I was born in Birmingham but moved to Northern Ireland when I was 3 years old.  My great uncle travelled to Belfast in 1945 from India just after the end of the 2nd World War and asked my dad to join him in 1955.  My dad flited between Northern Ireland, Pakistan and England but decided to settle in Birmingham when he got married.  My great uncle ran a very successful ladies clothing manufacturing business in Belfast and asked my dad to come and live Belfast to help him, so in 1974 at the height of the troubles we up sticks and moved to Belfast to live with my uncle’s family, 5 of us sleeping in one room. 

I grew up in the outskirts of East Belfast with my sister and 2 brothers and went to a small primary school Leadhill and then attended Lisnasharragh High.  From there I went on to do my A levels at Belfast Royal Academy and then on to Bradford University for my degree.  I ended up meeting my husband there a Yorkshire Italian and living in West Yorkshire for 18 years.  In 2011 we decided to make a move to come and live in Northern Ireland to watch our nieces and nephews grow up, but to our surprise I fell pregnant and in 2013 gave birth to our only son Noa. 

We are now happily settled in a house which is a few streets away from where I grew up, my son attending Leadhill and me working for ArtsEkta for the past 7 years.