Melody Hossaini (born 18 September 1984) is a social entrepreneur, a professional speaker and personal development trainer and coach. Melody is the Founder and CEO of social enterprise, InspirEngage International. She is best known as a contestant on the seventh series of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series ''The Apprentice'' (2011) where she finished 6th, before being fired by

Lord Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser. Sugar began what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company A ...

'with regret’ and being described as ‘a woman with exceptional ability’.

Early life

Hossaini was born in Iran but her family fled to Sweden to escape the Iran-Iraq War when she was aged just two. She was educated at Great Wyrley High School, a state comprehensive school in the large village of

Great Wyrley Great Wyrley is a village and civil parish in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It forms a built-up area with nearby Cheslyn Hay, Churchbridge, Landywood and Little Wyrley. It lies north of Walsall and a similar di ...

in South

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. She says that her success as a youth leader led to jealousy from her peers, which resulted in

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

. Nevertheless, she performed well in her

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

s and

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

s before going on to

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

, where she obtained a 2:1 LLB Hons. Law degree in 2006. She has lived in four countries and speaks five different languages.

''The Apprentice''

Melody Hossaini was the first ever Social Entrepreneur to compete on ''

The Apprentice An apprentice is someone who is in training for a trade, profession. The Apprentice or Apprentice may also refer to: Television * ''The Apprentice'' (American TV series), the original reality television series * ''The Apprentice'' (franchise), ...

''. She began the series confidently, coming up with the team name 'Venture' and winning as

Project Manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the Project planning, planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined star ...

on the first week and avoiding the

boardroom A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

for a number of tasks. Hossaini became the target of an online campaign of abuse by Muslims during the airing of the series who assumed wrongly that she was

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. The hate campaign branded her a "bitch" and included comments like "You don't deserve your surname." and "Melody is a bitch for eating sinful food". In reality, Hossaini practices the

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

religion.

Career

Melody Hossaini is the Founder and CEO of social enterprise, InspirEngage International, established in 2009 offering speaking, training and coaching. The company delivers self-development training, preparing people for the future world of work, to set up businesses and to create social impact in communities. Starting her career aged 13, she now specialises in skills training to support individuals into employment and enterprise, through the delivery of tailored 'InspirEngage Skills Bootcamps'. InspirEngage is the UK's first complete hands-on social enterprise programme to be embedded into the curriculum.

Causes

In 2007, Hossaini was invited to be trained by

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

winner and Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, as part of ‘The Inconvenient Truth’. Melody has since adapted materials to be suitable for young people and worked on international projects

combating climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include conserving energy and replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sour ...

. Hossaini was approached by JCWI to work on the ‘I am a Refugee project’ aimed at humanising the immigration debate and celebrating the world-changing contributions and stories made by high-profile refugees. To launch the ‘I am a Refugee’ campaign in 2016. Hossaini became the face of the campaign alongside several other names also supporting the campaign including singer

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...

and Michael Marks founder of

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

. A plaque bearing Hossaini's name has been placed in honour at Oxford Brookes University where she studied, in a symbolic gesture for

World Refugee Day World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th ann ...

. As the UK representative, Hossaini attended

PeaceJam PeaceJam is a US-based global youth organization led by Nobel Peace laureates. It was founded by musical artist Ivan Suvanjieff and his wife, the economist Dawn Engle in 1993. PeaceJam has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize eight times. ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she worked with Nobel laureate

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop o ...

and other

Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

on peace implementation in communities. In 2013 Hossaini set up a bootcamp, in partnership with

Hillcroft college Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College is a further education college located in Richmond and Surbiton in Greater London. It was established in 2017 by a merger between Richmond Adult Community College and the specialist Hillcroft Colleg ...

, supporting women to prosper in business. Hossaini has also worked on a number of programmes, coaching and providing support to help young people with career choices. Hossaini delivered an InspirEngage Skills Bootcamp with the finalists from the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge. The workshop was part of a series of follow-up prizes to the Enterprise Challenge supporting students to set up their own social enterprises.

Personal life

Hossaini was once held at gunpoint at the age of 12 at her family home in Sweden. It was after this incident that her family decided to relocate to the United Kingdom.

Awards

Winner of ‘Women of Europe Awards’ in “Woman in Business”
category, honouring women striving to advance the European project in their professional or private capacity, 2017
Winner, ‘Woman of the Future Award’
– as presented by

Princess Zahra Aga Khan Princess Zahra Aga Khan (born 18 September 1970) is the eldest child of Aga Khan IV and Princess Salimah Aga Khan. Education Princess Zahra attended Institut Le Rosey, Le Rosey School in Switzerland and received her undergraduate degree cum la ...

, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossaini, Melody Living people 1984 births 21st-century British businesswomen Alumni of Oxford Brookes University The Apprentice (British TV series) candidates British Zoroastrians Businesspeople from Staffordshire Iranian emigrants to Sweden Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom Mass media people from Staffordshire