Nairobi News

ChillaxHashtag

Jam Rock host Miss Katiwa was once a house help. Here are 8 things to know about her


Miss Katiwa is currently one of the hottest female reggae show presenters in Kenya. She hosts the Jam Rock show on NTV and is also a radio presenter at Homeboyz radio.

Below are eight things to know about Stella Katiwa, a girl who was born and raised in Kibera.

1. Katiwa is her real name
She may have gotten comments bordering on sexual innuendo, most of which she says she cannot repeat because they are too explicit, but Katiwa is actually her grandmother’s name. She was named after her.

2. She walked out of high school with Sh64, 000
Miss Katiwa came from a humble background. She had to hustle in high school in order to get pocket money.

As the entertainment prefect at Senior chief Koinange Girls High School, Kiambu County, Miss Katiwa would “tax” artistes who wanted to perform at her school’s functions. She also charged fellow students to do their makeup (Sh100) or just eyebrows (Sh50).

By the time she was clearing high school in 2011, she had saved up Sh64, 000.

3. She became a house help
After high school, she enrolled to deejay school but her money ran out fast, having to take care of her siblings in Nairobi after her mum relocated to Naivasha. She then joined a beauty college but lack of fees also saw her dropping out there as well.

She became a house help for two years, earning Sh4, 000 a month. Her house rent was Sh1, 500.

4. She has slept in the cold
During her days as a house help, she aspired to be a model. She sent out her CVs to modelling agencies and was at one time asked for photo attachments. She used her employer’s camera to take photos of herself, hoping to delete them the following day after printing them.

Unfortunately, her boss found the photos and claimed she wanted to steal her husband. She was thrown out at night and walked from Mimosa area, on Ngong Road, to the city centre.

She hadn’t been paid salary for two months and her house in Kibera had been locked.

5. She quit jobs following sexual advances
Although she says she’s never had a job based on her CV, Miss Katiwa says there’s a line she would never cross. She quit working as a personal assistant of a politician after he started asking for sex in exchange of a lavish lifestyle. He even stopped paying her salary, saying he hadn’t hired her for her office skills.

She later worked as a sales lady at a branch of a renowned shoe shop but also quit after the shop’s owner wanted the same “favours”.

6. She only started listening to reggae two years ago.
Miss Katiwa for a long time thought “reggae ni ya watu wa bangi ama madingo”. It wasn’t until her friend Miss Towett took her to some of Kriss Darlin’s club shows that she realised that the songs actually have positive messages. When she started going on air she could barely tell artistes and songs.

7. She would have been a sexologist
She likes talking about sex. A lot. Her show advises people about sex: hygiene, contraceptives, safe sex, “stingoz” and so on.

“Do you really want to know what a sexologist does?” she teased. “Let’s not go there.”

8. She likes her men athletically built
Miss Katiwa laments the dry spell she’s currently facing. She’s not having “parambulations” with anyone because she is yet to find someone who will love her for who she is and not because she is Miss Katiwa.

However, she likes tall, dark and muscular men. Her international crush is Romain Virgo, while locally she says Khaligraph Jones “anaweza” as she blushingly laughs loudly.