Being in the C-suite is a high-pressure job with long hours, board responsibilities, and intense scrutiny. But what is it like to be a top executive when you’re off the clock?
Fortune’s series, The Good Life, shows how up-and-coming leaders spend their time and money outside of work.
Today we meet someone a little different from our usual roster of C-suite executives and founders: The British TV presenter Maya Jama.
You may know the 30-year-old multimillionaire as the host of Love Island, the ex-girlfriend of British rapper Stormzy, or the long-time Radio 1 DJ. But now, she wants to be known as an entrepreneur.
Kim Nunneley/PEACOCK/ITV via Getty Images
Jama, who is of Somali and Swedish descent, moved from Bristol to London at just 16 to pursue a career in broadcasting. Like many millennial teens at the time, she set up her own YouTube channel—and with a stroke of luck, it landed her her first presenting job.
From there, she impressively scaled the industry’s ranks. Jama went from presenting the relatively obscure JumpOff TV and football shows on Copa90, to getting regular gigs for ITV—the broadcaster behind Love Island—as well as other mainstream channels in the U.K. like Channel 4 and the BBC.
The star is living the career she dreamed of: She’s graced the cover of British Vogue, has millions of followers on social media, launched her own Pretty Little Thing collection and is the face of Rimmel London.
Now she’s dipping her toes into the world of entrepreneurship. Most recently, Jama announced a new business venture as she became an investor and co-owner in the Swedish plant milk company Sproud.
Maya Jama has graced the cover of British Vogue, has millions of followers on social media, launched her own Pretty Little Thing collection and is the face of Rimmel London.
It’s not her first experience in the start-up world: During the pandemic, she also founded the skincare range, MIJ Masks—which she says is still the business she’s most proud of.
“It means a lot to me because, as a consumer, it’s something I personally felt I needed,” she tells Fortune. “On our very first launch in 2020, it sold out immediately. We were also stocked in a major U.K. retailer, and we’re currently working on a new collection coming soon.”
Next up? Jama tells Fortune she’s become an investor in the app BlackBook, which she says is launching soon.
