A new job is challenging and one has to prove themselves to their new employer, and for KTN anchor Akisa Wandera it wasn't any different.
Akisa's first day at the job was baptism by fire as she dived straight into the deep end of her journalism profession.
Speaking during a previous interview with Standard Digital in 2018, the seasoned anchor recounted that she was made to host a show on KTN News hours after arriving at the station.
In 2013, while being shown around the office by a colleague she overheard Noah Otieno, the former producer of KTN News show World View, lamenting over the program not having an anchor.
The show was to air at 3pm. The journalist took the initiative to inquire from the then KTN producer Joe Ageyo on who would present on the show.
"I was scared and confused. Everything I knew disappeared in a minute. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and there was pressure for me to deliver. Everyone, including my bosses, was waiting to see how I would perform, whether I would fail or not," Akisa narrated.
With twenty minutes remaining before the show was set to air, there was no way she could back down. Akisa had to be in the studio at 2:45 pm.
The presenter stated that she did her best under the circumstances and the pressure she was under. She also noted that there were moments she fumbled but picked herself up and pressed on.
"There were many live links with reporters in the field. I didn’t know their names yet so I made a few mistakes because of that. For a minute, I even thought I would lose my job because of this," Akisa stated.
She recalled that the comments she received were encouraging despite the mistakes she made on air.
“The feedback I got after the bulletin surprised me but I was also relieved. My colleagues were proud of my performance so it really helped me to settle in. After a month, it felt like I had been there for almost a year," she added.
Akisa recalled texting her parents that she was going on air to inform them of the new developments.
"My parents and I are very close. There is no major decision I have made without consulting them and they know everything about me. If anything happened to me, my parents wouldn’t be left with questions. That’s just how close we are. So before I went on air, I texted them both because they were not together. But I didn’t get the chance to answer them until after the bulletin was done," she stated.
