Kate Silverton is a regular presenter on Breakfast - she also presents BBC News 24's weekday morning broadcasts with Simon McCoy.
Kate has studied Arabic and Middle Eastern politics
Kate says she has fulfilled a few childhood dreams this year, presenting for Breakfast, reporting for Panorama and as a foreign correspondent from Iraq.
She says she was inspired to embark on a career in the media from an early age. After watching the film Under Fire with Nick Nolte she said she wanted to be a foreign correspondent.
"I've always been inspired by those events or people who compel us to look at the bigger picture and question our ethics. My heroes at home were Martin Bell, Kate Adie and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
"It's taken me a while to get to report from abroad but I have loved the path in between"
She says she loves everything about the job "It's the variety, the diversity of subjects I'm called upon to cover and of course, broadcasting live for three hours a day is the biggest buzz and keeps me mentally agile."
And the worst?
Getting up at 3am if I am on Breakfast!
She has been extraordinarily busy this year, reporting for Panorama with an investigation into the IVF industry, at the Oscars in LA where she made a special acquaintance in Helen Mirren!
Over Christmas she was in Basra where she covered three days of breaking news, coming under mortar attack live on air and securing an exclusive interview with the Major General in charge of British troops.
The interview led the One, Six and Ten o'clock news as well as most of the Broadsheet front pages the next day.
Kate recently reported for Breakfast from Lesotho in Southern Africa. It has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world and she went at the invitation of UNICEF to see how new initiatives are looking to tackle the crisis.
Kate says she loves the variety of stories she is asked to cover, but not when she makes the news herself - particularly over her dress sense! Usually praised for her sense of style, Kate acknowledges the attention given to one rather "loud" green and blue blouse she wore on the sofa one day.
The blouse actually received more support than not so it's still in my wardrobe (although I am not sure I would dare to wear it again).
She certainly made a splash in that "Oscar dress" which again made the news, although in an altogether more positive fashion.
She also hopes to keep travelling and reporting from abroad as well as staying closer to home and the sofa when she can!