Harleen Kaur Nottay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, into a Sikh family. She grew up in Midlothian on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Based on the year she appeared on Britain’s Next Top Model (2010) as a 19-year-old, she was born around 1991. She lived at home with her mother Rashpal, brother Jaskarn, and sister Raminder. She is a former pupil of Beeslack High School in Midlothian.

At 19, Harleen was studying Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Edinburgh Napier University when she was selected from thousands of women to make the final 25 of Britain’s Next Top Model, hosted by Elle Macpherson. Her media journey had started even younger — at just 14, she stepped into the world of modelling. After completing her degree, she spent around a decade outside of television before pivoting into content creation.

She began producing bold and meaningful content for BBC’s The Social, with a focus on health, wellness, and amplifying voices from the South Asian diaspora, before rising through the editorial ranks to become an Assistant Producer. Her breakout moment came on the BAFTA-winning Scam Interceptors, where her investigative skills and fluency in Punjabi were key to taking down scammers, translating in high-stakes doorstep confrontations and helping craft intricate scam-baiting stings.

She stepped in front of the camera for the first time presenting Channel 4’s UNTOLD: The £12 Million Rental Scam, which earned her a Debut Presenter nomination at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Amplify x New Voice Awards 2024 and Best Investigation at the Asian Media Awards 2025. She has since been confirmed as the new host of BBC Asian Network’s The Everyday Hustle, and is set to co-host Series 2 of the Scam Clinic podcast alongside Nick Stapleton