Media personality Nancy Wanjiku Karanja, alias Shix Kapienga says her life was hard growing up in Kangemi.
Speaking to Adelle Onyango on her Legally Clueless podcast, Shix said she was born and raised in Kangemi, a place called the Third World.
“God’s forgotten people. We gave it that nickname because before you get to our place in Kangemi, it is a long stretch from the main road,” she said.
Shix says as a young girl, she never understood why, if they needed to go to town, her mother wouldn’t go with them all.
“She would leave some of us behind and when you get to town and you are hungry, she would only get one packet of fries and maybe we are like three and we would share it and there was no soda,” she said.
“I would be very angry.”
Job loss
Shix, who lost her job with Hot 96, said after she got laid off two months ago, she was asking God, what next?
“What do I do? It is not like I have achieved what I needed to achieve at a certain age, but I’m not complaining, but it was too abrupt,” she said.
“Yes, I know I wanted to resign, call it quits, but I did not expect it too soon.
“I looked back to my story when I was a child, my mother could not afford to buy two packets of fries.
“That is why she would get angry when we asked her to take us to town because she wouldn’t want to get embarrassed when she cannot buy fries and we would get upset.”
Shix said it makes her realise you need to appreciate the little you are getting, it doesn’t matter whether it is 100 or 50 or 10 or nothing.
“I look back and realise our parents struggled and there is a time I told my mum, I wish I knew,” she said.
“I wish I understood back then, I wouldn’t have pressured you. Because I know how it hurt her then.”
Rising again
Earlier in March this year, Shix at Nation Media Group-owned NTV. She joined the Jamdown show, which is a reggae music show that airs on Saturdays.
Shix hosted her first show on March 26, 2022 alongside DJ Moh Spice. She replaced Stella Katiwa, popularly known as Miss Katiwa, who announced her exit after a four-year stint at the Kimathi Street-based media house.
In October 2021, she was voted as the best Media Influencer at the annual Pulse Influencer Awards held at the PrideInn Azure in Westlands, Nairobi.
“Thank you so much to each and every one of you who made this happen 🙏🏽❤, thanx for the votes…and thanx as well to Pulse Kenya” she said in an Instagram post.
