Ann Qtee, aka Lady Njosh, cohosts the mid-morning Waks Tiki Taka Reggae show on Radio Citizen. She cohosts the show alongside the vibrant Jacob Maunda, aka Shata Bway.
In an exclusive with her fans on her YouTube channel, Ann shared her journey to becoming a radio presenter at Radio Citizen.
Qtee, whose real name is Ann Muthoni, was born in Nakuru. Growing up, she loved watching the news and listening to the radio. She admired veteran KBC radio presenters like John Karani and Peninah Kariuki.
“I was enthralled by how one could speak to so many people as a radio presenter and remain anonymous. It was not like working as a tv presenter, where one is always under the glare and scrutiny of cameras,” she said.
Despite being very shy, Ann’s childhood dream was to become a radio presenter.
Growing up in the 2000s, her favorite radio station was Kiss 100. She was enchanted by the voices of Caroline Mutoko, Muthoni Bwika, Jeff Mwangemi, and others.
Her younger brother, on the other hand, was a devout fan of the Metro Fm Reggae show by Dj Israel.
“He influenced me to start listening to Reggae music,” said Qtee, who is named after her grandmother.
Her dream to pursue a media career was cemented when her high school English teacher encouraged her to pursue journalism due to her exemplary performance in language subjects.
“My favorite subjects in high school were English and Kiswahili. I also loved to read novels, even when the teacher was in class.”
Ann’s mother wanted her to pursue a teaching or nursing career.
However, she was not passionate about any of them. When she informed her parents of her intention to pursue journalism, they supported her, albeit half-heartedly.
After completing high school, Ann enrolled at the Kenya College of Communication Technology to pursue a diploma in Public Relations.
Her attachment was at KBC’s vernacular station Choro fm. Her job involved writing and translating news into Kikuyu.
However, because she was not proficient in Kikuyu, she approached her boss and requested a transfer to another station.
She was sent to the now defunct Metro Fm.
At Metro fm, she worked alongside Wahome Daniel, who hosted a weekly Sunday afternoon sports show. Qtee’ s job was to interview sports fans and create sound bites for the show.
“I would attend sports events with a recorder, taking people’s opinions after a sports match. I had to learn how to edit the sound, as I couldn’t take raw audio to the presenter,” said Qtee, who is a devout Manchester United fan.
She would also work with producers of other shows to research topics for the presenters.
One day, a presenter requested the interns to volunteer to co-host a Sunday show with him. All the other interns refused, because Sunday was their only day of rest.
However, Ann volunteered for the show, adopting the name Lady Njosh.
The show gave her the opportunity to go on air, despite the protocols at Metro that interns were not supposed to go on air.
She would replace absent presenters or those who attended road shows.
“That was how my confident was built. I was just doing it for fun,” says Qtee in retrospect.
After the completion of her attachment, she worked voluntarily at KBC for a further three years without pay.
At that time, she enrolled for a mass media course at Moi University and co-rented a bedsitter with two roommates. She survived using the little money her parents sent her for upkeep.
After graduating and completing her degree, it was time for ‘tarmacking’.
“I walked all around town carrying envelopes and looking for a job. I used to take on any job, despite the salary. I wanted to depend on myself,” said Qtee.
In 2016, Qtee joined Royal Media station Hot 96 as an attaché, working as a social media manager.
“My first interview question was whether I knew how to use Twitter. I had a Twitter account, but I had never really used it. I was an expert only in Facebook,” said Qtee.
However, she told the interviewers that she was conversant with all social media platforms. That night, she approached someone who taught her everything about Twitter.
She stayed in Hot 96 for 8 months, during which her passion for Reggae music intensified.
At the end of her attachment, she was employed as a social media manager at Yaya Center for three months at a salary of ksh 30 000.
Due to pressure from her mother, she enrolled for Masters classes in JKUAT. She would work during the week and attend weekend classes.
However, the thesis part of the Masters program became too challenging and she had to procrastinate it.
“At that time, I had worked in various companies and my CV had become quite impressive. I attended so many job interviews, but I did not get any job.”
One interviewer went so far as to insinuate that she must have had a problem because her Cv was so impressive yet she did not have a job. Another interviewer informed her that she was overqualified for the role.
One day, when she had applied so many jobs to the point of almost giving up, one of her friends informed her of a job opening in Royal Media and advised her to apply.
Halfheartedly, she applied and was called for interviews.
“I had attended so many interviews that I knew all the answers. Coupled with my impressive CV, I knew this job was mine,” said the self-declared girl-child representative.
A week later, she received a call that she had been hired as a Traffic controller at Radio Citizen. That was in 2016.
Her job was to schedule commercials for airing.
In 2019, she was approached by her boss to co-host a new mid-morning Reggae show alongside Jacob Maunda, aka Shata Bway.
Today, Waks Tiki Taka is one of the most popular mid-morning reggae shows in the country.
