When Priscilla Kayira was young, she loved seeing beautiful women on TV reading the news.

Her role model was the then MBC-TV personality Tamara Chafunya as she graduated at Marymount Secondary School.

Back then, Priscilla never thought she would one day be on the same TV she fantasized about, talking to masses of people.

The 28-year-old media personality is now an award winning TV presenter and producer at Zodiak Broadcasting Station.

She has seven years’ experience in TV and radio presentations and has worked for a number of media houses in Malawi and Kenya.

Priscilla was awarded the media personality of the year award at Malawi’s 2018 Urban Music People Awards. She won the same award in the same category in 2019 and 2020.

Because of some personal experiences, she joined the feminism movement.

The presenter explained that feminism has significant and longstanding impacts on our society, transforming and benefiting the lives of women and girls in Malawi.

“It has challenged and confronted social injustices; addressed the intersecting impacts of gender, race, class, culture, religion, sexual orientation and drawn attention to countless other compelling instances of inequity and oppression,” she said.

Priscilla has used her social media platform and interviews to highlight feminism, especially harassment against women in the work place.

“I also use my Social Hub programme  on Zodiak to address women and girls issues,” she said.

Her journey started at university, where she started off by studying management information systems, but was not performing very well. 

“I remember while I was on the probation list and almost got weeded from university, all I was thinking was that I didn’t want my parents to worry. The fact that they were spending so much money on my fees and I was failing, embarrassed me. But I knew at the end of the day, I needed to graduate,” Priscilla said.

Soon after, she decided to change courses, and opted to switch to mass communication.

So, she concentrated on electronic media. From her first class, Priscilla knew she found her calling and her grades changed drastically.

“Interestingly enough, people always thought I was studying communications. After a lot of thought, I knew that I needed to change my career and I told myself that there is nothing wrong with changing paths, after all, it is my life,” she said.

Priscilla is currently the presenter and producer of an entertainment programme Fresh that focuses on urban local music, fashion and on Zodiak.

She also co-presents a youth programme Social Hub that plays Malawi music only, a platform for young up and coming artists to kick start their careers.

She is the producer of a morning show called Sunrise on Zodiak TV.

Priscilla also produces and presents a programme called Top Styles that focuses on all types of styles, homes and fashion, etc.

On top of that, the award winner is also master of ceremonies and events host, YouTuber, content creator, and a social media influencer with over 97 000 followers combined on all her social media accounts.

“I’m in the process of rebranding my YouTube channel, Priscilla Kayira, to cater for content that has a lot to do with my life in general, especially as a young woman—  transitioning from a girl to woman and so much more. I hope to inspire other young girls with this,” said the young woman.

She is also a brand influencer for several companies in Malawi.

Priscilla did her primary education at Soche Adventist and Chichiri primary schools and was later selected to Marymount Secondary School, where she studied till 2009.

In 2010 she traveled to Kenya, where she did her tertiary studies at Daystar University.

While there, Priscilla worked with Transworld Radio Kenya, Kenya Moja— an online news platform— and Kenyams.com. She returned to Malawi in 2016. 

In the same year, Priscilla started working at Luso TV as a volunteer, which is how she was introduced to the Malawian media industry.

She worked for Luso for four months as a TV presenter until it was closed.

After being unemployed for the entire 2017, Priscilla found herself in low spirits as she was still looking for her dream job.

Soon after however, her luck changed with an advertisement in the newspaper, calling for TV presenters at Zodiak.

“I immediately applied and was called for auditions. I passed and was called again for an interview. God smiled at me and I was hired to start working with one of the biggest and great broadcasting houses in Malawi. It was a dream come true!” she beamed.

However, despite all this, Priscilla admits that during her journey, she has endured some challenges, especially as a woman in the media industry.

She claims to have been a victim of unfair judgement and critic from strangers, been on the receiving end of gender stereotypes and faced the harsh reality of underrepresentation of women in the Malawian media industry, particularly the entertainment sector.

“I pretty much get the harshest criticism from people, unlike my male colleagues in the industry, who don’t get scrutinised or attacked as much as I do. There is also a lot of underrepresentation in the media, especially in the entertainment sector and this has highly contributed to harmful disrespect and violence towards not only women in the media, but women in general,” she observed.

Priscilla explained that because of some of these issues, a lot of girls and women fail to express themselves and venture into outspoken and unconventional careers such as journalism, because women in general feel like they need to be reserved for fear of being attacked or harassed.

She noted: “Every single day, we hear or listen to the news— which usually directs our attention to crucial feminist concerns— about rape, marriage equity, reproductive right, campus sexual assault, equal pay for equal work, hate crimes and the list goes on.

“For many years, feminists all over the world have worked to identify, interrogate and redress the real and complex problems that have undermined and threatened women’s and girls’ well-being. This is why feminism is important to me as a woman.

“I take pride to say I am proud to be living a dream I never thought was possible for me. I am grateful for the strides I have made in my career thus far. I want to go international one day and put Malawi on the Map.”

She explained that she is mostly motivated by her happiness and peace.

The TV personality gets an amazing feeling every time she is on air or hosting.

She is also driven by fear of not doing the best she can do.

Priscilla added: “I was raised in a home that valued education which is why I never wanted to end up with unfulfilled dreams. Besides that, my family and my close friends are also my biggest motivators. They support me, love me unconditionally and shield me from all the negativity on social media.”

Her greatest achievement is living with the knowledge that it is the life she envisioned for herself.

She is also extremely proud to inspire other people, especially girls, to study Journalism.

“I’ve gotten so many messages from girls asking me for help to study communications. And to hear they are studying Journalism because of me is encouraging and pushes me to continue working hard,” she said.

Priscilla’s advice to young girls is to be themselves, because a lot of people are living a life to please society which in the end, brings unhappiness because they forget to live for themselves.

“Start a healing and self-realisation journey as soon as possible. This will help you discover all the good and bad things about yourself. This journey will also help you discover your hidden talents.

“Overall, don’t be afraid to try new things and find any means to improve your well-being, mentally and emotionally,” said Priscilla.

During her free time, the presented likes to create content for her social media profiles as well as research on how she can keep up with the digital world as a brand influencer.

She also enjoys her time alone and being at home.

The post Priscilla kayira: award-winning tv personality, feminist  appeared first on The Nation Online.