Narelda Jacobs


Narelda Jacobs is an Australian television journalist with Network Ten in Australia. She has been the lead news presenter for 10 News First in Perth, Western Australia since 2008. From January 2020, Jacobs has relocated to Studio 10 as a panelist and reporter.

Early life

Jacobs was born to Cedric Jacobs, a Whadjuk Noongar minister in the Uniting Church, and his wife Margaret, a Belfast-born woman of Irish and English descent. Her father was a member of the Stolen Generation. Jacobs was the youngest of five daughters. She attended Hampton Senior High School.

Career

Jacobs graduated from the WA Academy of Performing Arts and began her career at GWN in Bunbury. She joined Ten News in Perth in 2000, eventually becoming their court reporter, and also filling in as weather presenter over summer.
In 2008, Network Ten announced that production of their Perth news bulletin would return to Perth from Sydney, and selected Jacobs as the new presenter. Jacobs is the first Aboriginal, and first openly lesbian newsreader in Western Australia.
In March 2019, Jacobs co-hosted SBS's broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
In December 2019, it was announced that Jacobs would be relocating to Sydney, after 20 years at 10 News First Perth, to join Studio 10 as a panelist and co-host on 13 January 2020. Monika Kos has been announced as her replacement.

Personal life

Jacobs lived in Perth with her daughter but has since relocated to Sydney for work with her partner, filmmaker Stevie Cruz-Martin. Until May 2018, Jacobs was in a long-term relationship with Lauren Swinfield. She was previously in a relationship with Marion Towndrow.