Amal Fashanu is a presenter, journalist, fashion designer and activist against homophobia in sport. She produced a

BBC3 BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

documentary ''Britain's Gay Footballers.'' She is the founder and CEO of the

Justin Fashanu Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu ( ; 19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out publicly later in his career, becoming ...

Foundation, as well as Black Heart Label, a clothing brand designed to promote activism through fashion, and Amal Fashanu Handbags. In 2012, Fashanu was a contributor to David Cameron's summit on discrimination in sport.

Biography

Fashanu is the daughter of former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

John Fashanu John Winton Fashanu (born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. As a footballer he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he won ...

and Spanish model Marisol Acuna. She attended St Christina's School in London, before moving to Madrid in 1999 to study at Runnymede College. In 2006 she began her studies at

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

in London, receiving a BASc in Communications and Media Studies. Fashanu has a master's degree in handbag design from IED University in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Whilst at university, Fashanu had a successful career as a model, notably modelling alongside

Professor Green Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English pop artist, rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London. Gr ...

for Puma in

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) was a printed British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. It contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World. The final printed issue of British ''F ...

. In 2012, Fashanu's BBC 3 Documentary ''Britain's Gay Footballers'' was released to critical acclaim. Following the suicide of her uncle

, Britain's first black £1m footballer who was also openly gay, the film explored homophobia and discrimination within the football world. The documentary was nominated for numerous awards, including a British Broadcasting Award in 2013. Her second documentary ''The

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Shootings'' (2012) covered the massacre in a US cinema in which 12 people were killed by a lone shooter whilst watching

The Dark Knight Rises ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...

. Her third, ''Find A Home For My Brother'' (2015) explored the care provisions that are in place for young people with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

in the UK and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In 2012, Fashanu was invited by then

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

to a summit on discrimination in football at

Downing Street Downing Street is a gated street in City of Westminster, Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a cul-de-sac situated off Whiteh ...

. Following this meeting, she was inspired to create her fashion label, Black Heart Label, which combines activism and fashion to promote equality. This line is dedicated to Justin Fashanu. After undertaking an MA in handbag design from IED University, Fashanu created Amal Fashanu Handbags. The brand creates luxury handbags and accessories whilst promoting small businesses. Fashanu works as a journalist and has reported for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

Sky Sport Sky Sport or Sky Sports may refer to: *Sky Group **Sky Sports, a group of sports television channels available in the UK and Ireland ** Sky Sport (Germany), a group of sports television channels available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, formerl ...

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Fashanu and her father set up the Justin Fashanu Foundation to eliminate prejudice and tackle homophobia in sport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fashanu, Amal English women journalists English fashion designers English LGBTQ rights activists Alumni of Brunel University London Living people Sexual orientation and sports English people of Nigerian descent English people of Guyanese descent English people of Spanish descent Year of birth missing (living people) British women fashion designers