Victoria Rubadiri is one of Kenya’s accomplished journalists. She works at Citizen TV, owned by Royal Media Services. She is known for her natural presentation of news and how she connects passionately with her hosts on her talk shows.
Victoria is a product of strength, resilience, and hard work. She has had to work herself to the top despite coming from a famous family.
Here’s her story as compiled by Mkenya Leo.
Birth and Childhood
The lovely presenter was born on January 28, 1987, in Nairobi where her parents worked at a radio station. In an interview with Rev. Kathy Kiuna in Woman Without Limits years ago, Victoria revealed that she was a loved child. Her parents would carry her to work and their colleagues would gush at her adorable self.
When she was ten, she moved to the US since her parents went there for greener pastures. She claimed that life in the US was different as was no longer the loved child. Her parents were busy working and she had no one as it was while she was living in Kenya. This change caused her to be lonely as she missed her life in Kenya.
Early Pregnancy
Victoria is a victim of early pregnancy. The cultural changes she experienced when she moved to the US caused her to be a disturbed teen. She looked for love in the wrong places as is the case with broken teenagers, and she ended up pregnant. Unfortunately, the father of her child denied the pregnancy, leaving the shattered Victoria to contemplate aborting the pregnancy.
Her parents caught wind of her pregnancy and urged her not to get rid of the baby. She heeded the advice and she is glad she kept her baby because she is the source of her happiness.
Single Motherhood
Victoria is a single mother. As mentioned above, her daughter’s father abandoned her when she was still pregnant. Her parents have helped her raise her daughter until she stabilized in her career. She currently lives with her daughter, who is now a teen. She describes herself as a strict mother but her daughter’s best friend.
Family
Victoria comes from an ethnically mixed family. Her mother is a half-cast of Masaai and Kalenjin while her father is Malawian. Her grandfather was the famous James David Rubadiri, a Malawian poet who served as the vice-chancellor of Malawi University.
In an interview with Jeff on Hot 96 Show, Victoria narrated how her grandfather acquired the name Rubadiri. According to her, her grandfather was taken as a slave to Omani, where he became a Muslim. When he returned home, he amused people by how he would pray over seven times a day. They would imitate how he said “Allah Akbar” by saying, “aaaam rubadiri am rubadiri.” Her grandfather thought the term “Rubadiri” was nice; thus, he decided to make his name.
Victoria has one sister named Mabel Rubadiri. It is worth noting that the beauty keeps her family, including her daughter, off social media.
Education
Victoria attended her early schooling in Kenya before she moved to the US with her family. In the US, she attended Atlantic City High School before proceeding to Temple University in Philadelphia, where she attained a degree in Broadcast Journalism.
Languages
The humble presenter cannot speak in Swahili, though she understands it. In a news bulletin hosted in Narok County years ago, she shocked Kenyans when she could not pronounce “Nyama Choma.”
Recently, her colleague, Lulu Hassan, shared a video of her (Victoria) and her Sunday Live co-host, Jeff Koinange, struggling to present a news bulletin in Swahili.
It is not clear if Rubadiri speaks her ethnic language, but the probabilities are low.
Career
In Woman Without Limits, Victoria revealed that she had difficulties finding a job despite her expectations that her lucrative degree would get her a job quickly.
She got a job at Capital FM as a business journalist, where she gained popularity and experience in the Kenyan workforce. Her dreams to be on TV were realized when she moved to NTV to work as a news presenter in 2013.
Things got better during the 2013 general elections as the station needed more news anchors since most of them were on the ground reporting the election progress. She was assigned to present news alongside Larry Madowo, with whom she managed to create great chemistry that made fans believe they were dating. She, however, denied the rumors.
In 2020, she was among the many journalists poached from different media houses by Citizen TV. She currently hosts Saturday Night News solely, and Sunday Live alongside Jeff Koinange.
It is believed that Citizen TV pays her over 400k monthly salary.
