Television In 2012, Jama moved to London to pursue a media career, first as an actress, then as a TV presenter and fashion model. Acting had been Jama's first ambition, but realised that becoming a presenter might suit her better. Her early role models included
Davina McCall and
June Sarpong. In 2014, she hosted ''Maya's FIFA World Cup Cities
for Copa90, a travelogue covering the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. She also co-hosted the Copa90 nine-part World Cup Taxi
series dedicated to the event. In August 2014, Jama joined MTV as a presenter for The Wrap Up''. In February 2017, she worked closely with
Brit Awards, hosting their
2017 Pre-Brit Awards Party and hosting a Facebook live stream from the
red carpet. In September 2017, she co-presented the Saturday night game show
Cannonball on
ITV with
Andrew Flintoff,
Frankie Bridge,
Radzi Chinyanganya and Ryan Hand. In September 2017 and February 2018, Jama was a guest panellist on ITV's
Loose Women. In November 2017, she became the youngest person (then 23) to co-host the
MOBO Awards on
Channel 5 with fellow presenter
Marvin Humes. In September 2018, Jama co-presented the first series of
The Circle on
Channel 4 with
Alice Levine. In October 2018, she co-presented
Stand Up to Cancer with long-standers
Alan Carr and
Adam Hills, and became the team captain on
ITV2 rap panel show ''Don't Hate the Playaz
presented by Jordan Stephens. In 2019, she appeared on A League of Their Own Road Trip'' alongside actor and comedian
Tom Davis. She appeared on Channel 4's
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year in 2019 and 2020. In early June 2020, she presented the Saturday evening BBC One TV programme
Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer. Later that year she co-presented
BBC One's New Year's Eve programme ''The Big New Year's In
. In January 2021, the BBC announced that Jama would be the new presenter of Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star, replacing former presenter Stacey Dooley, who presented the first two series of the programme. In February 2021, Jama appeared as a celebrity guest judge during the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. In September 2021, it was announced that Jama would be the host of
Simon Cowell's new music competition gameshow
Walk The Line. In October 2022, it was announced that Jama would take over from
Laura Whitmore as the presenter of
ITV2 dating reality series
Love Island. In August 2023, Jama was announced as host for
Love Island Games, a global spin-off show. Jama is set to appear on the
second series of
The Celebrity Traitors in Autumn 2026.
Radio Between 2014 and 2017, she hosted
#DriveWithMaya, a weekday
drive time show on
Rinse FM. In January 2018, she joined
BBC Radio 1, presenting ''Radio 1's Greatest Hits
on Saturdays and co-presenting every Friday with Scott Mills and Chris Stark. From 2018 to 2020, she presented her own show, Maya Jama'' on Fridays and Saturdays on BBC Radio 1. On 15 May 2020, the BBC confirmed in a statement that Jama had left Radio 1 after two years. It said she had made "the difficult decision not to continue her Radio 1 contract" and her final show was already broadcast on 3 May 2020. In an Instagram post, Jama said she had "a lot of exciting commitments" planned for the future, which meant she could not continue with her broadcasting segment at Radio 1. She added: "I would like to thank the team for their hard work and friendship during the last two years."
Other work From September 2017, Jama hosted
When Life Gives You Melons, a
podcast available to
streaming platforms in partnership with
Freya. The podcast featured Jama interviewing all-female guests about work, life and relationships. Guests included
Cherry Healey,
Vick Hope,
Anna Richardson,
Vanessa White,
Katie Piper,
Gemma Cairney and
Laura Whitmore. That same year, Jama became an ambassador for Savera UK which operates across the United Kingdom to provide services to individuals who have experienced or are at risk of ‘Honour’ Based Abuse (HBA) and Harmful Practices. In June 2019, she donated blood for an
NHS campaign and was found to have the rare and in demand
Ro blood subtype. She also launched a successful clothing collection with
PrettyLittleThing in June 2018, followed by a second collection in February 2019. She is an ambassador for Adidas, and appeared in the European
JD Sports Christmas campaign, and is also an ambassador for the American hair care brand
Aussie. She also appeared in a global GAP campaign and in a Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for
Kurt Geiger. In December 2020, Jama launched her own face and eye masks range, MIJ Masks, with the first release selling out within 24 hours. In March 2024, Jama hosted the
BRIT Awards alongside
Roman Kemp and
Clara Amfo. In November 2024, it was announced that she is set to manage one of the 12 teams in the upcoming
Baller League UK, a
six-a-side football league. ==Personal life==