Uzma’s extensive career in arts and media began in 2020 after graduating from King Alfred’s College, Winchester where she studied Drama, Theatre and TV Production. Inspired by the power of live and recorded media in giving voice to communities, she sought out experiences in both broadcast and community settings. 

After relocating from London, Uzma, along with like-minded creatives, set up Don’t Look Now, a voluntary artist-led organisation committed to developing local media artists and supporting local communities in Northamptonshire. Its rapid success evolved in the establishment of Threshold Studios, a social enterprise whose mission is ‘Creative Media for Social Change.’ As Co-Founder and Co-Director of Threshold Studios, Uzma has been producing new media art since 2020, and is Festival Director of Lincoln’s Frequency Festival of Digital Culture, a biennial celebration of digital arts and culture established in 2020.  

Uzma has also undertaken significant strategic development work in arts and education sectors across the East Midlands, delivering digital strategies and facilitating organisations to embrace technology into their futures, as well as brokering partnerships with the Higher Education sector to unlock opportunities for meaningful, sector specific internships and collaborative production in new and emerging technologies. She served on Arts Council England’s Regional and then Area Councils for eight years championing and advocating for diversity and equality in the arts, especially for new and emerging talent, as well as the opportunities technology affords the sector in connecting with a wide spectrum of audiences and communities. 

Uzma was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for services to the Digital Economy in the East Midlands, recognising her significant contributions in championing diversity and equality of voices in the arts and media sector, fostering talent and devising routes into industry for those who are currently under-represented.