CHANGED-CHANGING

Working at the Bomas of Kenya on a multi camera shoot, Safaricom AGM 2011

There is no such certain thing as change. Dr. Hamsa educated me that when you reach a higher level of understanding, you will come to a conclusion that nothing is true. I used to hate change and I loved being sure of what I wanted to do, What was coming next and how I anticipated events to turn out. I lacked spontaneity. I missed out on fun. Even one distressed friend of mine once said to me, "You are too rigid!"

At the gallery, Museum Hill Nairobi, filming a TEDx conference

Interviewing CNN 2008 Top 10 heroine for CNN in Blantyre, Malawi 2012

Co-directing in Juba at the South Sudan Inauguration ceremony, 2011

My idea of dealing with it was to do something out of the norm. Just one thing that would be unexpected. I thought I would have to set moments for me to do unusual things so that I would not look rigid. So I went to Facebook and applied for an internship with a movie company, Jitu Films. I thought to myself that it would be very interesting. I was a Bachelor of Commerce Student taking a major in Marketing but working in a movie company as part of my internship training, being a marketer in a local movie production company would be fun! Jitu Films was the movie production sub company of Vivid Features, an established Production Company based in Nairobi and Lagos.

I went for the interviews and got the internship. I felt spontaneous, I felt cool... Movie launches, screenings, parties and drinks after work were my weekly routine. Of course my Papsy did not get it. He said he would have understood if I had gotten a placement in a marketing, advertising or sales firm. He even had suggestions, but I would not hear him out. I am glad I didn't, sorry dad (love you) My 3 months internship period went by so well and I was so enthusiastic that at the end of the period, one of the directors ad told me to get in touch with the company when I finished my studies at Kenyatta University. I did not wait to graduate! As soon as my last semester was over, I was back to Vivid.

Vivid had to train me because I had no prior training nor experience to work in Production. I got in as a production trainee. I graduated and didn't have to write a CV or a resume! Now I have over 2 years of experience in production and less than a year of experience as a media producer. I have travelled around Africa and have done assignments that I would never had predicted. I have worked with world changers and great leaders and I feel humbled. I am not saying that as a marketer I would not have done much, but let's be real...

I am a beneficiary of doing something different and of using the social networks smartly. Now, I love uncertainty more than ever. The only thing I will love to know is that I am not sure about how tomorrow will be, of how next week will be, of how next month will be... Heck about how next year will be! And I will not stop.

Ever changing,

Nekoye