Citizen TV news anchor Victoria Rubadiri cuts the image of the calm, humble and collected lady. Unlike other publicity-hungry media personalities, she prefers to keep a low-profile as she does her work.
In fact, Victoria rose quietly from a website and radio reporter at Chris Kirubi’s Capital FM to cut her teeth in TV anchoring at NTV, before moving to Citizen TV in 2018.
She became an instant hit and made a big impact. In September, Victoria won the 2020 BBC World News Komla Dumor Award. Rubadiri was the sixth winner of the award, following in the footsteps of Solomon Serwanjja, Waihiga Mwaura, Amina Yuguda, Didi Akinyelure and Nancy Kacungira.
She is the second Kenyan to win the award after Waihiga Mwaura. The award was created to honour Komla Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014.
Royal Media Services, her employer, in April 2020 announced huge salary cuts of between 20% and 30% in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, which hit Kenya in mid-March.
So like most RMS employees and other Kenyans, Victoria Rubadiri has been feeling the pinch of Covid-19 on both economic and social lives. In an interview on Edward Munga’s Youtube channel, she shares her smart coping measures.
She says many of her plans were disrupted this year and she has been taking life one day at a time. She says while it is good to plan ahead, this pandemic has been unprecedented. For most Kenyans, it’s been business unusual as they learn to live under the new normal. Some lost jobs and others got pay cuts as companies cut down on their operations.
“It has taught me to be deliberate with the things that I do in the 24 hours that I have and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes,” says Victoria, who anchors prime times news on Citizen TV.
“However, there are some great things that have happened so far due to hard work from the previous year, or just getting out of my comfort zone to just try new things; they have yielded some great returns for me thus far.”
For her, routines work best in achieving what she plans to. But for many Kenyans struggling to put food on the table, routine may not be the best option. Every hour counts in the grind to eke out a living.
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“Just this morning I ran seven kilometers and it is working out. I start my day in the gym and it helps me gain focus for the rest of the day,” she says. “Once I have a to-do list, I feel alright, I have great amounts of energy, I am able to get through the other tasks of the day much better. My mind is clearer and my body fit.”
She advises people to do “anything they have been putting on hold” during this pandemic period that has created free time. This should sink in especially for the people who have adopted a wait-and-see attitude on life hoping things will change in an instant.
“Do it now,” Victoria Rubadiri says. “I was talking to some of my friends the other day, they were getting frustrated that things were not going the way they had intended and I asked them what they liked to do. Something that is authentic and unique to them that they can start doing even today. We went through a few ideas and after the talk we had, they were so encouraged and appreciated me for coming to their rescue.”
Take action
She encourages people to think outside the box and not just wait for a job, noting that this Covid-19 period has shown that people have to fight to get those things that they want in their lives. “Do not wait, start now and trust me, by November 2021, a year later, you will be thanking yourself that you started it,” she advises.
She says some of the key things people need include routines, physical health and mental health. “We keep visualizing things but do not take action,” she adds. “It is about taking action and after 12 months life will never be the same again. Please take action so that you can proceed to the next level.”
need to add that she’s also a born again God fearing lady. It’s not easy to find in Kenya women that are beautiful , have brains and still humble and down to earth, many can learn from her.