A Conversation with Emmy-Winning Journalist Arjumand Hashmi Khan
By Tayyaba Syed
Jul/Aug 26
One of Emmy-Winning Journalist Arjumand Hashmi Khan’s fondest memories with her mother is sitting down to watch the daily news together.
As an immigrant, her mother relied on the news to learn about American culture, something Khan was also observing. However, as Khan grew older and more aware, she noticed no one on the television looked like her. The people being featured did not represent her or her community. She turned this void into her calling, and storytelling became Khan’s passion from a young age.
“I would see people doing amazing things on the news, but achievements from our Muslim community weren’t being included,” Khan, 48, recalled. “I wanted to help bring those forward and showcase them to the masses.”
Storytelling became a form of dawah for this Skokie, Ill.-based writer. There were so many firsts to share about her Chicago Muslim community. Khan felt obligated to highlight them as a beneficiary.
In high school, though, Khan learned that journalism was considered a dying industry, causing her to turn her focus to the art of storytelling, truthtelling, and unbiased reporting. Columbia College of Chicago was where she began to foster this art form and with it, doors started opening.
“Chicago became my muse, a city built on the shoulder of immigrants,” Khan shared. “I got to work with Mayor [Brandon] Johnson and landed my first internship at CBS 2 Chicago for a year.”
Khan had to start from the ground up and worked the assignment desk overnight. She was newly married, a senior in college, and trying to manage the graveyard shift.
“It was really hard and tough on my body,” Khan said. “I remember having to work on the weekends sometimes, but we all have to start somewhere. When the opportunity arose, I took it and owned it. I am grateful for my supportive husband and family through it all.”
This persistence and drive did not go unnoticed. She was then hired by ABC7 as the first hijabi woman to walk into the newsroom and quickly became a trusted source and representative for the Muslim community. Shortly thereafter, the 9/11 tragedy hit, and newsrooms across America realized how they were all missing Muslim stories, not just about them but by them. This is when Khan’s presence and perspective became crucial in bringing an authentic Muslim narrative forward, and her career took off.
“Our story was not being told by us, but stereotypes were being projected and portrayed,” Khan said. “It became a public safety issue. I provided them names of Muslims doing great work in our communities: professionals, doctors, school board members, etc. ABC7 was one of the first news channels to tell those stories.”
She went on to work for 16 years with the news station, winning two Emmy awards along the way. Khan’s first win with her team was in 2002 for a post-9/11 story called “Homeland Security.” Khan was part of the special projects team as a researcher, connecting ABC7 to the families featured in the story.
“My work was able to shine, but I give credit to my parents and husband as I was trying to raise a family at the same time,” Khan said. “My father set me up for success: be on time for work, do your best, represent yourself with excellence. However, I’m human and did make mistakes along the way but always bounced back. I was straight out of college, and my boss told me, ‘this is not a training ground.’ I had no choice but to stay on top of my game, and that’s where family support was so needed.”
Khan won her second Emmy award in 2007 for a breaking news story when a plane ran off the runway and hit a car at Chicago Midway International Airport. ABC 7 News was the first on the scene with Khan and her team working to get the news accurately and quickly.
After having her fourth child, Khan left ABC to stay at home and raise her family. The long hours and working on around-the-clock news was too taxing. She instead decided to put her energy and expertise towards giving back to her family and community. As time went on, Khan started doing more independent work in media relations, marketing, community relations, and public relations.
“There were still so many Muslim stories that needed to be shared, and the community was turning to me to help showcase them,” Khan said. “The storytelling never stopped for me.”
Around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Council on Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) reached out to Khan and asked her to handle their communications and their media. The Muslim community was taking the lead in helping with vaccine clinics and providing care to COVID-19 patients as health care professionals and first responders. The community needed to be seen, and the world needed to be shown the good they were doing. However, Khan had been at home for eight years at that point and did not feel ready, but the CIOGC reassured her that they would support her transition back to the workforce.
“I had mixed feelings,” Khan shared, “but this time I was working on the community side instead of the corporate side like the majority of my career. I have quickly realized it’s more about legacy-writing and documenting decades of sacrifice from our elders and pioneers. We are preserving history and protecting the Muslim identity for generations to see and benefit rather than trying to prove who we are.”
According to Khan, storytelling builds a sense of trust, honors those who came before us, and inspires those who will come after us. Her best advice is to stay connected to communities. She said anyone considering journalism should know that the opportunity is always there. Muslims only have visibility through their stories, and Muslims should be the ones bringing them to the world.
Tayyaba Syed is an award-winning author, journalist, and teacher. She conducts literary and faith-based presentations for all ages and sits on the board of directors for Rabata, a women’s non-profit. The mom of three lives in Illinois with her family. Learn more at www.tayyabasyed.com.
Want more like this? Subscribe to the Islamic Horizons magazine and support authentic journalism by Muslims for Muslims.