By Prudence Minayo
The media industry in Kenya is alive with journalists ranked among A-list celebrities. While others in the industry keep their life out of the limelight, others court the limelight every other time. Anita Nderu is a renowned media personality known for her fashion sense and eloquence.
She is very eloquent with the English language but can barely speak Swahili. This has made a section of Kenya bash her for not being able to speak the national language. In a 2019 interview on The Wicked Edition, she revealed that growing up English was the major form of communication in their home. She also revealed that she has tried to learn the language, but it does not sound the same coming from her.
“ I’ve done my best to learn the language. I can speak it but I don’t sound the way you are supposed to sound if you are speaking the language… How I was raised, the schools I went to were never in my control. It is where your parents put you, it’s the things you learned,” she said.
Age
The elegant lass was born in February 1990.
Education
The 30-year-old went to some of the best schools in East Africa. She attended the United States International University (USIU) and also went to Vienna College in Namugongo, Uganda.
Career
Five years ago, in a blog post, she described herself as a news anchor, baker, youth mentor, motivational speaker emcee, voice over artist, fashion enthusiast and online shopping guru.
At one time, she presented a kids show on NTV where her engaging smile and fun personality endeared her to many.
She is widely known for her job at Capital FM. The bubbly personality revealed she had always wished to work for the station and when the chance came, she was over the moon and called those close to her to tell them the news. She became the host of the program “Hits not Homework, ”where she did an amazing job as a show host.
In 2019, she quit her job working for Capital FM. According to her, she had been planning to resign for a while and she did not know what she planned to do next.
An article by The Standard claimed that credible sources at Capital FM said that Anita took over following the departure of Amina Abdi, but the ratings of the show dropped. She was then moved from the night show to Capital Lifestyle, which paid much less and this could have been what led to her quitting. (Source: The Standard).
Personal Life
The former Capital FM employee is said to be of Kikuyu and Somali origin.
A while back, she introduced her boyfriend to the world through social media. The said boyfriend was a DJ of Asian origin.
In the wake of Covid-19, a lot of media personalities developed shows on social media platforms and Anita was not left behind. She started a show called ‘The Overdressed cook.” When the teaser of the show went viral, she became the talk of online users, most of whom bashed her for the gay themed show. Hundreds of Twitter users tagged the Kenya Films Classification Board CEO Ezekiel Mutua who was also not pleased with Anita. The CEO bashed the show and called her a cheap, attention-seeking public figure who lacks moral decency to play a role model character in the Kenyan space.
The backlash did not make her quit and she defended her show declaring she will never be bullied into silence.
“I will never be bullied into silence. As human beings we have the right to refuse to be defined by what other people think; rather we must define ourselves….,” read part of her statement.
Recently, she became the talk of town again after declaring she was a member of the LGBTQ via her twitter handle. In the post, she said that she hoped her children will not have to go through what she has been through as a result of being part of the LGBTQ+.
