'We tried and it didn't work and that's OK'

TV presenter Maya Jama on celebrating her 30th birthday, hosting Love Island and the ending of her relationship with rapper Stormzy

- EVE MACDONALD

Maya Jama turns 30 on 14 August – and she’s packed a lot into her life so far. With more than 3.2 million Instagram followers and four seasons of Love Island under her belt, it’s safe to say that Maya is TV’s golden girl. But, as she celebrates another successful year, what is the Bristol-born star’s secret?

“You’ve got to keep trying because you don’t know what amazing things are round the corner,” she smiled, when asked about life’s most important lessons. “Also, always be grateful – at one point you wished to be where you are today.”

Maya – who moved to London at just 16 years old – has been climbing that ladder of success for years, beginning her presenting career as a teen when she hosted the weekly music video countdown on JumpOff.TV. She later worked for Sky UK on TRACE Sports and in 2014 she hosted Maya’s FIFA World Cup Cities for Copa90, a travelogue covering the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The star joined MTV as a presenter for The Wrap Up in 2014 and soon began working as a radio DJ.

However, it was in 2017 when things really hit big for her. Aged 23, she became the youngest person to co-host the MOBO Awards, alongside Marvin Humes. And just one year later, she was scooped up to co-host the first series of Channel 4’s The Circle with Alice Levine as well as that year’s Stand Up To Cancer with Alan Carr and Adam Hills.

Since then, her credentials have included the role of team captain on ITV2 rap panel show Don’t Hate The Playaz, presenting BBC One’s Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer, and being the face of Simon Cowell’s new music competition game show Walk The Line.

In 2022, Maya bagged her biggest role yet when she was confirmed as the new host of Love Island, taking over from Laura Whitmore.