Born Jeanette Francis in Lebanon, Jan’s family moved to Bankstown, Sydney in 1989.

In 2009, Jan began a cadetship with SBS before moving to Bangladesh in 2010 to work for UNICEF.

While Bangladesh is estimated to have had a population of over 152.2 million people in 2010, Jan was living with our very own Josh. It’s a small world after all.

From 2013 to 2019, Jan worked as a host and reported for SBS’s The Feed, and in 2019 created an opinion segment called The Frant for The Guardian, which was awarded a Walkley Award for Best Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique.

Jan has hosted a plethora of other shows including The Project, and launched many a podcast including Sexism and the City, The Few Who Do, and Jan Fran Has Issues.

In 2025, Jan co-founded Ette Media with Antoinette Lattouf, which includes a podcast titled We Used To be Journos.