Nairobi News

She is an award-winning publicist, co-founder of Terazo New Media, a tv presenter and a music business consultant.

Nonsizi was the 2019 Zuri Award winner and the bubbly woman has more than 7 years of experience on the Kenyan and African media and entertainment scene.

She spoke to Nairobi News about her life behind the limelight.

“I grew up in Kiambu county, a village called Kagongo in the heart of Kiambu. My parents and grandparents were in our life,” Nonsizi says.

So, what is the story behind her unique name, Nonsizi?

“My paternal great-grandmother was from South Africa, but she lived with us in Kiambu. That is where I got the name Nonsizi from,” she says.

Years later, she still misses her childhood and the best memory she has was growing up in the farm.

However, Nonsizi hated drawing water from the well and picking coffee fruits from the farm.

The firstborn in a family of two daughters says her father was a disciplinarian who never wanted his children to wander in the neighborhood.

The girls, according to her, however had to find a way to survive and so they mastered the sound of their father’s car engine.

“We had crammed the sound of his car engine and my mum was a bit lenient, she would allow us to go out to play with other kids. She would tell us, ‘You go play, but you need to know what you are going to do. By the time the car is stopping at the compound you better be here and look like you had not gone anywhere,” she adds slyly.

She developed an interest in media when she was only 10 years old.

However, she did not really know what it was at that tender age but she was fascinated by the voices on the radio and the command of vernacular language from the Kikuyu presenters.

Nonsizi narrated that her primary education was not easy as she had to walk for many kilometers from to reach school.

“It was so far, I had to wake up very early, I am not an early person even to date,” Nonsizi says.

After completing her O-levels, her mother persuaded her to take a course in media so she joined Technical University of Kenya for her diploma in Journalism and Public Relations.

“Mum told me I talk too much and my personality fits media. She told me go do that course”.

Sadly, he father passed on while she was still in high school and life changed drastically for her family and she found herself working during the school holidays to make a few coins and sort her personal bills.

Her journey to the media industry started when she got employed at Link Video Global owned by Jibril Blessing popularly known as Jblessing and later moved to the famous Ogopa Deejays.

“I was a receptionist, I was scheduling studio, guys were coming to record and I would see how videos are shot on set. I could interact with artistes and all these was exciting,” she narrated.

When it comes to accomplishments, Nonsizi celebrates all her small wins.

“I celebrate every small win because it’s been a journey for me,” she says.

She landed her first job on a local vernacular tv station in 2016.

“We did the interview in 2015, and I forgot about it until the end of 2016, you get a call from HR and you first have to confirm which position because you had forgotten about it,” she adds.

One of the challenging things for he was transitioning from being employed to self-employment.

However, she says, the few things she learnt at the start of her career working with entertainment companies made things a bit easier for her as she swam in the private sector.

“The entertainment industry is hard. It’s not easy, especially for women and there are no structures,” the ever-smiling Nonsizi adds.

The need to be independent, empowered and the fear of poverty is what inspires the mother of one to go after what she loves doing.

“I am scared of poverty, I am scared of being vulnerable because I don’t have money, I have experienced poverty, and it’s not nice,” Nonsizi says while laughing.

Just like many other businesses, 2020 was hard for her business as most of her client who are artistes could not work on their projects because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, she confesses that the period was a learning time for her and her team at Terazo Media and the lessons learnt will help them in case of any eventuality in the coming years in their business.

2020 was also a good year for Nonsizi, as she hosted the Kisima Awards, an annual program  which honours music artistes and filmmakers from across the continent.

When asked about her celebrity crush, the 30-year-old lass refused to answer, only saying, “Simwagi unga huku. I see what you want me to do, I am not boarding. Next question please…,” as she reminded this writer about her relationship status.

“Ebu I make it clear; I am not just in a relationship, but I am married, and we have a son together who is 5 years old now,” she said accompanied by a hearty laughing.

Before meeting her Mr right, Nonsizi had her fair share of bad dates. She remembers a date at a mutura joint which left her angry and disappointed with herself.

“One was so horrible. I was like surely, I deserve better. Ladies communicate what you want, if you expect to be taken on a date, just don’t expect a date anywhere. Don’t take me to a Mutura joint for our first date,” Nonsizi retorted.