Ali Velshi Biography
Ali Velshi is an American anchor and reporter working for MSNBC as a senior economic and business correspondent. He joined the MSNBC news team in October 2016, after previously working for Al Jazeera America.
Ali Velshi Career
Velshi was given a grant by the American Political Science Association to work in the US Congress in 1996. He worked with Lee H. Hamilton, who was a Democratic Representative from Indiana at the time, was in this role. Velshi’s first job as a professional writer was as a General Assignment reporter for CFTO in Toronto. After that, he worked as a business reporter and host for CablePulse 24 and CityTV, which was then its sister show. He began working for Report on Business Television (now BNN Bloomberg – Business News Network) in 1999. It was Canada’s first station that only showed business news. Velshi was the host of Canada’s first business news show in prime time, The Business News.
After moving to the U.S. in September 2001, Velshi joined the business news network CNN in New York City. He was the host of several shows, such as Your Money, Insights, Business Unusual, and Street Sweep. Before the network shut down in December 2004, he co-hosted The Money Gang with Pat Kiernan. After being moved to the main CNN network, he stayed as a business host and reporter, first working on CNN’s early morning show Daybreak. In 2005, Velshi hosted 13 one-hour episodes of the reality TV show The Turnaround.
During those episodes, he traveled across America and matched small business owners who were having problems or wanted to grow their businesses with famous mentors who helped them make a plan for success. After “The Turnaround,” Velshi was sent to work on the brand-new show “The Situation Room” from 2005 to 2006. For a short time in 2006 and again in 2011, Velshi worked as a business reporter on American Morning. Velshi took a cross-country road trip in 2008 on the CNN Election Express. He went from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Los Angeles, California, stopping at different points to talk to Americans about money problems. Velshi also rode the CNN Election Express through rural Texas for 10 days before the primaries there on March 4, 2008.
Velshi often filled in as a host for CNN/U.S. shows like American Morning. He co-hosted a business show called Your Money on Saturday and Sunday. Velshi was also the host of CNN’s Energy Hunt, which in 2008 took him to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Oil Sands of Canada. In 2008, sad events like the killing of Benazir Bhutto brought Velshi more space. For example, she reported from the now-destroyed Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, after the event. When the news covered Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Velshi went live from areas hit by the storms to appear on TV.
Velshi began reporting on hurricanes in 2005, during Hurricane Katrina. He did live reports from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico as it was being evacuated and from oil sites in Eastern Texas and Southern Louisiana that had been damaged. During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Velshi was back on TV many times during the day on shows like American Morning and Anderson Cooper 360°. He also took live calls from fans during special episodes of Your Money and on his weekly radio show. Before she left CNN, Velshi co-hosted the CNN International show World Business Today at the start of the market day.
Velshi often talks about his background and point of view as a Muslim when talking about Islam. Velshi has fought hard for the Muslim community’s right to build a mosque and Islamic center (Park51) in New York City near Ground Zero. He has also called Peter King “naive” and said that his meetings on Islamic radicalization in the US were a form of Islamophobia. Velshi wants the mosque and the government to be separate, and he doesn’t agree with “Political Islam,” which says that Sharia law should be used.
On April 4, 2013, it was revealed that Velshi would be leaving CNN to host a 30-minute magazine-style prime-time show called Real Money with Ali Velshi for Al Jazeera America. He was the first person hired to be a host on the new station. The channel said it hoped Velshi’s show would start as a once-a-week show and grow to a daily show by the end of the year. As of August 20, 2013, Real Money with Ali Velshi airs every day during the week. The show came back as Ali Velshi on Target on May 12, 2015. When Al Jazeera America shut down in April 2016, this show came to an end.
Velshi started working for MSNBC in October 2016, and he also has responsibilities at NBC News, which owns MSNBC and is his parent company. He is a Business Correspondent for NBC News. Velshi used to co-host the MSNBC news show Velshi & Ruhle with Stephanie Ruhle at 1:00 p.m. ET. He also had his news show at 3:00 p.m. ET called MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi. As a fill-in show for The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on Friday, Velshi was also chosen. But in December 2019, Velshi was moved to the weekends to have his two-hour show called Simply Velshi. He still fills in for other hosts on the weeknight evening shows.
Velshi is signed with both the New York writing agency N.S. Bienstock and the Greater Talent Network speaking agency. Gimme My Money Back: Your Guide to Beating the Financial Crisis, his first book, came out on January 2, 2009. How to Speak Money: The Language & Knowledge You Need Now, his second book, came out in November 2011 from John Wiley & Sons. It was co-written by his longtime friend and co-anchor Christine Romans. Velshi has written articles every month for Money and Delta Sky. On MSNBC, she works alongside Ari Melber, Jen Psaki, Katie Phang, Alex Witt, Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Joe Scarborough.
Ali Velshi Education
Velshi went to Northern Secondary School in Toronto and was named school president there. After that, in 1994, he got a degree in religion studies from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. For protests against Preston Manning and Canada’s Reform Party while he was at Queen’s, he made news. He won the Queen’s University Alumni Achievement Award in 2010. His old school gave him an honors doctorate of law in 2016.
Ali Velshi Awards
Velshi won the Queen’s University Alumni Achievement Award in 2010. This is the greatest honor ever given to a Queen’s University graduate. A National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer Reporting was given to Velshi’s in-depth reporting for CNN’s “How the Wheels Came Off” about the U.S. Auto Industry’s near-collapse in 2010. Velshi was in charge of CNN’s worldwide breaking news coverage of the failed terrorist attack on a Delta flight into Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Moreover, CNN was nominated for an Emmy award for this work in 2010.
In 2015, Velshi was nominated for two more News & Documentary Emmy awards for his work at Al Jazeera. He covered a scandal involving red-light cameras in Chicago and the low pay paid to disabled American workers. In 2017, Velshi was made an honorary “Canada 150” Ambassador to help promote events and activities that celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary of becoming a country. Velshi was named a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at Yale University. As a result, he took part in a conversation with students, teachers, and community members at Jonathan Edwards College at Yale University in 2017. Moreover, Velshi gave a TEDx talk in 2017 called “How Fake News Grows in a Post-Fact World.”
Ali Velshi Salary
Velshi earns a salary of about $57,000-$150,000.
Ali Velshi Net Worth
Velshi has an estimated net worth of about $1 Million – $7 Million which he has earned through his career as a news anchor and reporter.
Ali Velshi Age
Velshi was born on October 29, 1969, in Nairobi, Kenya. He is 54 years old as of 2023, and she celebrates her birthday on the 29th of October every year.
Ali Velshi Height and Weight
Velshi stands at a height of 5 feet 10 inches tall (1.77m) and weighs 85kgs (187 lbs)
Ali Velshi Family
Velshi was born in Nairobi, Kenya to Murad Velshi (father), a former politician in Ontario Canada, and Mila Velshi (mother). Ali grew up in Toronto, Ontario after moving there in 1971. Velshi’s parents ran a bakery in South Africa. When Apartheid got worse in 1960, they moved to Kenya. Velshi’s parents run a chain of travel businesses in Toronto. Moreover, Ali was raised alongside his sister Ishrath Velshi, a former candidate council for Ward 26 in 2014.
Ali Velshi Wife and Daughter
Velshi is married to Lori Wachs, the president of Philadelphia-based Cross Ledge Investments. The two first met when she was a guest on Velshi’s show. They tied the knot in 2009 and were blessed with a daughter named Marika Velshi (born in 2015).
Ali Velshi First Wife
Velshi was previously married in his twenties to a woman whose details have never been disclosed. Moreover, they were together briefly but separated and he went on to marry his current wife.
Ali Velshi Social Media Platforms
Velshi is very active on his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages. He has 700.8k followers on Twitter 39.8k followers on Instagram, and 136.9k followers on Facebook.