If you want a living, breathing definition of a “media personality” look no further than the bubbly Kalekye Mumo. She’s conquering every media platform one by one but it hasn’t always been a sure thing. She says she’s guided by her faith in God but there have been shaky times “he’s come through for me when I thought …we could have gone hungry tonight!”

She paid her dues on her “quest” to make it on radio, it took 5 years as a Sound Engineer but she never lost the love for the platform.

Success was not without it’s price. Despite being a radio host Kalekye found herself being attacked for being plus-sized and the criticism took its toll “it made me change how I relate with people, I stopped going out for a while.” Kalekye is now a firm believer that “big is beautiful” (for further evidence check out the pictures above) and that African bodies should be bigger. Learning to brush off the backlash has enabled her to inspire many girls and women in the country who have no interest in starving themselves.

Having conquered her critics and the radio space Kalekye started looking for new opportunities. She soon found herself starring in one of Kenya’s first soap operas, Mali. She discovered her love of the camera, and acting was followed by a role as a presenter for a couples’ show.

Years of commitment to karaoke paid off when a musician heard Kalekye singing at a party and dragged her off to a recording studio. Three songs later she is flying high and says “the sky’s the limit for me musically”. She has just written her first song Ngito which she recently released.  The tune was written in the shower as that’s where the lyrics come to her!

FINALLY Kalekye’s made it to the big screen in a comedy with “a sexy twist” but you better believe that’s not where her story will end. With her infectious laugh and unflagging energy this lady is going to be shaping the city in ways we can’t even dream of yet!

Kalekye is wearing Kipusa.