Janet Mbugua – Ndichu (born 11 January 1984) is a

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n media personality, anchor and actress. As a news anchor she is known to have served in KTN in her earlier year of her career. She worked for

Citizen TV Citizen TV is a Kenyan free-to-air news television channel owned by Royal Media Services and broadcasting mostly in English and Swahili. It was started in 1999 and relaunched in June 2006. News and programs Citizen TV airs a variety of genre ...

for several years, before announcing her retirement from the media industry. She was a leading anchor at Citizen prime time news, alongside Hussein Mohammed. She takes a new role at

Kenya Red Cross ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Humanitarian Society. Janet is interested in film and

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

. As an actress she played the lead in television series ''

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

''.

Early life and education

Janet was born on January 11, 1984, and raised in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. She has a twin brother Timothy Mbugua. Janet went to Brookhouse High School and thereafter joined

United States International University United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three interna ...

(

USIU United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three interna ...

). After working for sometime, she joined the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

for her degree in Mass communication. She did her MBA in Global Business Management at the Swiss Management Academy in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Career

In 2004, at the age of 19, Mbugua started off her career at 98.4 Capital FM. In 2009, she was hired as a news anchor, reporter and producer of Pan-African current affairs show, ''Africa 360'', by

e.tv e.tv (commonly referred to on-air as e) is the first and only privately owned free-to-air television station in South Africa. It is the fifth terrestrial television channel in the country, following three channels that are operated by the sta ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. She was until recently a news anchor at

hosting ''Monday Special'' and ''The Big Question''. In 2014, she starred in a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

, ''

''. She was cast in the lead role as Pendo Adama, the owner and editor-in-chief of ''Rush Magazine''. In July 2017, she began consulting for The Hive, a US Based Organization seeking to amplify Gender Equality messaging in Kenya and other African countries. In 2019, she curated and hosted a TV Show dubbed ''Here And Now'' on

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

, which focused on socio-economic and political issues affecting young people. https://inuadadafoundation.org/team/our-founder/

Humanitarian works

She is the founder and director of Media Avenue Limited, where persons are provided with services such as

public speaking Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

, moderating and Emceeing. She has also reinforced in the empowerment of young females with the Inua Dada campaign that is endorsed by the Kenya's first lady,

Margaret Kenyatta Margaret Gakuo Kenyatta (born 8 April 1964) is a Kenyan educator who served as First Lady of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. She is the wife of Uhuru Kenyatta, the immediate former Kenyan president. Biography Margaret Wanjiru Gakuo was born on 8 Apri ...

. On 8 October 2021 she launched The Inua Dada Centre at

Korogocho Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city.

slum in

.The centre is a space that provides access to information and awareness on reproductive health and rights.

Personal life

Janet Mbugua is married to Edward Ndichu. Together they have two sons, Ethan Huru Ndichu born in October 2015 and Mali Ndichu. In 2019, Janet released her first book, ‘My First Time’, a collection of short stories from women, girls and men on their first interaction with menstruation.

Filmography

* ''

'' Pendo Adama

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mbugua, Janet 1984 births Living people Kenyan feminists Kenyan television journalists Kenyan television actresses Kikuyu people People from Mombasa Kenyan women television journalists