Sumi Somaskanda is a chief presenter at BBC News. She previously served as a senior presenter and correspondent for DW News, Germany’s international broadcaster. In Washington DC, she covered US politics and current affairs across the country; previously, she worked as a senior presenter for DW News in Berlin for 14 years, covering breaking news and major political events, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the 2020 US presidential elections.

She reported on Germany for various international publications as well, including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Washington Post, and Newsweek. She served as an editor at the Berlin Policy Journal, Germany’s premiere English-language foreign affairs magazine, and hosted the Berlin-based current affairs podcast Studio Berlin.

She regularly moderated panels and conferences both in Germany and is an alumna of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship program. In addition to her native English, she speaks fluent German and Spanish, and conversational (Sri Lankan) Tamil.