Manitoba, meet Nadia Kidwai.

If you've tuned your radio to CBC Manitoba lately, you've likely already heard her in action as a traffic reporter and occasional host on the weekday radio shows Radio Noon and Up to Speed, or, most recently, the new host of The Weekend Morning Show.

"If the weekday show is about issues, The Weekend Morning Show is about relationships. It's about getting to know who our community is," Kidwai said.

"It's about inviting people into your home that you would not normally get the chance to meet [and] hearing different voices in a comfortable setting."

Kidwai, 34, took over from longtime host Terry MacLeod — who she calls her "CBC dad."

Before starting at CBC, Kidwai was the chair of the Manitoba Women's Advisory Council, advising the minister responsible for the status of women, a council member of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg and the co-founder of the Canadian Muslim Leadership Institute.

She's also worked at a variety of community and grassroots organizations around Winnipeg.

"Winnipeg has been really kind to me, and it's because of the people," Kidwai said. She moved to the city in 2004, and both her sons — Kaleem, 10, and Yunus, eight — are born-and-bred Winnipeggers.

"The friends I've made here are from all different backgrounds, all different ages, and they've become my family," she said. "I feel so connected to this place, so welcomed. And because I've spent the last 12 years working in community, I look forward to repaying that and bringing those voices on air, to repaying that kindness and generosity."

Kidwai's relationship with CBC started out as a commenter, brought on to talk about issues affecting Muslim Canadians like her. Her first-ever interview, in fact, was on The Weekend Morning Show. "Full circle, right?" she says.

Although she didn't start her professional life in journalism, Kidwai said she used to dream about the job as a kid.

"I think that's what drives some of the journalism I do, is that natural curiosity," she said. "Everything has a story … and uncovering that story is something that I find really compelling."

Back then, Kidwai had her eye on covering national politics, but then she met local journalism.

"I realized, like, how important it is to be aware of you local community," she said. "Because there's so much strength within our local community that we need to be aware of and to shed light on."

You can hear Kidwai on The Weekend Morning Show every Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on CBC Radio One.

Now don't touch that dial.