on as well as mornings, afternoons and evenings on Saturdays and Sundays.

Early life

Burak was born in

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

, Zambia, and is named after her royal tribal family. Her father is of

Zambian Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are th ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

heritage, her mother of

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

heritage and her stepfather is

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. She enjoyed animals and had a spider collection. After a boat capsized on a fishing trip with her father on the

Zambezi river The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

, she was hospitalised for four weeks, having caught

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. Burak spent her early childhood in

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, where she attended Murray MacDougall Junior School, she moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

when she was eight years old and lived in

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in t ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

and attended Menston Primary School and St Mary's Catholic High School in

Menston Menston is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Along with Burley in Wharfedale, most of Menston is within Wharfedale Ward in the metropolitan borough of Bradford. The remainder of Men ...

, West Yorkshire. She had an interest in flying, so joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

, but had to leave after injuring her leg during a game of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. She gained a bachelor's degree in Geography and European Studies at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, when she spent a year in Switzerland and learned to speak French. She was then awarded a European Union scholarship to complete a Master of Science degree at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

Broadcasting career

After three years in an

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

career, Burak started her media career as a broadcast assistant for

BBC Weather BBC Weather is the department of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) responsible for both the preparation and the broadcasting of weather forecasts. On 6 February 2018, BBC Weather changed supplier from the government Met Office to Mete ...

, and trained as a broadcast

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

during this time. She began broadcasting as a relief forecaster for BBC regions and nations, eventually joining

BBC East Midlands BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, southern parts of South Kes ...

as one of their permanent forecast team, before becoming the lunchtime news anchor.

Sky News

Burak moved to

in 2006. Her main role involved presenting Sky News overnight, with her typical shift starting at midnight ending at 06:00. During this time she presented ''Sky News on the Hour'' from 01:00 to 03:00 and then '' Sky World News'' from 03:00 to 06:00, which caters for audiences within Europe, Asia and Africa. She left Sky News in 2012, but returned in 2013.

International broadcasting

In August 2012, Burak joined eNCA (eNews Channel Africa), based in South Africa. She said that she had to relocate to South Africa as her husband had been offered a new job there, but that she was very much looking forward to the opportunity to join the channel's Africa Edition team and to have the opportunity to conduct live interviews rather than dealing with predominantly pre-recorded material. But of her former employers, Sky News, she said: "Sky is an experience I would recommend to anybody. When you are working at that level in the industry, you could not ask for anything else." Burak rejoined Sky News in 2013 before departing once more in June 2015. She joined the team of

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Return to BBC

In May 2016 Burak returned to BBC News, joining BBC East Midlands and

. She began presenting on the

on 13 August 2016. In September Burak became the main presenter of ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: *Backwards (disambiguation) or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', novel by Barry Eisler ...

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

and the relaunched England edition, which is a weekly round-up of the three best reports from across the country. Burak went on to anchor the BBC World News channel in London.

Other interests

Burak was portrayed on the cover of Issue 2 of UK Zambians' ''Lifestyle'' Magazine in the summer of 2008. She was also appointed patron of the charity All Star Kids (1079911) at the start of December 2008. She is an ambassador for Malaria No More UK, as a result of her own personal experiences as a child. Since January 2011, she has been the director of hair products company Gidore which she founded.Hazelann Williams
"'Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!'"
''The Voice'', 11 March 2012

Personal life

Burak lives in the village of

Braybrooke Braybrooke is a small village in north west Northamptonshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 378. It is situated about halfway between Market Harborough and Desborough. It lies in a valley between two ridges ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

References

External links

Lukwesa Burak Official WebsiteLukwesa Burak
at

Q&A with tvnewsroom.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burak, Lukwesa Living people Zambian emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of Sussex Alumni of the University of Leicester Black British television personalities English meteorologists English people of Zambian descent BBC weather forecasters BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News Al Jazeera people Sky News newsreaders and journalists Year of birth missing (living people)