Luisa Christina Zissman (born Louisa Christina Kalozois; 4 June 1987) is a British retail entrepreneur and reality television personality from

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She was the runner-up on the ninth series of ''The Apprentice'' and finished fourth on '' Celebrity Big Brother 13''. She later became a presenter and regular panellist on ''

Big Brother's Bit on the Side This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series), Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition originally ran from 2000 to 2018, and again since 2023. The celebrity editio ...

''. Zissman is also one half of podcast LuAnna: The Podcast with Anna Williamson.

Early life and education

Zissman was born in

to Mr and Mrs Zo Kalozois; her father is

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and her mother has English,

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and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

heritage. She attended the Grove Independent school in Milton Keynes and Northampton High School for Girls.Sunday Times Money Section p10, 27 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013

Career

Zissman took her first job at an estate agent on Saturdays at 16 to pay the upkeep costs for a horse her parents bought for her. One of her first post-school jobs was at

Electronic Data Systems Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Corporation was an American multinational corporation, multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Plano, Texas, which was founded in 1962 by Ross Perot. The company was a s ...

, but she later stated that she decided to go into business because she disliked being told what to do. Zissman had her own baking website and

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

electronics business. Her cupcake shop – Dixie's Cupcakery, named after her daughter, is now closed. Although she claimed on several occasions that these three businesses have a net worth of £1.5 million, ''The Independent'' valued the three businesses, all trading names of Boutique Trading Ltd of which Zissman is listed as director and company secretary, at £194. They also noted that the eBay electronics store she owned was a "one-stop shop for several sellers, including electronics, baking and beauty products". Zissman came to public attention when she appeared on the ninth series of '' The Apprentice'' in 2013, where she was runner-up. On 23 July 2013, Zissman appeared on BBC Radio 1's Innuendo Bingo. In November 2013 she launched her business, named Bakers Toolkit, at the Cake International Show. Earlier, there had been some debate about whether the name should include an apostrophe. She joined the thirteenth series of ''Celebrity Big Brother'' on 3 January 2014. She finished fourth overall behind

Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and '' The Generation Game''. In 2014 he was the winner of the 13th series of ''Cel ...

Dappy Costadinos Contostavlos (Greek language, Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κοντόσταυλος; born 11 June 1987), better known by his stage name Dappy, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter and actor. He is the lead singer of the Lond ...

and Ollie Locke. Zissman revealed she received a six-figure sum for her stint on the show. She also regularly appears on '' This Morning'' and '' Good Morning Britain'' as a guest to debate current new stories. She has since appeared on ''

Reality Bites ''Reality Bites'' is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller in his feature directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofa ...

'', ''

News Thing ''Sam Delaney's News Thing'' was a television programme produced by RT UK and presented by British journalist and broadcaster Sam Delaney, that aired every Saturday night from November 2015 until June 2018. Notable guest appearances included ...

, Loose Women'' and ''Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries'' on ITVBe.

Personal life

Zissman is based in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

. Zissman married her first husband, entrepreneur Oliver Zissman, in 2009. Zissman gave birth to her first daughter, Dixie, in 2010. Zissman and her husband divorced in 2014. While taking part in ''Celebrity Big Brother'' in 2014, she came out as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, and had sought treatment for

sex addiction Sexual addiction is a state characterized by compulsive participation or engagement in sexual activity, particularly sexual intercourse, despite negative consequences. The concept is contentious; sexual addiction is not a clinical diagnosis in ...

. Zissman married her second husband, Irish businessman Andrew Collins, in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zissman, Luisa 1987 births Living people 21st-century English businesswomen 21st-century English businesspeople The Apprentice (British TV series) candidates Bisexual businesspeople British retail company founders British women podcasters Businesspeople from Buckinghamshire English people of German descent English people of Greek descent English people of Italian descent English bisexual women English LGBTQ businesspeople English women television personalities Mass media people from Buckinghamshire People educated at Northampton High School, England People from Milton Keynes