By Prudence Minayo
Amina Abdi is a celebrated Kenyan TV host, radio presenter, actress, songwriter and singer. She is known for her electrifying smile, endearing voice and her dress code. Beyond the beauty lies an intelligent woman who is a loving wife and an awesome mother to her kid. Being a media personality never crossed her mind growing up. She thought she’d be a lawyer or diplomat but destiny had other plans in store for her.
Age
Amina was born in 1989 and turns 31 this year. She was born and raised in Nairobi.
Education
She attended Kenya High School up to 2006.
Family
Her parents are from the Borana tribe in Kenya. The dad is from Moyale and her mum from Isiolo. The anchor also has a beautiful sister named Shukri Abdi.
Marriage
The TV host is married to John Rabar, popularly known as DJ John. He is the CEO of Homeboyz radio and co-owns he station together with his two brothers.
The lovebirds dated and got married away from the prying eyes of the public. Her husband showed his romantic side when he called K24 during a live show by Amina to express his love.
“ I just wanted you to know that you will always be my number one and that I appreciate you very much. Okay, let me get back to work now,” said John to his wife.
Amina once said they never mixed personal life with work even during her time at Homeboyz.
“ I knew there was something special about him. Our relationship and work were two different things. At no point did the two clash,” revealed the beauty in an interview with Daily Nation
In fact, John was a very strict boss but managed to win her over with his sense of humor.
The two are blessed with a son.
Career
As mentioned earlier, journalism was not something Amina thought of. After leaving Kenya High, she heard that Homeboyz radio had a training program and decided to attend. The trainees were promised that whoever emerged top of the class would be awarded a job. This made her work hard emerging top of her class. This was the beginning of her career in the highly competitive media world.
From Homeboyz radio, she moved to Maisha Magic East before going to K24 to host the Alfajiri show. The show had gained traction making it hard for her to leave K24. Her bosses let her have creative control of the show. Although leaving was hard, she left when a bigger opportunity came knocking.
In 2017, when Larry Madowo left to join BBC, Amina was unveiled as the new face of ‘The Trend’ show. She has been hosting the trend since then and also hosts a show on Capital FM.
Recently, Mrs. Rabar was selected to host the 7th African Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) alongside Ik Osakidouwa, a Nigerian radio and TV personality. Amina took to Instagram to express her joy.
“It was all a dream…” The first Time hosted by an EAST AFRICAN!!! Humbled beyond words. Thank you so much to the entire DSTV Kenya family for being so instrumental to my career from the jump.
“ Thank you Tim, Jakki, Maggy and everyone from Maisha Magic East for the constant love and support manze. From Eastleigh 3rd Street to one of the biggest stages on the continent. Let no one tell you anything is impossible,” gushed the presenter
Singing Career
She has a number of songs under her belt, such as, On Me. Young Amina loved cramming cassette songs and performing music in front of family and friends. She did a couple of projects but was afraid to put them out there due to her parents and religion.
In the end, she decided to go ahead but in an interview with Daily Nation she said singing wasn’t her main focus and there are just things she can’t do in the name of music.
“ I won’t lie, I may not be the most pious of Muslims but even then I’m not the type of person to strip naked on a music video or anything remotely close to”
Well, honestly I don’t want to venture into music anymore. I love singing but I don’t want to deal with all the negativity that comes with it,” read part of Amina’s responses during the 2012 Daily Nation Interview.
