In her early days Kanya attended South Kilburn High School in London, proceeding to study English and Drama at Goldsmiths College in South London. Her father died when Kanya was aged just 13, and to help financially she managed various jobs from working in a bakery to running her own promotional company supplying people for market research.

Kanya obtained a position with Carlton Television as a senior researcher where she was a founding member and part of the production team on the Chrystal Rose Show.

She began to develop the successful Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) awards show in January 1996, and ended up financing the first event by re-mortgaging her house. The first MOBO Awards were held at the New Connaught Rooms in London. The MOBO Awards Show in September 2006 was broadcast live on BBC3 and repeated two days later on BBC1. The show reached 250 million people in 57 countries.

King is also a consultant to a number of Government initiatives for disadvantaged youth including the Home Office Task Force to reduce gun violence. She is a Patron of the Horniman Museum, and founder member of Net Women, an influential body of high profile women in the media.

She attended Buckingham Palace at the Queen’s invitation to celebrate exceptional achievements by British women such as J. K. Rowling and Cherie Blair and in 1999 was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Other awards include an Honorary Fellowship of the University of London, and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration at the London Metropolitan University (December 2006).

King is the youngest of nine children. Her father, Christian, was a labourer of Ghanaian descent, and her mother, Mary, was a nurse of Irish descent.

Watch Kanya in ‘Mothers of Invention: Celebrating International Women’s Month’ – An ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’ event hosted by the British Library’s Business & IP Centre.