Maya Jama: ‘I Knew What I Wanted And I Was Going To Get It’

In work-out kit, her hair in a ponytail, Maya Jama still looks more polished on a casual Zoom interview than I feel on a typical night out. It’s hardly surprising: as the new presenter of BBC Three’s Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, and a skincare fan herself, this woman knows a lot about beauty.

She had her eyebrows done for Grazia’s photoshoot yesterday, she confirms when I admire how immaculate they are. The baby hairs on her cheeks had just grown back after a pre-lockdown exfoliating dermaplaning treatment, so she’s also had her face threaded, which might explain her exceptionally smooth skin. I can’t tell whether she’s wearing make-up, but if she is, it’s flawless; dark circles are her usual problem, she says. ‘If I’m tired or I’ve been drinking then you can see it in my eyes, so concealer is my saviour product.’

It’s only a decade since 16-year-old Maya packed her bags, said goodbye to her mum in Bristol, and headed to London seeking fame and fortune – but in that time alone, she’s seen the beauty world up its game for women of colour, she says. She remembers being mortified by the make-up for an early TV job in 2014. ‘You’re just so happy to be in the building, you don’t want to complain, but there were so many times I’d look in the mirror and feel like the foundation was too light or off-colour, or there was too much powder, so I was ashy,’ she says.

It’s a problem that many women in the public eye have reported: beauty brands not offering the right products for darker skin tones, or make-up artists lacking skill in colour-matching (something that was a focus on the first new episode of Glow Up). ‘I’d go to the toilet and do a little editing, come out and act like I hadn’t done anything,’ says Maya. ‘It’s not something you want to be worried about when you’re doing a job – it shouldn’t be that way. If I’m using a make-up artist nowadays, they do have every colour and every shade. Any brand that comes out now that isn’t considering diversity – it’s like shooting yourself in the foot. You keep up or you get left behind.’

‘Keep up or get left behind’ could very easily be Maya’s life motto. She’s built such a high profile in the UK that it’s surprising to learn that she’s only 26. She hosted a show on the London radio station Rinse FM before moving to BBC Radio 1; she’s also presented for MTV, the BRIT Awards and the MOBOs. As well as having recently become a series regular on Celebrity Juice, she has now replaced Stacey Dooley on Glow Up, offering plenty of hugs and a shoulder to cry on to the young make-up artists (MUAs) who put their creative and technical skills to the test.

It’s been an amazing experience, she says. ‘I’m quite an open person anyway, but I got close to the MUAs surprisingly quick. Maybe it’s to do with us being similar ages – it was an instant bond for a lot of us. It was so nice, because I’ve never done a show before where I got to build relationships like that and follow people on their journey.’

It’s also made Maya more adventurous with make-up. ‘Every episode I look completely different, because I was doing a whole new glam and hair look. I reckon people who don’t know who I am are going to think it’s a different person on some of the episodes – I’m blonde at one point!’ She has loved working with Dominic Skinner, one of the show’s judges, who made her up in gold leaf for Grazia’s shoot. ‘He’s such a creative, outlandish make-up artist – he’s outside of the box. I would have never tried ]anything like that before.’

I get the impression there isn’t much Maya wouldn’t try, however; she’s certainly not lacking courage. She loved her steady job at Radio 1, but left because she wanted to take every opportunity that came her way. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever really had security in my life, so I’m used to the feeling of trust – trust and have faith in yourself, and believe in your sauce,’ she says. ‘I always think, whatever happens, I’m going to be OK and I’m going to make it work. I’m never scared going into new ventures, because I’m like, even if this flops, I can do something else.’

It was this attitude that brought her to London as an ambitious teenager. ‘I’m wellvproud of my younger self,’ she says. ‘I would never do that now – go to a city on my own, broke, with no guarantee, no job, and just be like, “OK, let’s have a go!” But I was just mad confident. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it.’

The goal at first was to be an actor and/or a Graham Norton or Alan Carr type, she says – a household name with her own chat show. The acting is still on the cards – she had a small role in Katherine Ryan’s Netflix show The Duchess and was supposed to do a film in 2020 that was postponed because of the pandemic. But the Graham Norton plan is on the backburner. ‘I’m definitely not ready for that kind of show now, but what do you do in the in-between stage, when you’re not yet an icon on the telly but you are a regular face?’

What Maya won’t be doing again is sharing details of her love life. Her four-year relationship with Stormzy, which ended in 2019, dominated the tabloids. A lot of relationships in the industry are hyped up for publicity, she says, and she wants nothing to do with that. ‘People will paint you with the same brush of, “Oh, you’re in the public eye, your personal business is entertainment.” But it’s like, no, that’s actually my real-life situation, and we’ve not put it out there for you to dissect. I am a normal person and that’s my real life, not a fake entertainment life.’ The experience has made her more private. ‘Say I had a boyfriend now, I’m not going to be quick to fling them all over my Instagram, put it that way.’

‘Glow Up’ is available now on BBC Three.

Photographer: Billie Scheepers Styling: Sophie HendersonPhotographer Assistant: Lars Stephan; Styling Assistant: Sammiey Hughes; Hair: Aaron Carlo using Tresemme; Makeup: Dominic Skinner using MAC Cosmetics; Makeup Assistant: Alexis Azcueta; Picture Director: Nathan Higham

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