Brent Hurd

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Brent negotiated contracts for the International Space Station at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

In 1996, he decided to ‘go global’ with his accounting degree and joined the Peace Corps. He spent three years in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he taught business classes and helped develop Bulgarian cultural tourism. He also hosted the first-ever-live English radio show on Bulgarian radio that featured world music and guests from around the globe. And he wrote television scripts and helped produce Rick Steves’ Europe travelogues in Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia.

After a stint as a writer and television producer for Home & Garden Television, he began reporting for Voice of America in 2001. Brent has interviewed US Presidential candidates, German members of parliament, ambassadors and religious leaders for television and VOA radio’s new analysis unit "Focus." He currently reports and produces for VOA Tibetan and Bangla services. He occasionally reports for the Urdu service program (broadcast on Geo) and for Aaj Tak’s Headlines Today, an English broadcast to India.

Brent was born in Delaware yet considers Austin, Texas, his hometown and has traveled to more than 40 countries. He says his boundless curiosity and fascination with other cultures dovetail perfectly into his work as a journalist and trainer.