TV media maven Jasmine Dotiwala, has certainly made her mark in the entertainment industry during her career as a Producer, Director, Broadcaster and Columnist.

Renowned for establishing new British talent and making ground-breaking TV programming with A List showbiz celebrities, the ‘International flygirl’ has become a dynamic leader in her field with innovative media and top rated content.

After working with the likes of MTV, ITV, The Daily Mail, BBC 1XTRA and Sky TV (just to name a few), Ms Dotiwala share’s her incredible journey of how she landed a spot in the good life.

Growing up 
I grew up in Southall, a very mutli racial area where all ethnicities mixed and mingled socially and for business. It meant that my school crushes were boys from every ethnicity lol! This opened my eyes to street dancing and ballet- I actually did both as a teen whilst at school. I studied ballet, tap and jazz dance in the evenings and weekends. I loved performing arts so much I did A levels and a degree in subjects like Theatre Studies, Dance and Media. I loved staying busy as my mum brought me up alone and was always working so I joined every school club going; athletics, netball, choir, dance and so on.

Ambitions and achievements 
With my love of dance I dreamt of being in the dance world until a kind, amazing dancer in my class at pineapple dance studios gave me the real scoop. She said it didn’t matter how good a dancer you were, in auditions they would always choose the blonde, pin up girls regardless of ability. So I quickly changed focus and decided I wanted to be in TV. I was a runner for a huge breakfast TV show on Channel 4, the same company were looking for a presenter for their youth culture show ‘The Word’, luckily I was in the right place at the right time and was picked to co-host the biggest 90’s youth culture show in the UK.

“a kind, amazing dancer in my class at pineapple dance studios gave me the real scoop. She said it didn’t matter how good a dancer you were, in auditions they would always choose the blonde, pin up girls regardless of ability.”

Test and trials  
As a presenter new to TV and practically straight out of Uni, I was eager to please, so read exactly what my scripts said and wore exactly what the stylists told me to wear without questioning anything. After all, they were the professionals. I learnt quickly that I should have challenged things that didn’t represent the real me. It was hard dealing with paparazzi on my mum’s doorstep. She comes from a culture where inviting everyone in for a cuppa is normal. I had to quickly school her about that lol!  In my years at MTV, I learnt the skill of confidentiality as I was subject to so many celeb secrets and lives!

 The future
After nearly two decades in the music and news entertainment industry, a very unrealistic world can overwhelm you. I want to balance out my karma and leave a legacy of helping youth from diverse and disadvantaged areas get into the industry, whilst still developing my own career. Broadcasting is a very tough game to get into and I want to create an equal playing field for reporters and music talent that is a different world to when I started out. When I began, being a woman of colour made you stand out like a freak in broadcasting, luckily that’s a thing of the past now!