TV Anchor, Yogi & Single Mom Ft. Saadia Afzaal

This conversation is one of those that feels like a long, warm hug. I sit down with Saadia Afzaal, a TV anchor at 92 News, a yoga instructor, and a single mother who has walked through fire more than once and come out with a quiet, unshakable calm. We talk about her entry into media at 16, losing her first husband to cancer when her son was just two, remarrying and then divorcing, and how yoga found her right when she needed it most. But more than the timeline of her life, it is the way she talks about acceptance, being your own Prince Charming, and the power of sitting alone with your thoughts that stays with me.

A camera, a weather segment, and a dream of flying

Saadia was born and raised in Islamabad, and she had a clear plan: she wanted to be a pilot. That dream was so big she could taste it. Then one of her teachers at Beria, where she was doing her FSC, mentioned that her husband, a producer at PTV, was launching a morning show. Saadia was always the one hosting college events and winning debates, so she thought, why not. “I had no irada, no intention, of getting into media,” she tells me. She auditioned for a five-minute weather segment, read a few lines, and got selected. Just like that, at 16 and a half, her life took a sharp turn. Her parents were supportive, but distant family members were not. “My father said, if my daughter wants to do something, she will do it,” she says. That quiet resolve from her father became the foundation she would lean on over and over again.

When life hands you the unexpected

At 18, Saadia got married. It was a mutual family decision, rushed because her husband was moving to Canada. By 19, she had a son. And then, just as suddenly, her husband was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. He passed away when their son was two years old. “I had to be strong. I had no other option,” she says, and the simplicity of that statement hits hard. She was finishing her graduation exams at the same time. Her son was only a week old when she had to sit for her final papers, with her father driving her to the exam center and back. She became a mother and a father, a provider and a nurturer, all while still figuring out who she was herself. “Me and my son, we practically grew up together,” she says. I think about my own little one and how much of motherhood is learning on the job, and I have so much respect for the way she just kept showing up.

The yoga that found me in my dark

Years later, when life threw more challenges her way, Saadia discovered yoga. She had always been into heavy weightlifting, but yoga was different. “It changed my life in every way. It’s not only physical but also mental,” she tells me. She got certified from the World Yoga Foundation and the International Yoga Alliance, and she started teaching. I know this firsthand because I go to her classes. The first time I did shavasana, I cried. I was in the middle of a deeply stressful period, my husband was about to have a major surgery, and I had been running on fumes. That one hour of stillness forced me to face all the emotions I had been pushing down. Saadia explains that acceptance is at the heart of yoga. “Stop asking why, because that’s what makes you miserable,” she says. “Just accept it as God’s plan.” For her, yoga is not about religion; it is about connection. She talks about meditating and feeling a protective white light from Allah, about letting go of the urge to control every outcome. That permission to surrender is what I keep coming back to on my mat.

Facing the demons in the silence

One of the most powerful things Saadia says is about dealing with trauma. She describes taking a painful memory, picking it up, putting it in a box, and throwing it off a cliff. “The first step is noticing it. Not reliving it, just noticing,” she says. Many people get stuck because they can’t let go of that box. But she insists that if you keep practicing, you can heal. This is tied to something she lives by: being comfortable in your own company. “If you can’t enjoy your own company, how the hell on earth is somebody else going to enjoy that company?” She asks. I love that. As Desi women, we are rarely taught to be alone. We are taught to be daughters, wives, mothers, but not to sit with ourselves. Saadia says she used to be someone who would cry at the slightest harsh word. Now, she is emotionally strong, not because she hardened herself, but because she faced her demons. “I have suffered from depression. I know how it feels,” she says. “But I also know that you can’t just suppress your emotions. You have to deal with them.”

A son, a mother, and a second chance

Saadia’s relationship with her son, now 16, is a thing of beauty. She has always been transparent with him. When she got a surprise proposal in 2018 and decided to remarry, she asked him first. “I would want you to be happy in your life,” he told her, at just 12 years old. That marriage did not work out, and she ended it in 2021, but she carries no bitterness. “I wish him all the best. I learned my lesson and I will keep that lesson with me for the rest of my life,” she says. Now, she lives with her parents again, and her son is deeply attached to his nana nani, his maternal grandparents. She says her biggest achievement is not her career or her certifications; it is that her son thinks she did everything for him. “If my son is happy with me, that’s my biggest achievement in life,” she says. There is no ego in that statement, just a mother’s open heart.

What I really want every woman to know

Saadia circles back to a message that I want every listener to hear: be financially independent. She hates the words “beyond repair” that society throws at widows or divorced women. “I want every girl to be financially independent, even if their fathers are rich, even if their husbands are loaded,” she says. “You have to be your own Prince Charming.” She points out that a sheltered life, where you are protected from every hardship, does not actually empower you. It leaves you unprepared. She wants women to stop waiting for someone to save them, to stop caring about log kya kahenge, what will people say. As a public figure, she gets criticized, but she has learned to ignore it. “People who don’t know me, their opinion does not matter,” she says. That clarity is a small thing that matters enormously.

This conversation felt like a gentle nudge to keep doing the internal work. I started yoga as part of my own wellness journey, and Saadia has been a part of that. I am still learning to slow down, to face the emotions I would rather avoid, and to accept that life will unfold in its own way. Saadia reminds me that you can be a TV anchor, a yoga teacher, a single mom, and a woman who enjoys her own company, all at once. You do not have to choose one box. You can be a whole, messy, beautiful human, and that is more than enough.