Unconventional Path to Success: How Teaching and TikTok Launched Our Media Career

It's been a week since I received a memo from our company, instructing us to work from home. Can you believe it? It feels like a déjà vu of the COVID-19 days! I can't help but ponder how this pandemic, which has dramatically reshaped our lives, has finally reached its conclusion. As I look back on the past week and the one prior, mostly spent indoors, maneuvering through virtual work and surviving on minimal sleep, I can't help but find the absurdity of it all amusing. It has been a whirlwind of virtual meetings, product pitches, graphic designing, and endless scrolling through social media content. However, today, on this beautiful Wednesday, May 17th, I made up my mind to break free and go for a walk. I craved some fresh air, and oh boy, did I need it!

So here I am, on the rooftop of my apartment, taking in the serenity and tranquility of Thika superhighway and the bustling town that I call home. And amidst this peaceful moment, a flood of memories comes rushing back—memories of the hard work and dedication my friends and I put into shaping our careers and skills while we were studying at Thika Institute of Business Studies College. We sacrificed parties and luxuries throughout our three-year journalism and mass communication course, treating every single day like a working day.

It all started in the second semester after the never-ending COVID-19 pandemic and the excruciating eight-month lockdown. That period forced us to remodel our lives and adapt to the digital social era that had abruptly taken over. As for me, I found myself spending a lot of time in the village, tutoring students in English and literature—subjects that I adored during my own school days. During that time, I had the pleasure of interacting with Mr. Evans, a close friend and a language teacher. He effortlessly conversed with me in flawless Swahili, little did I know that this language would come to my rescue in the future.

Teaching was no easy feat. Standing in front of a class for an entire day, five days a week, was physically and mentally exhausting. I was just 18 at the time, and this teaching gig was my first foray into the professional world. But it was during this period that my restless mind started questioning my career path. Was I really a journalist? How could I prove it if someone asked me? What did I have to show for my college education? Was I any different from a high schooler dreaming of becoming a journalist someday?

Those questions jolted me awake, and restlessness consumed me as the lockdown persisted. I knew I had to take action, or I'd be plagued with uncertainty forever. That's when I reached out to my late grandpa, David Zarembka, and shared my need for an Android smartphone with 4G internet, a high-capacity storage, a quality camera, and a range of appliances—tripod, ring light, lavaliere microphones, sound recorder, and a hard disk. Oh, and a good laptop too, because I was dead serious about shaping my future right from the start.

I had all the tools I needed, and I wasted no time. I created podcasts that resembled radio shows and shot TikTok videos. Before I knew it, I had amassed a thousand followers on TikTok, which opened the doors to my daily live streaming sessions. I invested a significant amount of money to learn the algorithms, and when my videos went viral, I decided to take the plunge into YouTube, where I now boast over two thousand subscribers.

In late 2020, due to my "success" on TikTok, I pitched the idea of livestreaming our shows on the platform to Mr. Philip Njore, the head of the journalism and mass communication department at Thika Institute of Business Studies TIBS COLLEGE . He was intrigued, but it was Mr. Oscar Rehani Amani, our relationships manager, who came up with an even better idea—to livestream on the school's Facebook and YouTube channels. I was given a week to find a partner and come up with a program proposal. Keep in mind, I was only in my second semester of my first year in college, so I hadn't learned anything about writing TV or radio program proposals.

Now, here's where it gets funny. For our first-ever show, my co-host, Elijah Maingi (also known as Lucky Boy Mkamba), and I were given plenty of time by our generous lecturers to develop the program proposal, scripts, and everything else. Unfortunately, we didn't meet for the entire week. So, when Mr. Philip finally called us to the front of the class to do our presentation, we were caught completely off guard. What do you do in a situation like that to avoid disappointment and embarrassment? You take the bull by the horns, of course! I whispered to Lucky Boy, "Let me handle the explanations; you just introduce us." Haha! One thing about Elijah that still fascinates me to this day is his ability to captivate an entire room. After his captivating intro, I confidently walked to the front and started spewing made-up ideas, including the show's name: "The Overview Show with Eugine Roylandz and Luckyboy Maingi ."

We ran that show every single week, rain or shine, for two years straight. In our final year of studies, everyone ventured into other shows, but we were proud to see that the sacrifices we made over those two years had paid off. Our school had invested in equipment and machinery for the journalism department, producing not only skilled professionals like us but also a generation of relentless Gen-Z's and millennials who have since conquered the media industry.

In the next episode, I'll share stories about my second to eighth job, my life as a hawker, breaking into national media houses like Citizen TV and PPP TV, and everything that came after my college days. Stay tuned for more exciting tales from my rollercoaster journey! Subscribe Please.W