User:Toby Geralds/Kristiane backer

Kristiane Backer is a TV presenter and journalist based in England and a high profile convert to Islam. She currently presents a monthly travel show for Travel Channel in Germany and “Matters of Faith” for Ebru TV, a program that deals with different aspects of faith and culture. She also hosts galas, conferences and corporate events around Europe.

In 2009, Kristiane published her acclaimed autobiography “From MTV to Mecca” in Germany. The book is currently being translated into Turkish, Arabic and English. Kristiane is engaged in interfaith and intercultural dialogue and is a Global Ambassador for the Exploring Islam Foundation. She was recently honoured by the Arab Republic of Egypt with the Presidential medal of the Sciences and the Arts for her efforts in promoting understanding for Islam in the West.

At the age of 24, Kristiane became one of the leading presenters on MTV Europe where she interviewed many major artists and musicians of her time. She created her own youth show in Germany and presented a daily guide to culture and entertainment, “The Ticket NBC” on NBC Europe. Kristiane won several awards for her TV work. She later studied natural medicine, qualified as a homeopath and presented a health program on RTL. In 2007 she presented and produced the interfaith program “Nexus” for Press TV as well as the weekly news analyses program “WWW”.

In 2010, Backer became one of the leading faces of the "Inspired by Muhammad" public campaign in Britain, designed to counter negative stereotypes about Islam amongst the British public.

On her website, Backer explains how exposure to Islamic architecture and music drew her to Islam. In the same article, she states that she was more touched and impressed by Islamic spiritual music from various parts of the world than the pop music that she was covering as part of her stint at Europe MTV.