A day in the life of a motivational speaker

Faith Mutheu, 21, is a motivational speaker and the founder of Fuzusmart.com, a mentorship programme. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • I am a third year student so I am up at 4am to study. Thereafter, I set off for my classes, for speaking engagements or for meetings with potential sponsors or partners.
  • After school and work, in the evenings, I work on a book I am writing.
  • During my free time, I seek out other mentorship programmes, look for other people who are doing the same thing as I am.

“I grew up in Makueni County, where there wasn’t much to go around in the community. Then I went to the University of Nairobi to study commerce, and I had to compete with children who’d gone to boarding schools and had been brought up with more than they needed; I had to use what I had to get where I wanted. I could never use my background as an excuse.

“I was always the girl in the village who hand-held other girls; a year ago, I decided to put structures around it. Now I seek out young people to mentor.

“I am a third year student so I am up at 4am to study. Thereafter, I set off for my classes, for speaking engagements or for meetings with potential sponsors or partners.

SELF-TAUGHT

“At the moment, I am preparing for a mentorship afternoon with teenagers from a secondary school in Nairobi. To prepare, I read a lot. Everything I know about motivational speaking and the life skills I pass on to the youth are self-taught. This means that I have to keep improving myself.

“One would imagine that to even consider motivational speaking, one needs to be pretty well spoken. It wasn’t this way for me at first. My public speaking skills have grown with time. That is what I get for what I give.

“Children’s homes are the hardest for me. It’s hard to come in, try to motivate them and then just leave them with empty stomachs or without warm clothes. I try to get donations or partners who can provide the food or clothing.

CHANGED LIVES

“The best part of mentoring for me is the feedback. When a young person comes up to you and tells you that you changed their lives, that is more than enough payment for me.

“I thought that my age was going to be a problem – that people were going to be skeptical because I was ‘too young’ but no. I think the world is opening up to the idea that you can’t be too young.

“During my free time, I seek out other mentorship programmes, look for other people who are doing the same thing as I am. In between my engagements during the day, I read. I am currently reading Pepe Minambo’s Inspired for Greatness. It resonates with what I am trying to achieve.

After school and work, in the evenings, I work on a book I am writing. I am almost through now. I called it Beyond Obstacles. My target audience is high school students.

“An ideal Kenya for me would be one where people realised their purpose and stopped chasing the most popular dreams. Where more people got out of their comfort zones.”