‘My mother wanted me to study nursing,’ Radio Citizen presenter Q-Tee speaks on following her passion

Radio Citizen presenter Ann 'Q-Tee' Muthoni aka 'The Girl Child Representative' has revealed how her career in radio took off after many years of frustrations and failing to land a gig in the industry.

Speaking on Citizen Digital's ‘Behind the Mic’ web series, Q-Tee told show host Cynthia Mwangi that her interest in journalism dates back to her time in high school where she had a fondness for languages.

"I used to read novels even when teachers were in class," she said.

The Nakuru born and raised presenter's then English teacher noticed Q-tee's love for languages and recommended that she consider applying for a Journalism course at the University of Nairobi (UoN) after clearing her secondary education.

Q-Tee followed her teacher's advise albeit at a different institution of higher learning, the Kenya College of Communication Technology (KCCT), which would later rebrand to Multimedia University.

"After high school my mum wanted me to do computer packages but I declined. She also suggested nursing but I similarly declined since my eyes were set on becoming a radio presenter," said Q-Tee, who is named after her late grandmother.

During the third term of her first year in college, Q-Tee chose to specialise in Public Relations but this did not put off her enthusiasm for radio.

After graduating with a diploma in Public Relations, Q-Tee landed an attachment at KBC's Kikuyu vernacular radio station Coro FM.

"My Kikuyu was not that great and I felt misplaced when I watched fellow attachees at the station who were in their element. I talked to my boss and she gave me the option to choose another radio station to work in," she said.

Q-Tee settled for the now defunct Metro FM, which had a distinct youthful feel and urban vibe to it.

"The presenters were relatable, laid-back and approachable and so were the topics that were up for discussion during shows so I felt right at home," she said.

"I never even used to listen to reggae which Metro FM was known for; my younger brother introduced me to it."

Having found a radio station that resonated with her interests, Q-Tee's next step was to find a way that she could hands-on apply herself at Metro FM.

"I found myself working with a presenter who had a Sports show on Saturday. No attachee wanted to work on Saturdays since it was our day off but I didn't mind. I used to go collect Vox pops for him before his show," she said.

As she continued learning from her superior on the Sports desk, another opportunity to host a radio show on Sundays soon after arose.

"I just found myself on air when a presenter went on a road show on one Sunday and I went on air in his stead. I wasn't great at first but I got better with each session," she said.

Q-Tee did this for the next three years, way after her attachment period expired. Despite her efforts, she was not given a job at Metro FM, and neither was she paid.

As she continued working at Metro, Q-Tee's mom convinced her to apply for a Public Relations degree course and she did so at Moi University's Nairobi campus.

"At one point I was even chased away from the KBC grounds since I was technically not supposed to be there in the first place," she said.

A few months later, Metro FM was shut down setting back Q-Tee to square one. She would later get a number of attachments at various institutions, including at Hot 96 FM as a social media officer, but none of them materialised into full-time jobs.

Q-Tee was also shortlisted for a number of job interviews but she was never recruited despite the fact that she had since finished her university degree course.

Feeling distraught and hopeless, Q-Tee decided to pack her bags for her hometown, Nakuru.

"I called my mom who initially wanted me to stay in the city but she told me to come home if I had already made up my mind. I decided to stay behind for a month and paint the town red before going back to my mom's," she said.

During this period, a friend of hers sent her a job application for the position of a media traffic coordinator at Royal Media Service (RMS)s, the mother company of Hot 96 FM where she had previously worked on attachment. 

A media traffic coordinator's main responsibilities are to schedule commercials, on-air promotions, and programming so that TV transmissions have continuity.

"I applied for the job albeit reluctantly since I felt that it would not materialise just like the Hot 96 gig. After being interviewed, I landed the job much to my surprise," she said.

"I spent my first salary in a thanksgiving service in church alongside my mother."

At this point, Q-Tee says she had come to terms with the fact that she would never work in radio.

Things changed however when her colleagues soon after realised that she had a voice for radio.

Her then boss later gave her leeway to pursue her interests on radio and she soon found herself at Radio Citizen.

"I did a reggae radio show alongside Shatta Bway and it was surprisingly well received after a couple of sessions. This is what gave birth to our current show Waks Tiki Taka," she said.

The rest, as they say, is history. Below is the full interview: