An experienced journalist from a family of journalists Jackie has worked on Today Tonight since it began in 1995.

With a journalist dad, Jackie Quist was destined to become a reporter. "My father was a journalist and I was always around journalists," she said. "And besides, it was the only thing I knew how to do - write!"

After completing the HSC in 1985 at Kildara Secondary College, Jackie enrolled in the RMIT journalism course "because it was the thing to do".

After 12 months she realised "it was totally outdated. I thought I was better off learning on the job".

Jackie started a cadetship on the now defunct Sunday Observer in 1987.

Within six months, her flair for news saw her move to television as a reporter on Seven Nightly News.

She was still a junior reporter with just 12 months' television experience when Derryn Hinch handpicked Jackie, then 21, for his new Seven Network program Hinch.

Reluctant to leave the newsroom, Jackie agreed to work on Hinch for a three-month trial basis, on the proviso that if she didn't like it, she would be allowed to return to the newsroom.

Jackie enjoyed current affairs so much she stayed with the Hinch program for the next four years - even going with Derryn when the show moved to Channel Ten.

At the end of 1993 Jackie returned to Seven and worked on Real Life and Today Tonight, when the program began in 1995.

With her news background she specialises in 'same day stories', giving a more in-depth look at topical issues.

Without hesitating, Jackie names her reports over the years on 'Cottonwool Katie' - a young girl with brittle bone disease - as her favourite.

Jackie is married to freelance cameraman Andrew Beck, whom she first met in the Seven newsroom in the late 1980s.

She has two children - a son, Michael and daughter, Mia.

They live about an hour east of Melbourne in a picturesque house on a hill.

In her spare time Jackie enjoys playing with her kids, horse riding and cycling along the Yarra River.