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Hena Doba (Pakistani-American Journalist)
Hena Doba, age 48, is a Pakistani-American broadcast journalist and national news anchor who has spent more than two decades breaking barriers in American television news. Born on December 4, 1977, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, to Pakistani immigrant parents, Doba grew up in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country — and that background would shape everything about the journalist she became.
Her career reads like a quiet revolution. She started as a producer at a local TV station in Watertown, New York, just two days after graduating from the University at Buffalo, where she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and English.
From there, she worked her way through local news, CBS affiliates, and eventually to the national stage — anchoring The National Desk with Hena Doba on CBS News, broadcasting to more than 100 stations across the country. She later joined Cheddar News before landing at NewsNation, where she anchors the weekend edition of Morning in America.
Along the way, she earned an Emmy Award for Best Team Coverage of the Newtown Tragedy, multiple Associated Press awards, and recognition as one of the Top Women in Media in 2023. She is widely recognized as one of the first Pakistani-American women to anchor a national news program in the United States.
| Full Name | Hena Nadia Daniels (birth name); Hena Doba (married/professional name) |
| Date of Birth | December 4, 1977 |
| Place of Birth | Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Pakistani-American (first-generation) |
| Religion | Muslim |
| Profession | Broadcast Journalist, National News Anchor, Adjunct Professor |
| Employer | NewsNation (Nexstar Media Group) |
| Education | Dual B.A. in Psychology and English, University at Buffalo (2002); Flushing High School, Queens, New York |
| Career Start | Producer, Newswatch 50, Watertown, New York (2002 — two days after graduating college) |
| Current Role | Weekend Anchor — Morning in America, NewsNation (premiered January 27, 2024) |
| Previous Employers | CBS News, Cheddar News, WFSB-TV Hartford (CBS affiliate), BBC, Newswatch 50 |
| Notable Coverage | September 11 Attacks (on-camera), Newtown Tragedy, COVID-19, New York Stock Exchange financial reporting, women in tech and finance |
| Marital Status | Married to Andrew Ronald Doba — January 23, 2016, Society Room of Hartford, CT |
| Children | No biological children; stepmother to Henry (Andrew’s son from previous marriage) |
| Parents | Father: Agha M. Zulfiquar; Mother: Tahmina Faraz (Pakistani immigrants) |
| Siblings | Three younger sisters (names not publicly available) |
| Awards | Emmy Award — Best Team Coverage of Newtown Tragedy; AP Award — Best Spot News; AP Award — Best Breaking News; AP Award — Best Sports Feature; Best Reporter — Hartford Magazine (2009, 2010); Top Women in Media — October 2023 |
| Estimated Net Worth | ~$2 million (estimated; not officially confirmed) |
| Salary | Estimated ~$84,000 annually at NewsNation (not officially confirmed) |
| Residence | Greenwich, Connecticut, United States |
| Languages | English, Urdu |
Who is Hena Doba ?
Hena Doba is a Pakistani-American broadcast journalist and national news anchor, born on December 4, 1977, in Queens, New York. She currently anchors the weekend edition of Morning in America on NewsNation and is recognized as one of the first Pakistani-American women to anchor a national U.S. news program.
Early Life and Background
Hena Doba was born on December 4, 1977, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, to Pakistani immigrant parents who had arrived in the United States just months before her birth. She grew up in one of America’s most culturally layered cities — and that environment left a permanent mark on her worldview.
Childhood and Family Background
Her father, Agha M. Zulfiquar, and her mother, Tahmina Faraz, came from Pakistan carrying the hopes that most immigrant parents carry: stability, opportunity, and a better future for their children. Doba is the eldest of four — she grew up alongside three younger sisters. The family moved frequently across Queens, living in neighborhoods including Jamaica, Elmhurst, College Point, Rosedale, and Jackson Heights.
Urdu was spoken at home. Islam was part of the family’s identity. And so was the quiet pressure that comes with being a first-generation child of immigrants. Her parents, proud of what they had built in a new country, initially steered her toward a more conventional path — psychology, something stable, something predictable. Doba has spoken openly about the cultural duality she navigated growing up: Pakistani at home, American everywhere else.
She describes her parents as proud immigrants. That pride, and the resilience behind it, clearly shaped her.
Educational Journey
Doba attended Flushing High School in Queens before enrolling at the University at Buffalo. She graduated in 2002 with dual bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and English — a combination that reflects both her family’s expectations and her own emerging instincts.
Psychology was the plan. Journalism was the accident. During her time at Buffalo, Doba joined The Spectrum, the university’s student newspaper, eventually rising to Feature Editor. That experience changed everything. According to University at Buffalo alumni records, it was her work on The Spectrum that redirected her away from clinical careers and toward the newsroom — a decision that would define the next two decades of her life.
Hena Doba’s Career — From Local News to National Anchor
Hena Doba’s career in broadcast journalism spans more than two decades, crossing local newsrooms, national networks, and financial news before landing her at the center of a major national morning show. Her path was neither straight nor easy — but every step was deliberate.
Early Career Beginnings
Doba did not wait long to get started. Just two days after graduating from the University at Buffalo in 2002, she walked into her first professional role as a producer at Newswatch 50, a local television station in Watertown, New York. It was entry-level work, behind the scenes — but it planted her inside a newsroom at exactly the right moment in history.
Her first time on camera was never planned. In September 2001, while visiting her family in Queens, Doba picked up a camcorder and stepped outside as the September 11 attacks unfolded around her. She documented the streets, the chaos, the people. That footage — and that instinct — convinced her that being in front of the camera was where she belonged.
The road that followed was not without obstacles. Early in her career, at a time when broadcast news lacked diversity, Doba faced open hostility from viewers. Her news director received emails with language that was unmistakably racist — one read, bluntly: “Why is the terrorist telling us the news?” She has spoken about those incidents publicly, not with bitterness, but as context for what first-generation journalists of color were navigating in American newsrooms at that time.
She persisted. Doba joined WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, a CBS affiliate, where she built a strong regional reputation as a reporter and anchor. Hartford Magazine readers voted her Best Reporter in both 2009 and 2010 — back-to-back recognition that signaled she had earned the trust of her audience. She also worked with the BBC during this period, adding international broadcasting experience to her résumé.
Simultaneously — and remarkably — she taught journalism as an adjunct professor at both the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and Capital Community College for more than five years, shaping the next generation of reporters while still working full-time on air.
Rise to National Prominence — CBS News and Cheddar News
Doba’s move to national television came through CBS News, where she served as a national correspondent before stepping into the anchor chair. She hosted The National Desk with Hena Doba, a program that aired across more than 100 CBS stations nationwide. It was a significant platform — and she used it to cover the full range of American news, from politics and breaking events to economics and consumer stories.
She also reported live from the New York Stock Exchange, establishing herself as a credible voice on financial and business news — a specialty that would define her next move.
In January 2019, Doba joined Cheddar News as an anchor and correspondent. Cheddar was built for a different kind of news viewer — younger, digitally native, financially literate. Doba fit that vision. She hosted programming covering COVID-19 developments, environmental policy, and the achievements of women in technology and finance. Her work at Cheddar demonstrated an ability to adapt her delivery and subject matter without losing the authority she had built over nearly two decades.
Current Role at NewsNation
On January 11, 2024, Nexstar Media Group and NewsNation announced that Doba had been appointed anchor of the weekend edition of Morning in America. The show premiered on January 27, 2024, and airs every Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET.
The role marked another milestone in a career already full of them. Morning in America reached its best ratings month on record in July 2025, a result that reflected both the show’s growing audience and Doba’s steady presence as its anchor.
She also made history as the first journalist to anchor a national news program at 4 a.m. — a distinction that speaks to both her endurance and the trust networks place in her on-air.
Major Achievements and Awards
Doba’s journalism has been formally recognized at every level of the industry. Her awards include:
- Emmy Award — Best Team Coverage of the Newtown Tragedy, recognizing her reporting on one of the most difficult news events in recent American history
- Associated Press Award — Best Spot News
- Associated Press Award — Best Breaking News
- Associated Press Award — Best Sports Feature
- Best Reporter — voted by Hartford Magazine readers in 2009 and again in 2010
- Top Women in Media — recognized in October 2023
Beyond the awards, her career carries two distinctions that no citation can fully capture. Doba is recognized as one of the first Pakistani-American women to anchor a national news program in the United States. And she is the first journalist to anchor a national show at 4 a.m. — a quiet, unglamorous record that says everything about her commitment to the work itself.
Hena Doba Net Worth and Salary
Hena Doba has built her financial standing the same way she built her career — steadily, across more than two decades, and through multiple streams of professional work. Her net worth reflects not just her time on air, but a broader career that includes national broadcasting, financial news, academic teaching, public speaking, and event moderation.
All salary and net worth figures presented below are estimates based on publicly available information and third-party reporting.
Salary Details
Doba’s estimated annual salary at NewsNation sits at approximately $84,000. That figure is consistent with publicly available benchmarks for national news anchors working at cable and independent broadcast networks at her level of experience and tenure.
Her income, however, is not limited to her anchoring role. Doba has developed several parallel revenue streams over the course of her career. These include fees from speaking engagements, compensation for moderating public and corporate events, and — for more than five years — income from her work as an adjunct professor at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and Capital Community College.
It is important to note that Hena Doba has not publicly confirmed her salary. No official figure has been disclosed by her or by NewsNation. All salary estimates cited here are third-party calculations based on industry benchmarks and publicly available information, and should be read as approximations rather than confirmed facts.
Net Worth Estimate
Hena Doba’s net worth is estimated at approximately $2 million. That figure, while not officially confirmed, is grounded in the reality of a career that has spanned local television, the BBC, CBS News, Cheddar News, and NewsNation — each representing a step up in both reach and compensation.
Her financial profile reflects more than anchor salaries alone. Over five years of adjunct professorship added steady supplemental income alongside her on-air work. Her presence on the speaking circuit and as a professional moderator — particularly following her national profile at CBS and Cheddar — represents additional earnings that are difficult to quantify but meaningful in aggregate.
Taken together, a career of that length, at that level of national visibility, and with that breadth of income sources, places the $2 million estimate within a credible range.
Hena Doba Personal Life
Away from the anchor desk, Hena Doba lives a life that is deliberately private — but not entirely out of view. She is married, settled in Connecticut, and by her own account, deeply committed to the family she and her husband have built together.
Husband — Andrew Ronald Doba
Hena Doba is married to Andrew Ronald Doba. Their story began in December 2013 at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, where Doba was working as a reporter and anchor. Andrew had come in as a guest on a political show hosted by her co-anchor. An introduction was made. The rest followed naturally.
They married on January 23, 2016, at the Society Room of Hartford — a ceremony notable for more than its setting. Former Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy officiated the wedding personally, a reflection of Andrew’s deep roots in Connecticut political and public life.
Andrew Ronald Doba is a communications professional with a career built across politics, media strategy, and the energy sector. He served as communications director for Governor Malloy before moving into the private sector, joining Stu Loeser & Company, a strategic communications firm in Manhattan specializing in media strategy and crisis communications. He later became communications director for Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind energy company, before moving into his current role as Vice President and Head of Communications at EnergyRe. Academically, Andrew is a Fordham University graduate who holds a Master’s degree in English from Hunter College.
The couple makes their home in Greenwich, Connecticut — a quiet contrast to the national television stages both of them navigate professionally.
Children and Stepfamily
Hena Doba does not have biological children. She is, however, a stepmother — and by all accounts, an engaged and present one.
Andrew has a son named Henry from a previous marriage. Doba has embraced that role fully. She has been known to attend Henry’s baseball games and take him to horse riding lessons — small, ordinary moments that she has occasionally shared warmly in public. She affectionately refers to him as her “munchkin.”
Both Hena and Andrew were previously married before they met in 2013, and both of those earlier marriages ended in divorce. What they built together, beginning with that introduction at a Hartford television station, appears to be something steadier — a family assembled not by circumstance, but by choice.
Major Achievements and Awards
| Award | Category | Year / Detail |
| Emmy Award | Best Team Coverage — Newtown Tragedy | Recognized for outstanding coverage of one of the most devastating news events in recent American history |
| Associated Press Award | Best Spot News | AP recognition for excellence in breaking spot news reporting |
| Associated Press Award | Best Breaking News | AP recognition for breaking news coverage quality and speed |
| Associated Press Award | Best Sports Feature | AP recognition for sports feature journalism |
| Hartford Magazine — Best Reporter | Reader-voted Best Reporter | 2009 and 2010 — voted consecutively by Hartford Magazine readers |
| Top Women in Media | Industry Recognition | October 2023 — recognized among the top women in the American media industry |
| Historic First | National Representation | One of the first Pakistani-American women to anchor a national news program in the United States |
| Historic First | Broadcasting Milestone | First journalist to anchor a national news show at 4 a.m. |
| Morning in America — Best Ratings Month | Audience Milestone | July 2025 — the weekend edition of Morning in America achieved its best ratings month on record under Doba's anchoring |
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Hena Doba
Key questions answered about the NewsNation anchor and Pakistani-American broadcast journalism trailblazer
She celebrates her birthday every year on December 4. Her birth sign is Sagittarius. Doba was born to Pakistani immigrant parents, Agha M. Zulfiquar and Tahmina Faraz, who had arrived in the United States just months before her birth. She is a first-generation Pakistani-American raised in Queens, New York.
NewsNation and Nexstar Media Group officially announced her appointment on January 11, 2024. The show premiered on January 27, 2024, and airs every Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET. The program reached its best ratings month on record in July 2025. Before NewsNation, she anchored The National Desk with Hena Doba on CBS News, broadcasting to more than 100 stations nationwide.
The couple met in December 2013 at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, when Andrew appeared as a guest on a political show. They married on January 23, 2016, at the Society Room of Hartford, in a ceremony officiated by former Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Andrew holds a degree from Fordham University and a Master's in English from Hunter College. He has served as VP and Head of Communications at EnergyRe. The couple resides in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Doba has spoken warmly about her role as a stepmother, referring to Henry affectionately as her "munchkin." She has been known to attend his baseball games and accompany him to horse riding lessons. Hena and Andrew have kept the details of their family life largely private beyond these publicly shared moments.
This estimate is based on her 20+ year career across CBS News, Cheddar News, NewsNation, the BBC, and local television stations, supplemented by income from speaking engagements, event moderation, and more than five years as an adjunct professor at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and Capital Community College. This figure has not been officially confirmed by Hena Doba herself and should be treated as a third-party estimate.
Based on third-party industry benchmarks for national news anchors at cable and independent broadcast networks, her estimated annual salary at NewsNation is approximately $84,000. This figure has not been officially confirmed by Hena Doba or NewsNation and should be read as an approximation only.
Her father is Agha M. Zulfiquar and her mother is Tahmina Faraz. Both parents emigrated from Pakistan and arrived in the United States just months before Doba's birth in 1977. She was raised speaking Urdu at home alongside English, and identifies as a proud first-generation Pakistani-American. She is recognized as one of the first Pakistani-American women to anchor a national news program in the United States.
At the University at Buffalo, she earned dual bachelor's degrees in Psychology and English. Although she initially planned to pursue psychology, she discovered her passion for journalism through The Spectrum, the university's student newspaper, where she served as Feature Editor. That experience redirected her entire career path toward broadcast journalism.
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