Momtaz Begum-Hossain (; born 8 December 1981) is an English

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist, craft expert and presenter.

Early life

Begum-Hossain was born and brought up in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 ...

. Her parents are from

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. She has three sisters. Begum-Hossain graduated with a BA (Hons) in geography from the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. She then graduated with a course in magazine journalism from

Harlow College Harlow College is a further education college in Harlow, Essex, England. This medium-sized college has 5,900 students as of 2018 of which 2,585 are on 16-19 programmes and 2,000 are on adult educational programmes. Its main campus is in the to ...

Writing career

Begum-Hossain's interest in journalism began at school, where she set up two magazines. She was fashion editor of the University of Sussex student magazine ''Pulse'' and contributed to student newspaper the ''Badger''. In her third year of university, she dropped out to become a carer. Within a year, she set up a handbag and accessories business based in her bedroom. After graduating from Harlow College, she worked as a junior writer for BBC Children's Magazines. She was then assistant editor and then editor of ''Popular Crafts'' magazine. Since July 2007, Begum-Hossain has worked on a freelance basis, specialising in arts and crafts. She has written several craft books and contributed to numerous magazines. Her work has appeared in magazines for adult and child crafters. In January 2010, she was appointed by ''Asiana'' and ''Asiana Weddings'' magazines as a feature writer, covering topics including travel, fashion, celebrity, health and careers. She then went on to become editorial director. She has also written for local and national press including ''

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 ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Momtaz Begum-Hossain She has a blog called Craft and Travel''. ''She previously had a blog called The Crafts Café published by the Creative Choices, which is a career website for creative people.'''' In 2006, her first book, ''Bollywood Crafts: 20 Projects Inspired by Popular Indian Cinema'', was published''. ''In 2012, her second book, ''101+ Things to Do with Glitter, ''was published.'' ''In 2014, her third book, ''Kolkata to Kathmandu: Travelling tales from India, Bangladesh and Nepal,'' was published. Her fourth book, ''Hello Rainbow: Brighten up your life and mind with color therapy'', was published in 2021.

Crafts design

Begum-Hossain started working as a freelance crafts designer, customised clothing designer and crafts teacher running workshops. Since May 2012, she has run a craft night at the Hackney Attic called The Make Escape. She also runs craft workshops across the UK incorporating textiles, papercrafts, jewellery making and printing and dyeing. In 2011, she was invited to appear as one of

Kirstie Allsopp Kirstie Mary Allsopp (born 31 August 1971) is a British television presenter, best known as co-presenter of Channel 4 property shows including ''Location, Location, Location'', '' Love It or List It UK'', '' Relocation, Relocation'' and ''Locat ...

's craft experts at The Handmade Fair in Hampton Court where she won a live Craft Mash-Up Challenge. She has worked on several projects offering crafts consultancy services, including Hands on Craft in association with the Voluntary Arts Trust and has run craft workshops and private craft parties for children and adults.

Media career

Begum-Hossain is also television and radio presenter. Her first presenting role was as a teenager on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

''Child's Eye''. She then became a regular guest contributor on the BBC's Network East TV series ''Café 21''. In 2011, she appeared on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

craft series ''Mastercrafts'' where she studied an apprenticeship in weaving. She was a video blogger for the

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

during

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Since March 2015, she has hosted Saturday morning breakfast show The Create Escape on One Harmony Radio, and been a reporter for Community Channel's ''The Greenwich Show''. She a regular live guest on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

where she reviews

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

films and discusses current affairs. In 2015, she was on the judging panel for the Asian Curry Awards. In November 2015, she was interviewed by Nadia Ali on

. In January 2018 she launched The Desi Woman Podcast where she interviews game-changing South Asian women. Listen on iTunes, Spotify. In September and December 2020 she Hosted The Handmade Festival, a three-day online crafts event. In March 2021 she is holding an online colour festival to mark International Colour Day.

Recognition

Begum-Hossain was Fashion Journalist of the Year 2019 at the British Bangladesh Fashion and Lifestyle Awards. She has also been named one of the Top 100 influential crafters in the UK. In October 2015, she was nominated for the TV Presenter of the Year at the Asian Media Awards.

Personal life

Begum-Hossain is a

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 ...

. She lives in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London. In 2003, her mother, Rehana Begum, died. In September 2010, her father died.

Books

References

External links

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Momtaz Begum-Hossain
on '' guardian.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Begum-Hossain, Momtaz 1981 births Living people English Muslims English people of Bangladeshi descent English artisans 21st-century artisans English fashion journalists English bloggers English women bloggers English women journalists Muslim writers British Asian writers 21st-century English women writers English television presenters British women television presenters English radio presenters The Guardian journalists The Independent people Journalists from London Alumni of Harlow College Alumni of the University of Sussex English women radio presenters