I spent a lot of my early career as a professional dancer, singer and actress.

Some years later I tied the knot with this one (he saw me at the aforementioned show and said he knew he wanted to marry me).

I founded my own multi-award winning wedding media platform Nu Bride, after experiencing racism and invisibility in the wedding industry.

More years later - I got fed up with how dull and homogenous wedding shows were so created Nu Bride the Wedding Show. An immersive experience with no investment or support other than volunteers - who more than showed up for the cause. The opening night sold out and we garnered press attention.

I’ve won a number of awards for the aforementioned advocacy.

Wrote and delivered my big bro and sister-in-law’s wedding ceremony in Slovakia - that was special.

I produced a documentary film called Other, that premiered at RSA House.

In 2018 I was invited to attend the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan as a media expert which was very special.

In 2019 I graced the famous red circle after being headhunted by TEDx Frankfurt to deliver a TED Talk on racial microaggressions. It’s racked up approx 120,000 views.

In the same year I was named on of the top 100 black british women by the Black Magic Network in 2019.

In 2020, I produced Conversations with Nova Reid podcast.

In 2020, I won a Precious Award for Social Impact in racial justice.

In 2021 I became a published author with my debut book, The Good Ally.

As you can see - I still love to dance.

I shared the stage with David Harewood MBE at the National Theatre - first time I have been on that stage since I left the acting world in 2009. We had a beautiful conversation about the impact of racism on mental and physical health and a whole lot more.

I am proud to be a windrush grandchild 🇯🇲. I grew up in the 80’s in a British-Jamaican family in what was a very white Hertfordshire, as you can tell by my face, it was a mixed bag.

I used to have a complex relationship with my name, as I was born when Vauxhall Nova’s were all the rage. And. Well, kids can be cruel.

It’s since grown on me.

I miss mixtapes and now have to settle for Spotify playlists.

In another life I think I would have been a professional athlete. But after about 9 years, my dance teacher convinced me to ditch it and focus on professional dance instead. I learned so much about failure, focus, discipline, trying again, community and grace as a young athlete. I was also fast in the 100 metres. Fellow competitors used to groan “oh no, Nova’s here” when I arrived at the starting blocks. I didn’t enjoy running anything further than that though.

Winter training and having to run outside, in the snow, was a total deal breaker for my Afro-Caribbean genes.

The dancing bug got me in the 80’s.