Five minutes with Muthoni
Five minutes with Muthoni
Muthoni Wahome is our Communications Officer, based in Nairobi, Kenya. An expert in all things comms, Muthoni collected three degrees before joining KidsOR in July 2021. She talks to us about her journey to KidsOR, her current role, and a hidden talent for dancing...
What is your role at Kids OR?
My role, overall, is to drive forward communication plans in Africa/ raise the profile of our work and the need for surgery for children throughout Africa.
This involves establishing relationships with target media and journalists, writing press releases and securing editorial spaces in different media across all the countries we have presence in Africa.
My role also involves building relations with our partners, surgeons and scholars to produce robust and inspiring content that increases engagement from a range of audiences. I also lead in directing freelancers to ensure they are delivering what is needed to raise awareness of KidsOR.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
Learning! Most of the medical terms are new to me.
Learning and knowing how to communicate them in simpler language. Also, understanding the dynamics of government protocols and/versus individual personalities; this means how cautious one is when giving information/quotes to be used in stories or press releases for example.
Where and what did you study at University?
I did my first degree in Journalism (print) in Nairobi at United States International University. I then went to South Africa for what they call an Honours degree at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. It’s a one-year full-time course where I specialised on “Media reporting on children”. I later did a Masters in Corporate Communication at Daystar University, Nairobi.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I was once among finalists for a dancing competition. One of the main things is that the competitors could not pause or stop for one full hour of dancing. Any slight pause meant you were out. Does that count as a hidden talent?!