Who is Nadiya Hussain? What is Her Profession?

British chef, author, and TV host Nadiya Jamir Hussain goes by Nadiya. After she won the 2015 season of The Great British Bake Off on BBC, she became a household name.

Who is Nadiya Hussain?

Educated at Beech Hill Primary School, Challney High School, and Luton Sixth Form College, Hussain is a second-generation British Bangladeshi. Three sisters and two brothers make up her sibling group of five. Hussain’s father was an Indian restaurant owner and a chef; the family originally hails from Beanibazar. Hussain began wearing a hijab at the age of 14 so that she could hide her “poor hair more than anything else” after her father “trimmed it pretty badly.” Her panic problem was identified while she was a teenager, and she received CBT for it. She discussed her struggles with mental health in a Sport Relief video, and she wrote a book called My Monster and Me to help kids overcome their fears of monsters.

Husayn honed his culinary chops in class. Her mother never used the oven for anything other than storing things. The rest she picked up from cookbooks and YouTube tutorials. A novel by Irish author Marian Keyes on baking is her all-time favorite.

Hussain was “a full-time mum” and a student at the Open University when she appeared on The Great British Bake Off. She and her husband, an IT professional, and their three children lived in Leeds. After she won the competition, she and her family relocated to Milton Keynes so that she could be closer to London and pursue a career in cooking.

Career Life of Nadiya Hussain

Television Career

On the sixth season of The Great British Bake Off, which aired from August 5th to October 7th of 2015, Hussain competed and ultimately won. She made 16 frosted buns in three hours, two batches of raspberry mille-feuille according to one of Paul Hollywood‘s recipes, and a four-layer presentation cake in the style of “My Big Fat British Wedding Cake” in the final. I’m never going to limit myself again, she declared during her winning speech. I will never admit defeat. There will be no “maybes” from me. I will never admit defeat by saying “I can’t.” Yes, I can and I will.

The finale was the most-watched program of 2015, drawing in over 15 million viewers. Her success on the show and the acceptance of cultural differences it fostered were seen as significant steps in changing preconceived notions of Muslims. Hussain amassed a sizable online following. Nadiyators are her self-described online fanbase, and she even had the support of then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

Hussain made a guest appearance on the December 25 episode of Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show on BBC One, which was taped at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. As the host of BBC One’s two-part cuisine documentary The Chronicles of Nadiya in August 2016, Hussain visited Bangladesh in search of her family’s culinary history. She went to the northeastern Bangladeshi city of Sylhet to see her paternal grandfather’s home. She also visited a riverside community where the age-old practice of otter catching is still commonplace and prepared meals for the paddle steamer crew.

She volunteered in Dhaka for the nonprofit ‘Thrive,’ which provides food to underprivileged students at school. On August 24th, right after The Great British Bake Off, the premiere aired and was seen by 4.5 million people or 20.5% of all viewers. There was a nomination for the show in the “Factual Entertainment” category at the 2017 National Television Awards. At the 2017 Royal Television Society Awards, Hussain was nominated for the Breakthrough star.

During the fourth season of CBBC’s Junior Bake Off, which aired in November 2016, Hussain served as a judge. Hussain has taken over for Mary Berry on the show where forty kids, aged 9 to 12, compete to see who can bake the best desserts. Hussain’s second TV cooking series, Nadiya’s Family Favourites, premiered in July 2018 on BBC Two. Time To Eat, a six-part series that premiered on BBC Two in July and August of 2019, featured a variety of “time-saving kitchen tricks” and recipes created to help busy families save time and money. This show debuted in Netflix‘s library in April 2020. Nadiya Bakes, an eight-part series starring Hussain, premiered on BBC Two in September and October of 2020.

Writing Career

Hussain contributes to BBC Good Culinary, the most popular food publication in the UK. In addition to his work as a columnist for Essentials magazine, Hussain now contributes weekly to The Times Magazine, a section of The Times’ Saturday supplement.

Some of her recipes have been published in the likes of The Guardian and The Telegraph as well as the BBC’s Good Food magazine. Hussain’s first book, Nadiya’s Kitchen, is a compilation of the recipes which she cooks for friends and family and was published by UK publisher Michael Joseph, part of Penguin Random House. Hussain’s eight-part BBC2 food series, Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, had a companion cookbook released by Michael Joseph in 2017.

Hussain’s book Bake Me A Story, published by Hodder Children’s Books, combines modern retellings of classic fairy tales (the unfortunate “Sleepless Beauty” only needs a nice cup of cardamom-infused hot chocolate to break her curse, and the resourceful Jack wins over the giant with yummy bean patties) with bright illustrations and kid-friendly recipes. Bake Me a Story was among the finalists for Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2017. Nadiya’s Bake Me a Festive Story, a second cookbook and storybook combination, was released in October 2017 in response to the first book’s success. In 2016, Hussain’s books Nadiya’s Kitchen and Bake Me A Story ranked third and fourth, respectively, on Nielsen’s list of the Top 100 Food & Drink books in terms of book sales.

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters, Hussain’s debut novel, was published in January 2017 with the assistance of author Ayisha Malik and was marketed as a British Muslim adaptation of Little Women. The review by Jenny Colgan in The Guardian was met with strong social media outrage because Colgan questioned if Hussain “really needs to attach her name to a novel, too when there’s only so much shelf space to go around?” and called Hussain a “greedy” man for it.

In 2019, her autobiography, titled Finding My Voice, was released by Headline Publishing Group. Her dishes and poetry are featured. Michael Joseph released Hussain’s Nadiya’s Everyday Baking cookbook in 2022. Took the fifth spot on the Sunday Times Manuals Best Sellers List.

Personal Life of Nadiya Hussain

Hussain wed Abdal Hussain, a man she had only met once, in a customary Bangladeshi ceremony when she was 20 years old. She has discussed the difficulties she had early in life due to her arranged marriage, saying “It’s not easy to marry someone you hardly know. We had to endure both the good times and the bad, and now we’re here.” She and her spouse remarried in December 2018. They raised three kids: boys Musa and Dawud and a girl Maryam.

Hussain is an advocate for both the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which helps terminally ill children and WaterAid, which helps people in developing countries get access to clean drinking water. Hussain supported Armistice Day by wearing a “poppy headscarf,” which was created to honor the many Muslim troops who served in World War I and to encourage other British Muslims to do the same. For Swarovski’s 2018 “Empower the Woman Within” campaign, Hussain was brought on as a brand ambassador.

Hussain has experienced anxiety her entire life. In honor of World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2018, she baked a cake and submitted it to the YoungMinds mental health charity’s HelloYellow day. For her contributions to the media and the culinary arts, she was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list for 2020.

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