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In her new Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 4 series, rising star comedian Twayna Mayne explores her identity as a black British woman. It's about being trans-racially adopted and her need to find her identity through popular culture. Here she picks a few of her favourite black icons who helped her to become the black woman she is today.

I first saw Prince on television when I was about eight or nine, and fell in love with him straight away. I wasn’t sure what he was all about but I decided I would get on board with whatever he was doing. Out of my group of friends I was the only Prince fan; they all thought he was a bit too avant garde and decided Michael Jackson was a more suitable pop star for them to like. Even at a young age I liked that Prince was very different and that he saw nothing wrong in being both very feminine and masculine at the same time. He showed that it was possible to be black in different ways and on your own terms, unlike a lot of other black people in the public eye.

Naomi Campbell

Not many people would choose a convicted felon but Naomi did the crime (she threw her mobile phone at an assistant), learnt from her mistake and then did it again. She did do the time though, a few hundred hours of community service and then wore a $300,000 designer dress on the last day. But it’s her career where she needs to be celebrated. In the 80s she became British Vogue’s first black cover girl in years; she was also the first black woman on the cover of French Vogue and American Vogue’s September issue – legend.

Solange

Solange Knowles is Beyoncé’s youngster sister and a very successful recording artist in her own right. She’s been around for a while but came to wider attention with the release of her third album, A Seat at the Table, in 2016. The album takes its name from a Shirley Chisholm (the first black American to run for President in 1972) quote, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Her music references and celebrates being black in America, with a particular focus on what it’s like to be a black woman.

They’re two of the three original members of Massive Attack, who are also one of my favourite bands. Mushroom used to stand at the back, look cool and DJ, but he left ages ago because of creative differences or something. He was a member of the group up until their third album and in my opinion they went a bit downhill after he went. Daddy G is still there, though, along with the white guy, 3D, who – depending on who you believe – may or may not be Banksy. I think he is.

Floella was a regular on children’s TV when I was growing up, and one of only a handful of black women across all the channels. This was in the olden days, when telly wasn’t on every device and available 24 hours a day; and there weren’t many channels, so it wasn’t really that hard, but it was always lovely seeing Floella. Growing up in a home where there were no black adults, it was comforting to switch on the television and see someone the same colour as me hosting one of my favourite shows.

Paul Gilroy

I did Sociology at university and I’m re-reading some of the stuff I first came across there and have since forgotten. Paul Gilroy has written some great books like There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, The Black Atlantic and a few other things with "black" in the title.

I’ve read quite a few books about race and identity over the years, but most of them are American, and Americans annoyingly tend to write about these things as if it’s an experience unique to just them. Thankfully Paul Gilroy exists and writes brilliantly about what it’s like to be black in Britain.