Sonia Deol

All Sonia ever wanted to be was a presenter. As a youngster, she remembers making pretend programmes at home and boring her friends about one day becoming a radio star. But it paid off, when at the age of 14, she presented a one-off show for Comic Relief on BBC Radio West Midlands. Her media career had begun.

After leaving the University of Hertfordshire in 1994, she presented on Sunrise Radio before joining the fledging BBC Asian Network in 1996. She moved from Radio to TV the next year, presenting BBC 2's Network East.

Sonia rejoined BBC Asian Network for its national launch in 2002, presenting her own phone-in show and won a bronze award in the Interactive Category of the 2003 Sony Radio Academy Awards. She took over the helm at Breakfast in 2006, the same year she conducted an exclusive interview with Mirza Tahir Hussain from Leeds, an innocent man who spent 18 years on death row in Pakistan.

One of her most memorable moments was interviewing the Bollywood star, Dharmendra. A caller with a question for the actor sounded very familiar - it was Sonia's Mum!

Sonia left the station to present BBC Breakfast, as well as reporting on The Heaven and Earth Show and later co-presenting The Big Questions. In January 2010, she presented, 1984: A Sikh Story on BBC One, a controversial documentary about the 1984 attacks on The Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Sonia returned 'home' to present the Friday slot for Nihal's morning show, before coming full-circle and taking over the mid-morning slot in 2010.

She lists her proudest achievements so far as winning her Sony Award and co-hosting an awards ceremony with ex-BBC DG Greg Dyke.