BIO
It’s not often that you come across a multi-cultural dynamic TV host and producer with over 15 years experience in front of and behind the camera in culturally diverse environments. Maha has built her name through a unique blend of natural on-camera personality and proven production business savvy, in addition to an extensive knowledge of the Middle Eastern entertainment industry.
In addition to a full grasp of entertainment, she has a keen awareness of and involvement in international cultural, social and political issues. She is active with advocacy organizations and social justice projects. She hosted and moderated the KPCC town hall “Islam: Questions You Were Always Afraid to Ask”, and spoke as a panelist on KCRW‘s America Abroad series international town hall “Egypt and the Struggle for Democracy“ Maha is fluent in both English and Arabic, and shines with her exceptional interviewing and conversational skills.
Most recently, she has been lending her knowledge consulting on media projects related to the Arab and Muslim world, and cultural advising on commercial campaigns for the Middle East with multi-national companies. She was in NYC as project manager with BoomGen Studios on the strategic media consulting campaign for TLC’s groundbreaking reality series All-American Muslim, responsible for coordinating all facets– the publicity, grassroots outreach, social media and creative and content consulting departments of the campaign, as well as handling all communications with the network itself.
Throughout her life, Maha has had a passion for TV and media. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Communication Studies, (Mass Comm. Emphasis). Being a native Egyptian, she decided to move back to Egypt to make the most of her western education and upbringing in an emerging entertainment and media industry.
Her hosting career flourished, from covering red carpets to live programs and large audience talk shows. Her distinctive blend of “East meets West” led Maha to be chosen as the sole middle-eastern host to conduct a wide array of A-list star interviews and cover numerous international events, such as the World Music Awards in Monaco and Las Vegas.
On the production side, Maha worked her way up through all facets to become Executive Producer on over 20 music videos and TV commercials, shooting throughout the Middle East and Europe – Cairo, Beirut, Bucharest, and Paris.
Before returning to the US, she was simultaneously balancing TV celebrity and Network Executive responsibility in the Arab world as Head of TV Production at MazzikaTV and Zoom, two of the Middle East’s leading music and entertainment channels. At the same time, she was the “face of Zoom”, hosting her own highly-rated primetime international and Arabic entertainment shows. Her show Sahra Ma3a Negm became the first stop for every Arabic A-list star releasing a new album.
Maha’s ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as her experience in middle-eastern and European markets give her an edge, and allow her to bring a valuable and unconventional perspective to all her projects, entertainment and otherwise. She is currently a freelance producer and consultant based in LA, always searching for the next exciting project to bridge the gap between her two worlds.