Biography

Early Days

I was born in Newport Gwent on October 20th to Mohammad and Firdaus Asghar. I have always been an active child and had a love for performing (in front of others), singing, dancing, reading and am widely regarded as ‘spoilt,’ as I am the only child.
However I would argue that has been a common misconception and say that I am ‘truly blessed’ to have amazing parents that have given me complete freedom (within limits) as my Mum would argue.
As my parents have always supported me in everything I have done and aspired to achieve in all walks of my life.

Education and Achievements

We lived in Newport until I was about 4 and I attended Rougemont Primary School, at Nant Coch. Which has now been demolished for some Redrow style houses. Then due to certain reasons we moved to Llandaff in Cardiff where we lived for 8 years. Whilst in Cardiff, I initially went to a Girls only school called, Elm Tree House. Then after completing a few years there, I went on to study in Howells Girls School.
It may sound familiar as that is the same school Charlotte Church attended. Although I must confess we weren’t ‘best of friends’ or anything as she was indeed a few years younger than me.
Then my Mum got a new job in Newport, so we moved back and I went back to Rougemont.

I had a wonderful time at Rougemont, I made some friends who are certainly regard as friends for life (weather they like it or not!! haha-They know who they are!)
I obtained 9 G.C.S.E’s then, in true form, we were commonly referred to as the ‘Guinea pig year.’ As we were the first to pilot AS levals, I obtained four in English, French, History and Drama. I then dropped Drama and carried on with the other three until A-levals. At School I was pretty sporty and took part in Netball, Rounders, Swimming and Badminton matches. I confess I did play Lacrosse however quit after getting wacked in the head by a ball (Imagine it feeling like smacked in the head by a cricket ball.) I loved being on the charity society, debating society and even won awards for my public speaking. I took part in the annual school productions, fashion shows and even arranged numerous charitable functions for students. Whilst at School I tried to gain as much experience before I headed out to University. So it was like a dream come true when I was accepted for work experience, as a Researcher, for BBC (Wales) News. As the only ethnic minority in the building my time at the BBC certainly gave me the drive to get into the media and represent various communities through main stream media.

But after spending 18 years in Wales and living a VERY protected life, I wanted some change and excitement. (Not that there wasn’t any in Wales.) I just wanted to make my own mark on the world!
That may sound lame, but I was young and incredibly idealistic. So I applied to numerous Universities and managed to get into all of them including the University of London to study for my BA in Politics and Social Policy. I had an amazing time in University.
I genuinely had a great time and have some amazing memories that will forever be held with very high regard. I always maintain that ‘If I could go back in time…I would go back to any of my years at University.’
Whilst at University I was able to work at the House of Commons, which really helped when compiling my very long dissertations. It was a great experience but as my course continued I realised I not only had a passion for public speaking but for the media too. It was during my 2nd year at University when I was Christmas shopping on Oxford Street. I was approached by a young man, who complimented my hair, (which I thought was a bit strange!) He introduced himself as a model scout, and said that he was looking for new faces, to pose for an ad campaign, and that is how I secured a modeling project for a Hairdresser in London.

Just before my Undergrad finals I heard about a News Anchors position that had arisen at a TV channel called Vectone (An Asian channel). So I went along and even though I can speak 5 languages which include English (obviously), Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and French. My reading of Urdu/Hindi on an auto-queue has a lot more to be desired. I was told after the audition that even if we overcame that issue, I would have to start within two weeks and the job would be reading the hourly news between 9am and 9pm. With finals on my head, I did not think I would be able to manage, plus the look on my parents face….if I dared to fail would not be good
So, as I came out of the Green-room, at Vectone I was approached by a young Asian man. Now some of you may think WOOHOO (some great Asian equivalent of Romeo and Juliet is going to happen)….However I am sorry to disappoint you. In fact he came and sat down next to me and in Urdu said ‘you have a reasonable face.’ He then asked what I was doing there? I explained the predicament and he told me, he was in fact a Producer and would love for me to host a show.
We went through an array of ideas and being a typical ‘girly girl’ I suggested a new health, beauty and fashion programme.
I named it ‘Khoobsoorat’ (Beautiful) and the rest was history.
The show ran for 9 months, and even though my course had ended and I moved out of my flat I must give 10 out of 10 to my Father who used to drive me from Wales to London every Sunday to make sure I got to the studio on time.
But I had to leave Vectone as I began my Masters in Contemporary British Politics and Media at the University of London, so had to stop, in order to dedicate more time to the course.

After University

After completing the Masters, I began to look for a job and ended up accepting a role as a Financial Advisor for a Bank in London. I was there for four years.
Whilst at the Bank, I was head-hunted by a production company when they were shooting an advert at one of our branches. As a result, I was then offered to star in the company’s internal Award winning DVD called The Works and interviewed the CEO of the company. It was amazing to be pampered and get a day off work for the shoot! Haha.

It was clear that my love for the media was still there so, alongside working full time, I  did a number of projects for channels such as Vectone, by hosting their charity appeal for victims in Kashmir (after the earthquake).

Then I was fortunate enough to receive numerous opportunities at other channels and began hosting a show called ‘Talk of The Town’ for B4U Music (Bollywood 4U).
I co-presented a show called ‘Colours’, which is the Asian equivalent of the ‘One Show’ on BBC for Brit Asia and made an ad for Prestige Cars (for the Bangladeshi channel.) Which shall indeed be out this year.

The Future

Without sounding like a cliché there is so much that I would like to achieve. Even though I am constantly reminded by my Mother who keeps telling me in her typical Doctor tone, ‘I want Grandchildren ASAP!’ I must commend her for her dedication to the ‘husband finding cause, as her comments normally lead to a serious rolling of my eyes (in sarcasm.) Or an ‘urgent phone call/ e-mail’ having to be made as soon as the topic comes up.
Nevertheless I am truly grateful to my amazing parent’s, for their wholehearted support; in my desire to make my mark on the British media industry.
They always have been there for me through the trials, tears and tribulations and I will remain eternally indebted for their never ending encouragement and constantly reassuring me that ‘there absolutely nothing in this life that I cannot achieve or obtain.’

I would certainly like to dedicate more time to charitable causes that I genuinely support from the bottom of my heart.
Such as Tickled Pink (Cancer Research), The Samaritans and Great Ormond street Hospital.

I assure you that as far as my relationship with the media…There are a number of projects in the pipeline that shall hopefully blow your mind away and may even surprise you.

So make sure you keep an eye on the website and Facebook fan page for regular updates and I promise, you will not be disappointed!

Lots of Love

Natasha xx