Listen From nurse to artist, Lady Susan Wood is remembered for doing good everywhere she went. A perennial experimenter, many of her trial projects brought a new lease of life to their beneficiaries. She was awarded an MBE from the Queen of England for her service to destitute women. Lady Susan Wood may have died […]
Listen Rosemary Karuga is an artist who specialises in making collages, which are so intricate they are often mistaken for paintings. Her work has been featured both at home and in the UK, Ireland and at various exhibitions, including the International Francophone Festival in France and the First International Show by Six African Artists in […]
Listen Phllda Njau is an American-born Kenyan whose passion for the arts gave birth to the famous Paa ya Paa Art Centre. A seasoned pianist, she is the picture of how one can immerse herself in another culture and bring out the best of both worlds. Phillda Njau’s life journey started as a country girl […]
Listen German-born Nani Croze is one of the pioneers of the stained glass industry in Kenya. She has also been instrumental in the curation and promotion of local art at a time when the art scene was nearly non-existent. Her passion has led to the creation of jobs and education opportunities for under-privileged children. […]
Listen Makena Mwiraria abandoned a lucrative career in pharmacy to venture into the arts. Her African Heritage Design Company (AHDC) – now trading as ARI Africa Limited has been instrumental in raising the profile of African crafts from mere souvenir trinkets to objects of art with world-class appeal. Born in Meru in the 1960s, Makena […]
Listen Magdalene Odundo is an accomplished artist, specialising in crafting handmade ceramics. She draws inspiration from countries like China and Mexico and also from the Ancient Greeks and Romans. She is a Professor of Ceramics at the University for the Creative Arts (formerly Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College) in Farnham, England, and […]
Listen Joy Mboya is the Executive Director of GoDown Arts Centre. She was a member of the band Musikly Speaking, remembered for Jamriambo, the hit song that raised the profile of Kenyan music in the early 1990s. A trained architect, she continues to influence the art scene through research, study and training. An encounter with […]
Listen Koki Mutungi was the first female pilot to fly with Kenya Airways in 1993. And in 2014, she went down in history as the first woman in Africa to receive a Captain of the Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ certification. Mutungi developed a passion for flying from as early as age five, watching her father a […]
Listen After the First World War, Florence Kerr Wilson, fondly known as Florrie, came to Kenya with her husband, Major WH Wilson. The couple settled in Timau and took up farming until Major Wilson’s death in 1928. It took a four-day business trip in John Carberry’s Fokker Universal plane dubbed ‘Miss Africa’ to convince Wilson […]
Listen Pioneering a home-grown make-up line to meet the needs of the African woman has earned businesswoman Suzie Wokabi a permanent place in Kenya’s beauty Hall of Fame. When Suzie Wokabi was declared 2014 winner in the Wholesale and Retail Category of Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government, it was a bold statement that she had arrived. […]