Working as a news anchor for a leading media house is a dream come true for any ambitious journalist. And like most news anchors, Kaltun Jama started working in a little known station before reaching the enviable heights of her career. From an early age, Kaltun knew that she wanted to be a journalist and worked hard to pursue this goal.
The advice she gives to upcoming journalists is that they should enter the field with an open mind so as to keep up with the industry. The person she looks up to the most is investigative journalist John Allan Namu.
Education
The graceful news anchor attended Isiolo Girls high school. It was at this point that she actually nurtured her passion for journalism.
“Back in high school at Isiolo Girls, I always read Swahili set books. That was where I started honing my skill. While young, I used to read newspapers for my relatives,” she said.
After completing high school, she pursued a Diploma in Journalism in a local college in Kenya.
Career
While other people discover what they want to do later in life, for some they know it from an early age. Kaltun would read newspaper clippings for her relatives from a very tender age. This encouraged her and gave her the confidence she needed to pursue her dream job.
After college, she landed a job with a Somali radio station. The salary per month was Sh8,000 but she persisted and did the job diligently.
“It is now almost four years since I started working as a journalist. My first job was at a certain company that was paying Sh8,000. It was a Somali station,” said the journalist.
Later, she got a job at the State broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) where she not only read news but also wrote a number of articles on various subjects.
She credits KBC for moulding her:
“Many people have started at KBC. I learned a lot at the station and worked with older journalist with more experience which was a good challenge,” the journalist told a local blog.
In 2018, there was a massive gap in NTV after some of its best and prime time news anchors were poached by Royal Media Services. Kaltun decided to apply for a position with the station and sure enough managed to get the job. That is how she began reading the 7:00 p.m. Swahili news for the station in place of Jamila Mohammed who had found a new home at Citizen TV. She joined the Nation Media Group and shares the newsroom with some of the well known big names in the station like Frida Mwaka and Lofty Matambo.
