Rita worked in banking while attending Monash University, studying but not completing a Bachelor of Business Finance.

She joined Australian Young Labor and volunteered in the 1996 election campaign.

Rita Panahi worked as a personal banker at Colonial Mutual and was the youngest branch manager in the company’s history.^[1] She has a child and is a single mother at present.

initially, Rita wrote for the daily newspaper mX, writing a weekly sports gossip column.

Her column was picked up for a second year and by 2007 she was a regular guest on the AM sports radio station SEN.

She earned her MBA from Swinburne. In September 2007, Panahi began working for the Herald Sun, published by the Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia.^[1]

Rita is also a regular guest on Sky News and Sunrise on the Seven Network. She is also a radio commentator on 3AW and 2GB.^[1]

Rita Panahi identifies herself as a conservative.

Rita has argued against the burqa but opposes banning it and is a critic of Islam but opposes a ban on Muslim immigration, and supports offshore detention camps for illegal immigrants, as well as asylum seekers who arrive to Australia by boat.

She is also a supporter of a high immigration intake (consistent with News Corp’s support for a big Australia) but acknowledges this opinion is not held by most of her readers, or most Australians.^[1] In January 2015, Panahi sparred with Andrew O’Keefe on Weekend Sunrise over Islamic extremists.^[2][3]

Her article prompted a response on news website New Matilda.^[4] In a debate over racism in early 2016, Panahi was on a team opposing ABC presenter Stan Grant.

Panahi argued that Australia should not be characterised as racist.^[1]

Without doubt, Rita Panahi will tell you her points of view, with the facts on various, sporting, community and political matters, with a no holds barred approach, telling it straight.

Definitely a women that has a proud heritage and her achievements in life as a successful businesswomen and single mum is a story that will engage and enthral any audience.