Back to Zero on Nairobi's Streets, Then the Newsroom

Ken wa Kuraya is a news anchor at Inooro TV in Kenya, where he co-anchors the prime news bulletin with Muthoni Mukuri. A Kenyans.co.ke profile traces the long road that brought him there. He was born to a single mother and is the last of five children.

After secondary school he moved to Nairobi in search of better opportunities. He had wanted to open a barbershop back home, but he ended up working at a pharmacy for a long time. He later left to pursue his passion for the arts, writing poems and performing with Wahome Mutahi, known as Whispers. He stopped acting when the pay turned out to be less than he expected.

Money stayed tight. He sold second-hand clothes and did construction work, but neither paid enough for rent, and he was evicted from his home in Kayole, with friends and family helping him get by. While working in construction, he also performed at clubs on River Road and became known there.

With family help he produced a show called Tafadhali Tigera Hau, sold on DVDs and VCDs. The income let him open a production shop and then three more. But he lost the businesses and found himself back at zero. He said that he slept in the streets. A friend later told him about auditions for Tahidi High, and he won the role of a Geography teacher on Citizen TV. In 2015, when Royal Media Services launched a Kikuyu-language station, he auditioned, was accepted, and began his career at Inooro TV.