TV47 News presenter Karen Karimi Knaust announced on Tuesday, November 15, that she had landed a job at Kilifi County Government.
In a statement, the journalist revealed that she had accompanied Kilifi governor Maitha Gideon Mung'aro to Germany for a health-related conference. She signed off the message indicating that she is the current director of communications in the county.
"Honoured to attend the Medical Health Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. Our aim is to foster partnerships that will guarantee the quality of health services in Kilifi County by ensuring the procurement of state-of-the-art equipment that will provide affordable, equitable, and accessible diagnostic services to the people of Kilifi. Karen Karimi. Director, Communications. Kilifi County" she stated.
In a clip seen by Kenyans.co.ke, Governor Mung’aro explained that he had taken the initiative to lead a team of specialists to travel, participate and identify potential companies that manufacture equipment and non-pharmaceutical products to develop networks that can facilitate the identification of high quality state of the art equipment.
Karimi joined TV47 in March, 2022, two years after she was fired at the Mediamax-owned TV station K24 TV.
In June 2020, the news anchor was among the employees who were fired by Mediamax Ltd after a redundancy notice was issued.
At the time, the station fired its entire newsroom via a text message that was sent to the employees by the human resources manager.
During her tenure at K24, the journalist served as the host of the Evening edition as well as a feature writer of People Daily owned by Media Max.
Karen studied at Nyali Primary School and later Aga Khan Academy for her Ordinary Level (O- Level) before transitioning to Kabojja International School in Uganda where she completed Advanced level (A-Level).
The journalist then proceeded to Kenya Methodist University, Mombasa campus, where she pursued a degree in Public Relations and Human Resources Management although her family always wanted her to pursue law.
Karimi has a great passion for wildlife largely because of her father's influence from his hometown of Aken in East Germany.
After leaving Kabojja International School, she started championing for the rights of animals and has not stopped since.
Belinda Obura, a former senior news anchor for K24, and Peter Opondo, group head of TV and digital for K24, served as Karimi's mentors. She was the first local reporter to cover the last male northern white rhinoceros at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, Laikipia county, in 2014.
