“I knew I wanted to be a journalist from Class 7.”
DJ Agger's first ambition was to be the person who tells other people's stories, and even then she knew which part of the trade she didn't want. “Even in journalism, I never wanted to be on TV. I knew I wanted something, but not on TV.”
In Form Two a friend from Scouts said she wanted to be a DJ. “And I actually thought, that's a really cool job. I would also like to be a DJ, but I also still wanted to be a journalist.” Her parents settled the order: no decks until the degree was done. She graduated in journalism and public relations in 2021, and started DJing in 2023.
The degree stayed hers. “It's still mine. It's still a degree, it's still something I'm really proud of.”
The back door
For a while the decks were going to lead back to the newsroom. “I actually thought if I become a DJ and it flops, I'll still become a journalist, because there are DJs who are in the mainstream media. So I thought that through DJing I would probably become a journalist.” “I don't like doing the conventional careers, so to say.”
“I thought I would not be fulfilled just DJing, especially because I have a degree. But with the two years of DJing experience that I've gotten, I'd much rather just be a DJ than be a journalist.”
Kenya's two biggest listed media houses were cutting, not hiring, while she learned to mix. In 2024 Nation Media Group shed about 180 jobs and Standard Group about 300, as print and broadcast revenue moved online.
She did go to a DJ academy after she graduated, though you wouldn't know it from how she sums up the rest: “Everything was self-taught. Everything.” The academy had the mixer. The rest of the trade - who to call, how to walk into a booth, what to say when the answer is no - she'd have to learn from other DJs.
“It's a male-dominated field, first and foremost. And most male DJs, and maybe even the promoter - okay, let me start with the male DJs.”
“The male DJs, some of them don't believe that a female DJ can actually do a good job. So even when you go and ask for a job, and you find those kind of DJs who are not very open-minded, they will deny you maybe a chance that would have changed your life. They feel like it's more competition. But for nothing, really. They're like, why, why, why?”
“There are so many days that I've wanted to give up.”
“People think you will start DJing today and you will be on the big platforms tomorrow. It doesn't happen overnight. Let no one lie to you. At some point you're going to feel like giving up, but don't. Because it's going to get better.”
What held her was a network nobody had funded. “I have female DJs who have been in the game. They have taught me how to navigate DJing, marketing, who to talk to, how to present myself, my social media, everything. I've been helped by my friends who are female DJs, and also some male DJs.”
Finesse
“My friend told me Kikuyu Love Sessions were looking for a DJ. They actually never told me it's a competition. So for me, I went there thinking it's a gig. I want a gig, I want a job. Like when you have those concerts, I want to be included.”
It was It's Her Turn, a campaign for women vernacular DJs, and when she understood what it was, she applied anyway. “I told myself, I have to try this. Because if I don't, I might regret.” The finalists were asked for a thirty-minute mix, to be recorded and put on the Kikuyu Love Sessions YouTube channel. Nobody yet knew what, if anything, came at the end, and she didn't much care. “For me it was a plus, because I've never uploaded a mix. That was my first mix.”
Two years into a career, there had been no recording of her that anyone could find. Now there is one, and it opens with a voice that isn't hers saying her name: It's time to finesse with DJ Agger. The set runs on through Kikuyu and Kiswahili songs, and the voice comes back to stamp it more than once. She'd planned to build on it - “a starting point for me to start a YouTube channel from that” - and it was already working before any kit arrived. “Even when I meet people, they're like, I saw you on Kikuyu Love Sessions.”
At the handover at Baraza Media Lab the finalists were called up one at a time, and she went first.
“I'm nervous. But I'm happy to be here, by the way. I got to hear about this campaign through my friend. And I tried it, and here we are today.”
She thanked Kikuyu Love Sessions “for being a part of changing the narrative for female DJs. We really needed that, and we appreciate it so much, so so much, we don't even know.” Then she thanked the two people whose messages had found each other: “Thank you, Pam, for the DM. And Allan also for replying to the DM.”
“We just need a little bit of push and support, which you have gladly given to us.”
Paid after you've worked
Afterwards she signed for the kit at a table while three people watched, the controller's box propped on its end at her elbow, and then she was at the window with the headphones on, laughing with another finalist over the new controller.
“For me it means the next step. It's like the birth of something new for my career. Now with the starter kit, that's a whole new level unlocked. Now I have everything that I need. So I must improve my skills. So no sleeping from now on. It's just practice, practice, practice, and networking.”
“You know, we are told art is one of the careers where you get paid after you've worked.”
Earlier that afternoon, SNDBX's speaker had described the programme's order of things as flexible: “Sometimes you'll get the money first, then you come for the business development skills. Sometimes you'll get the business development skills before going for the money.”
“DJing is an art, and it's a skill where you have to input something so that you can see the outcome. So if you can really invest in a DJ, in an artist, please do.”
“It's not a job for me. When I go for my gigs, I'm full of energy. I don't wake up like, ah, another day to go and work. No. I'm so excited to work. And for me, that's everything.”
Sanara is a Mastercard Foundation programme delivered in partnership with HEVA Fund, SNDBX-Ubuntu, Baraza Media Lab and GoDown Arts Centre.