French television presenter - Trinidadian and British, principal Euro/African media presenter
Georja Calvin-Smith (often misspelled Georgia Calvin-Smith) is a British Paris-based international television news presenter, producer, writer, and journalist who hosts and moderates various forums globally.[1][2][3][4][5] Calvin-Smith is best known for her role at France 24 as a news anchor and presenter of the daily series Eye on Africa and the weekly television news magazine Across Africa.[1][6][2][5]
Calvin-Smith was born in Trinidad and emigrated to England when she was seven years old.[7] Calvin-Smith studied law in the United Kingdom,[2][8] and was subsequently invited to join the diplomatic service of Trinidad and Tobago but turned to journalism instead.[8] She became a naturalised British citizen in 2010.[7]
Since 2007 Calvin-Smith[9] has worked as a journalist in the United States, Britain and France, on news, current affairs, and international documentaries.[1][2][8] Early in her career, she worked as a news reporter and presenter in Manchester, England[2][7] on TV station Channel M (circa 2010),[7][10] and produced stories, features and documentaries for the BBC,[9][11]ITV Network, and HBOinNew York City.[2]
In recent years, Calvin-Smith has worked in various reporting, producing and presenter roles for France 24. After years of presenting news bulletins, she became the presenter for The Week in the Maghreb, which covered developments in north-central and northwest Africa. Eventually moving to cover the entire continent, she currently produces and presents the network's daily Eye on Africa bulletin, and anchors its weekly Across Africa TV-magazine show.[1][6][2][5][12] Calvin-Smith has reported from around the world, and interviewed many heads of state including the presidents of Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Angola.[2][13] and Zambia.[14][15]
Calvin-Smith has hosted numerous high-level debates and dialogues at international summits, organisation forums, and corporate events, particularly throughout Africa,[2] including events of the United Nations,[3][4][16] the OECD,[17][18][19] the World Bank,[20] and several African-based international organisations.[2][5][12]
As chair of the OECD's Africa Forum in Paris, Calvin-Smith oversaw a panel of ministers and presidents discussing Africa's economic challenges.[2] She has also moderated other OECD panels.[17][18][19] In 2018, she conducted conversations with policy makers about Africa’s economy at the World Export Development Forum in Zambia.[2] In 2019, at the initial Luanda Biennale and pan African Forum for the culture of Peace, she chaired a presidential panel.[2][16]
In 2020, Calvin-Smith was a judge for the annual Rory Peck Awards which recognize "the most outstanding work of freelance journalists and filmmakers" in international media.[24]
^ ab"Ideas," 2019, Biennale of Luanda, Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace,UNESCO, retrieved June 4, 2023; similar references at [1] and [2]
^ ab"Acknowledgments,"Outcome document, High Level Dialogue with Africa: Road to TICAD7 in Yokohama and Africa’s Development Dynamics 2019 (May 21, 2019), October 1st, 2019, OECD, Paris,
retrieved June 4, 2023; also cited in post-action "Acknowledgements"
^ ab"Agenda," June 10, 2022, "21st International Economic Forum on Africa: Africa in the emerging global economic order," OECD, Paris, retrieved June 4, 2023
^ ab"Agenda," May 23, 2023, "Symposium: African Diaspora, Trade and Investment: What Economic and Social Impacts?," OECD, Paris, retrieved June 9, 2023
^"Moderator: Georja Calvin-Smith," April 13, 2021, The State of the Africa Region: COVID-19 and the Future of Work in Africa, (virutal conference), World Bank, retrieved June 5, 2023
"Georja Calvin-Smith, Presenter," (sample video clips, showing her coverage of a wide variety of topics, people and places), May 24, 2013, France 24 on YouTube.
