Doniya Malik

Doniya was born on April 19, 1992, in Bradford, England to Yaser and Patricia Brannan "Trisha" Malik. Zayn, born on January 12, 1993, is about a year younger than her. She also has two younger sisters: Waliyha (July 23, 1998) and Safaa (September 13, 2002). Yaser is a British Pakistani while Trisha is of English and Irish descent. When she married Yaser, Trisha converted to Islam, which is his religion.

Doniya and her siblings grew up in a working-class household, living in a working-class neighbourhood. They all studied at the Tong High School. After graduating high school, she attended the United of Bradford. Doniya and Zayn share a deep bond. Despite Zayn being younger than her, he is very protective of her. She has stated, “Because me and Zayn are very close in age, we've grown up together... Actually he bosses me around, he acts like a big protective brother which is quite nice at times.” She has also talked about how Zayn’s meteoric rise to fame has affected the family. She has admitted that it has changed their lives quite a lot, adding that it has also brought about many opportunities. It all began when she was only 18 years old and everything had felt surreal and weird. However, she has become accustomed to it with time.

Doniya Malik has always harboured a deep passion for beauty and fashion. After she graduated from college, she decided that working in the field of fashion would be the ideal profession for her. As a result, she began to work towards becoming a beauty and fashion blogger. At some point, she set up a website under the name Doniyabeauty, which is currently used to market Armani products.

In early 2016, Doniya, along with her mother Trisha and sister Waliyha, set up a beauty salon called Waliyha Beauty in Bradford. According to their website, they provide a broad range of services, including bridal hair and makeup, party hair and makeup, yumi lash lift, semi-perm lash extensions, eyebrow and facial threading, waxing, manicures, facials, pedicures, acrylic nails, and spray tans. Doniya and Waliyha are also building up their very own line of selected makeup products, named Daliyha Beauty. As of 2018, they have released their signature line of eyelashes.

According to a report published in the Daily Star in December 2016, she was working as a customer service advisor of a leading gas and electric supplier at the time. Her job mainly entailed dealing with general enquires.