Former Citizen TV anchor Janet Mbugua has opened up about how she had to invest in three suits and an expensive pair of shoes for her first job as a news anchor.
Mbugua who was appearing on Shoe Game show hosted by Azziad Nasenya, on Wednesday, April 21, said that the investment was expensive but paid off in the long run.
Without disclosing the price of the suits, the former screen siren revealed that she splashed Ksh11,000 on a pair of high heels.
She explained that the shoe was instrumental in giving her on-screen posture.
"One of the first pairs of shoes I ever wore as a news anchor in 2007, was Ksh 11,000. I Kept them for a really long time but they served the purpose for news. They were really high heels, good quality and they helped with the posture.
"It was a painful experience because I wasn't making that much money, but I had to invest in suits and shoes, 3 suits and that pair, but I kept them for like 3 or four years. So it paid off," she stated.
Mbugua revealed in a previous interview that her success in the media industry was often riddled with hoops.
After she completed high school, she wanted to take a gap year before proceeding to college, and her parents told her that they could only approve it if she got something constructive to engage in.
"I was in Mombasa in 2003, and my friend told me that there was a new radio station looking for presenters, and urged me to go and try it out, and so I went. It was known as Pulse FM.
"When I went to the interview, the interviewer told me to say anything into the microphone. So I said 'hi, my name is Janet' and he told me to start the next day," she narrated.
She stated that when she broke the news to her parents, they approved her gap year, and early the next day, she reported to work, where she was set to earn Ksh10,000, which she alleged was not paid for three months.
After a stint at the station, she set her sights on Capital FM and sent her tape to the station. She was called in three weeks later.
Soon after she became the Mid-Morning Magazine presenter and the host of the Drive Show at the station, a job she held for a year with a monthly pay of Ksh 50,000.
She rose up the ranks and found her way at Citizen TV studios where she hosted the Monday Special broadcast alongside Hussein Mohammed.
Mbugua took a break from media in 2017 after she quit Citizen TV where she was a news anchor - besides taking a break from making appearances in TV series.
“I was a new mum, an anchor, a brand ambassador, a moderator, a wife. That’s a lot. And while some people can do it, and I admire them, some of us just feel like we need to take a backseat and focus on certain things," Ms Mbugua stated.
Below is the video:
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