Kenya's media industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few decades. Renowned news anchors such as Catherine Kasavuli and Badi Muhsin led the evolution that has seen the rise of gifted journalists who go out of their way to serve us with informative news delivered in exemplary style.
Over the last few years, 5 budding anchors have stood out and can be described as the ones to watch, with their meteoric rise a testament of the devotion to their craft.
Purity Museo - KBC
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke the recent recipient of the Uzalendo award opened up on what the recognition meant to her.
"It was unexpected, humbling and refreshing at the same time. I am passionate about telling not just Covid-19 stories but health at large.
"I did the coverage with all the passion I could master without knowing it would land me national recognition. I give God all the glory. It’s purely His grace and favour," she stated.
From her tender years at Musavani Primary School, Tseikuru, Mwingi, Museo knew that journalism was her calling.
Starting out as an intern at Ebru TV where she started her own health feature that quickly created a buzz, she has morphed into an authoritative voice in her field.
Grace Kuria - KTN News
The KTN News anchor has established herself as one of the most recognizable anchors, over a relatively short amount of time.
Her versatility, having started out as a field reporter, has armed her with an unrivalled take on Kenyan news.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Grace was quick to point out that the lessons she picked during her remarkable journey that has laid the foundation for her success.
Uknown to most, she has a soft spot for the field of medicine and was actually determined to become a gynaecologist during her time at Nginda Girl's Secondary School.
However, as fate would have it, she found an offer letter from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to pursue a degree in Mass Communication and the rest is history.
Shiksha Arora - K24
The multi-faceted anchor recently filled in the weekend spot that opened up after Betty Kyallo's departure from the Mediamax owned station.
She started out as a radio presenter at East FM in 2013 while pursuing her degree in microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Nairobi, after which she followed her burning passion for media by pursuing a masters in Broadcast journalism from the University of Westminster, London.
Shortly after coming back to Kenya she landed a job as a news anchor for the 1 p.m. news on K24 TV, thereafter securing a spot as the host for The Daily Brief Show where she has been commanding attention ever since.
The effervescent presenter explores current affairs, politics and the major issues that Kenyans are facing across the counties.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the K24 presenter highlighted the secret behind her stellar career in the media industry.
"Fans are a very big part of the show and an anchor is only as good as their last show. I try as much as possible to engage them by creating an interesting show as well as replying to their messages on social media and I try to fulfill their needs.
"I look up to Jeff Koinange as an anchor because he is globally acclaimed and his reports are engaging," she revealed.
The award-winning journalist has a fully-fledged dance studio in which she instructs her clients on the craft
Maalika Kazia - KTN News
The USIU alumnus started out at Sound Asia FM in May 2014 before moving on to XFM 2 years later.
Her undeniable gift and articulate delivery saw her snatched up by KTN News in September 2018, and her rise has been steady ever since.
Maalika was among four anchors who joined the Standard Media Group-owned station, in its bid to inject fresh blood following the departure of some of its former stars such as Betty Kyallo and Yvonne Okwara.
The other four budding anchors who joined alongside Maalika were, Frida Mwaka, Jesse Rogers, and Brenda Czeda Radido.
Maalika hosts The Trading Bell, which airs on KTN News every Thursday at 8:00 p.m., where her vast knowledge in matters business shines through.
The show first went on air in February 2018 under the stewardship of celebrated KTN News anchor and business reporter Aby Agina.
Her show was modelled after celebrated CNN news anchor Richard Quest's Quest Means Business, where he presented an analysis on some of the biggest news stories from the world of business.
Trevor Ombija - Citizen TV
A University of Nairobi alumnus, Ombija has grown into one of Kenya's most promising news anchors.
He was first approached by China Central Television Africa (CCTV) bureau, now CGTN as an intern in 2012.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke during a past interview, the Citizen TV news anchor revealed that he delved into radio news at Nation FM which was at the time called Easy FM where he spent a year.
He later moved to NTV in 2014 where he was a senior anchor and reporter, and it was here that his passion and drive landed him an associate producer role in 2018.
His unparalleled growth saw him poached by Royal Media Services in November 2018, where he gradually worked his way into becoming one of Citizen TV's most recognized voices.
At this point, when there was a lot of poaching amongst media houses, he decided to move to Citizen TV.
"I had been at NTV for a while and decided it was time to try a new challenge. They (Citizen TV) were number one at the time and I figured it would be a good time to jump into a small fish pond with sharks. All the biggest names were there and wanted to see how I could compare to them," he revealed to Kenyans.co.ke.
