From grass to grace: How I rose from hawker to radio presenter

Starting off as a hawker in the scruffy city of Nairobi, I knew my life would at some point take a turn and realign with my dreams.

At a tender age, all I knew was I wanted to work at a radio station.

I grew up in Badassa -Manyatta Sidham in the outcasts of Marsabit town and we had one radio in our homestead that belonged to my late grandfather, which I would listen to frequently.

This is how partly my passion for journalism started to grow.

My grandfather told me that I should work hard so that in future he would listen to me on the radio, and this was enough motivation to keep me going.

The journey was not all rosy, having come from a humble background, I had to work extra hard to achieve my goals.

One of my high school teachers told me the career requires you to come from a rich and well-connected family, two things that my family lacked.

“How do you expect to pursue journalism when clearing your school fees is a problem? That path requires you to have money. You should consider changing it,” he said.

I joined the journalism club at the school and perfected my Swahili.

I could write and read the news at the assembly for teachers and students, which I felt was one step in the right direction.

After high school, I was enrolled on a computer school to do computer packages. And while at it, I realized that there was a radio station in the same building.

Sifa FM was a faith-based radio station that we frequently listened to back at home.

I was thrilled by this realization. I had to strategize how I would walk into their offices just to see how it operated.

Since my mum earned a living through selling mandazi, I thought hawking them at the studio's offices would bring me closer to my goal.

In 2011, my family was going through a financial crisis because my dad had been involved in an accident. We relied on the meagre income to make ends meet.

I remember praying before knocking at the door. I hoped they would buy my mandazis and later become my regular clients.

This was to help cater for my dad’s hospital bill as well as find my way into that radio station.

That morning, I bumped into a young man who was on his way out.

I briefly introduced myself and told him I was selling mandazis. He took them and distributed them to his colleagues, who loved them. They told me to be delivering them every morning.

Later on, I learnt the young man, Angaya Avedi, was the station manager. Having built a rapport with him, I knew it was a perfect time to tell him about my passion for radio and how I was looking forward to pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication course.

He asked me to write a story every day and send it to him.  I used the computers at the college to write stories.  We would go through them together and he taught me all the ropes.

I later quit the job at the radio station after a year and joined Nairobi Aviation College to pursue journalism in 2013.

After I graduated, I returned to Marsabit and secured a job at another Faith-based radio station, Radio Jangwani Diocese of Marsabit in 2016. I worked there for two years before relocating to Nairobi to look for more opportunities.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought. Through contacts, I had made while in Marsabit, I managed to get a slot in a film production company but Covid-19 saw me rendered jobless after the company closed down.

But I was not ready to go back home. To eke a living, I decided to hawk mandazis within my locality.

My first try at it turned into a disaster. I couldn’t sell them so I shared them with street children at TRM drive.

With time, I perfected my skills and orders started streaming in from several shops.

I later partnered with a friend, and at this point, business was booming. But then, I realized I was doing most of the work and still shared the profits equally.

 I decided to part ways with her and unfortunately, the business collapsed.

In March 2021, another friend floated the idea of selling clothes online. And despite Covid-19 having paralyzed some businesses, I decided to try my luck in running an online thrift shop.

I opened up a Facebook and Instagram page and I was ready to go. I had an idea of what I wanted to sell.  I walked to Gikomba, Nairobi, bought some corsets and posted them online.

I promoted the page since it was new. With time, I got clients though some were hesitant to buy my products since I did not have a physical shop. I later added rompers, bodysuits and palazzo pants to my stock.

I relied on friends and referrals and the venture was rewarding.

And in a bid to expand my customer base, I started going around universities and colleges along Thika Road to sell my products.  I avoided the CBD because the city council askaris “Kanjos” would have made life unbearable.

All these months I was selling clothes along Thika Road it had never occurred to me that in my quest to make ends meet, I had turned into a hawker until the day some tout referred to me as one.

I had just alighted at Kenyatta University flyover with my bag full of clothes ready for the day and one conductor thought I was travelling, as he was busy persuading me to board his matatu another tout told him “Huyo ni hawker haendi” (She’s a hawker she’s not going).

How did I get here? What went wrong? All these questions lingered in my head. I had abandoned my dream.

Months later, on one early morning on my way to Gikomba to restock my items, the driver of the bus had tuned his radio to Classic FM (Maina and Kingagi show) and I heard of a job vacancy being advertised and how to apply.

Later, in the night I took a leap of faith and applied. One month later I was called for an interview at Radio Africa Group offices and I got the job with no connection or a Godfather!

As I sit behind my desk working for Radio Africa Group,  one of the biggest Media Companies in East and Central Africa, I can only thank God for the milestone as I climb the career ladder.

A few months ago, if someone told me I would be here today, with all the roller-coasters in my life, I don’t think I would have believed them.

But here I am, exactly where I always wanted to be.

Edited by Mercy Asamba