Her First Job Was in Sales. 7 Things About Music Sensation Victoria Kimani’s Life

By Jane Gakaria,

Victoria Kimani, Kenya’s sassy celebrated singer was the guest speaker at the recently held Customer Care/ Sales & Marketing Training on June 7th. The budding artist was there to speak on matters touching on personal branding for talent.

Below are 7 things you probably didn’t know about her – extracted from her presentation and from answering questions from the audience

1. What was her first job? I started out as a sales person in a makeup store In Los Angeles, though I’d still do songwriting and fashion on the side.

2. Was it easy breaking into the Kenyan music industry? God no. It didn’t even matter that my brother Bamboo was a veteran hip hop artist in the industry, I still got it rough. I’d go to radio stations and they’d refuse to play my music. What eventually did help is that I’d outsource and go to Nigeria and South Africa for gigs which helped in marketing my music.

3. How did she land the chocolate city record label deal? At the time I was in America and did a cover version of Ice Prince’s (a Nigerian artiste) ‘Oleku’ track. The song got a lot of buzz through social media and eventually got back to the label in Nigeria. They really liked the track and it became a major hit, so that’s how I got signed to their Kenyan branch.

4. How has the transition from American audiences to Kenyan been? It definitely hasn’t been easy. You know in America it’s kind of freestyle. You can get away with wearing micro minis and saying whatever you wanted.

So when I came back to Kenya I got the biggest culture shock since Kenyans were conservative and I had to tone down my dress code and personality.

5. Does it really pay to be a musician in Kenya? Well I’d say I’m a long way off compared to my first job but that said we don’t earn as much as people think we do. So I sometimes supplement my income with acting and fashion.

6. How have Kenyans received you? Well, now that I have managed to break into the market, I’m now feeling the love. So I’m very thankful and grateful for that.

7. Any advice to those planning on joining the music industry? Know yourself and brand yourself according to those lines. There was a time in my life where I was obsessed with all things Erykah Badu so whenever I would walk into record labels in L.A. they would get confused about who I was.

They’d ask who are you? Victoria or Erykah Badu? Plus it didn’t help that I did a completely different genre of music from what she did; which was pop. So I had to re-strategize and go take a deeper look at who Victoria was, what her image would be since it needed to match her personality and sound. So again, know who you are and brand yourself accordingly.

8. Parting shot? Follow your dreams and work hard to achieve them. Sometimes it’s really difficult but occasionally you do get a little boost that keeps you going.

In conclusion, realize that only you have the power to create your brand. Figure out what your personality is and match it to the brand you want to have. Learn from Ms. Kimani’s mistake of copying others and settle in your own skin.

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