Citizen TV's Yvonne Okwara has come out to narrate how she messed up her very first interview on TV.
Taking to Twitter on September 10, 2019, she posted that her first TV interview was with an MP whom she declined to disclose.
“The year is 2012/13. I've been doing prime time news for only a few months. My co-anchor is Wilson Mburu. I have a very important interview with an MP on an issue that affects the media fraternity. The entire industry is watching my interview.
“Interview begins, and I can tell it's going downhill from there. MP runs me out of town during the conversation. I was not as prepared as I should have been. I can feel my phone vibrating like mad. Twitter notifications in their hundreds. SMSs coming through. Massacre!” she recalled.
Her colleagues at the station became upset while those from other media houses were dismayed.
A section of Kenyans poked holes on her career claiming that she was hired because of her appearance.
“To make it worse, I have to continue with the news bulletin that night. My Face is hot. I'm embarrassed but I push it through. It's only Monday, so I will have to anchor news the rest of the week with this hanging over my head!” the screen siren went on to narrate.
Joe Ageyo, who was her boss at the time, sent her an encouraging text stating "Bad day at the office. You will get through this. Learn from this, you will get better next time."
“I anchored the news through the week and was even allowed to do more interviews! Ha! Here we are, many years later.
It can be very tough making mistakes on a national platform before millions of people. But I'm all the better for it! Rough for all of us, no matter the platform. What was your first time like? Let's share and encourage each other!” Yvonne concluded.
She was inspired to share her story after some Kenyans criticised her fellow journalist from Royal Media Services for how he handled the coverage of Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro’s arrest.
Yvonne Okwara explained that “it was his first time. He will get better with time. We all start somewhere. We will train him.”
“You won't be laughing in a few years! Let's cut him some slack. We believe in him. He will go places. We will walk with him,” she added.
