 Like you mentioned, it's not always been a walk in the park. What is that one challenge that you know you underwent and how did you just go about it? So one challenge that I find on a regular basis is how people perceive my instruction, for example. You know you're holding a very senior level of leadership and so you have people who work in your sector, in your department and you give instructions and maybe people don't listen or you know like they just think I can just get away with it. But something that I've learned how to do, I'm very diplomatic by nature so like I'll be like smiley smiley with you but whatever but I've learned how to be a bit more firm, a bit more assertive about things. I've learned to always do my homework before because you know you can't show up as a as a baby when you're you're dumb you can't be that baby that doesn't look good. So you know I've had to learn how to just pull it back and just first of all do exactly what your homework is, know exactly what the chains of commands are, use the systems that are set in place to actually if it's an issue that I am not able to manage, escalate. And yeah and I think it's getting better as we go along. I think initially it might have been a bit more tricky but I'm you know I'm learning each day as a challenge I rise and so I'm happy about that at least. It's challenging but I'm learning. What's up guys, welcome to SPM Buzz. My good name is Miss Katenji and right about now I'm hanging out with a beautiful lady who's going to be introducing herself and telling us what she does. Hi my dear, please introduce yourself. So my name is Susan, I am a county executive committee member who is in charge of inclusivity, public participation and customer service. So I have a few things to explain. The county executive is like a minister but in the county. Okay. And then my portfolio covers quite a number of things but the reason why we're here today is because I also cover city culture, arts and tourism, hence why we are the one in charge of this event. Of this event. Yeah I mean it's quite a big deal being just being in charge of this event because it's a big thing. How was it just going through this and doing this? How was it? How difficult? How easy is it? It's quite interesting. This is the second time around we're doing something similar. So we did the Nairobi festival in December. That one was difficult. It was. It was difficult. We had only six weeks to put everything together. With the limited budget, you know new concept introducing something very new to the county. But it came out and you know we had almost over 60,000 people come for the event. So this one we had picked up a few lessons from that so it was kind of easier to kind of know okay so what do we do, what do we do here and there. We still have quite a few like a long way to go in terms of just the legal framework to around to allow us to do you know events. You know we can't even charge our tickets you know like we found out we couldn't charge our ticket and so that's why it's going directly to six past six for seven. We can't even use it because it's a really good framework to be like okay so you can use this money for this. So it's really it's it's just developing how we do functions in the county in relation to the need that is there and with what we are trying to group. I mean let's talk about gender inclusivity because 10 years ago your position would probably be held by someone else you know. How is it going and how are you feeling that position that you're in is it challenging is it going well? Yeah I think first of all it's just it's great that we have a governor who's very progressive so he's 38 years old I think I'm 29 so and a lot of his team is just about that age just around that age bracket. Being young has been interesting because the county generally has much older people so it's much older people but but you know we're coming in with fresh new ideas and injecting a little bit more life and of course we're working towards you know employing more young people and just changing how things are done there but in terms of gender specifically it's interesting actually half the county is women okay but and even the top leadership like the cabinet has four women out of ten the the next level of leadership which is the chief officers they are about half of them that's about 14 out of 30 so I mean that in that sense we're doing okay but there's still a little bit of assumptions concerning how women lead and and what do you do you know like and how do people perceive instruction from you and it doesn't help being young a young tiny woman in a in a senior level of leadership in the county but you know it I think it's a I'm happy about the progress so far like we've come from so far for sure and and I'm happy about the steps that I take and so I just like you said maybe 10 years ago I wouldn't be able to hold this position but yeah I am now owning it and doing what what I want to do and loving the you know just being able to be creative with the space that I've been given and just you know and I hope that you know me being in a position like this allows more young women to also be able to take up such things and yeah and like look at me and be like yeah in fact if any I can do that and then that's that's just the point of you know affirmative actions just making sure that we see women in spaces of leadership to normalize that this is something that we can actually do and we should be so George so so yeah I mean it's a it's a it's an it's a learning curve for sure and we I think me being in a place like this will help another woman as well so I'm happy about that but also you see I'd like you mentioned it's all it's not always been a work in the park what is that one challenge that you know you you underwent and and how did you just go about it so one challenge that I find on a regular basis is how people perceive my instruction for example you know you're holding a very senior level of leadership and so you have people who work in your sector in your department and you give instructions that maybe people don't listen or you know like they just think I yes I can just get away with it um but something that I've learned how to do I'm very diplomatic by nature so like I'll be like smiley smiley with you but whatever but I've learned how to be a bit more firm a bit more assertive about things um I've learned to always do my homework before because you know you can't show up as a as a as a baby when you're you're dumb you can't be that baby that doesn't look good so you know so I've had to learn how to just pull it back and just first of all do exactly what your homework is know exactly what the chains of commands are use the systems that are set in place to actually if it's an issue that I am not able to manage escalate um and yeah and I think it's getting better as we go along I think initially it might have been a bit more tricky um but I'm you know I'm learning each day as a challenger rising so I'm happy about that at least that's it's challenging but I'm learning yeah I'm taking it as a learning curve yeah so does it mean like is this some small small pressure yeah just because you know you're young you're petite and you're a woman at the same time is there that that sort of pressure to just do more sometimes yes and I feel like this doesn't only apply to women in I feel like this doesn't only apply to women in in political leadership it also applies in the corporate space which I came from before this it applies in the NGO space which I also had some experience in yeah so it's a general problem that we have as as women just to assert our space a little bit more but it's just because of this societal perceptions of spaces that women are supposed to occupy and there was that they are not okay um so I I think it's a little it'll get better I know I know there are places where I've gone to and because I'm tiny they're like oh we're waiting for your boss to come but I'm actually the boss um or you know you get out of the car and they tell you hey where you careless I didn't get a you know like something like that um but you know you're just like no you walk you by that space and you sit down like no actually it's me and the boss and you know they're like oh we're sorry but yeah it gets I've been around this political space for a while so I'm kind of used to it I joined politics at the age of 23 wow I ride for senate against my current boss um so since then I've generally been experiencing this kind of thing experiencing this kind of thing but I've learned how to adapt and and learn and asset and occupy this space I mean those are like six years of being in it so you much yeah now talking about politics now that you've mentioned you know your your your your role is is it's kind of you know just in the political space like you just mentioned and you know they say politics is a dirty game do you feel the pressure of that dirty game in your in your line of work not necessarily no um and and because I think that is usually created by the the leadership so if the leadership has set a standard of sasafi and and given you a place to just work and and actually implement ideas my background is in public policy so my my whole thinking is about okay so what can I how can we do how can we change how what law do we and so if if you I've got an environment where I've been given the liberty to think and create and do and that's why we're able to do things like this but a lot of the first of all you know stuff and we'll do a lot more moving forward um so in that environment you are just allowed to work and and and the governor keeps telling us you know you people are the ones who are implementing let's me deal with the politics so he deals with the rest of the politics as we are alleged to work so I can't say I've experienced that enough now as we wind up the battle of the choirs what was the inspo around this because you know we had Nairobi festival that will also you know it catering about you know art nini nini taking care of those people what was the idea behind this one and what do you guys want to achieve with it yeah um I think you see that we're embarking on a mission to just define Nairobi's culture I mean who are we really as Nairobi you know like this there's something unique and really nice about people who are from Nairobi um and we don't talk about that enough we don't define it enough and we don't celebrate it enough I think we only celebrate the bad things oh we have a person sharing and I don't know what but there's a lot more to us as people we have a we have a culture that is rich that is you know that is not yes you maybe you're probably kikuyu but you're you're really from Nairobi yes you probably must say but you're really from Nairobi so what is that that really from Nairobi and it's defined by very many things um and so we're embarking on a mission to just define that Nairobi package it properly and then Nairobi to the world sell it out and even just allow ourselves to celebrate so in fact what we're doing we're doing that you know through some of our festivals so the Nairobi festival was for young people artists new upcoming but also established and only local artists who even think about Nairobi and you know that's what it was about but we have a very big religious uh culture uh in Nairobi as well and so we decided let's celebrate that as well so we're like how how better to celebrate that than you know having the choirs of our churches perform and you know have a good time celebrating Easter bring people together but at the same time you know just explore a different type of talent and and you know cultivate a different type of art uh and give them a different kind of platform so so that's where the idea came from so it's really just about celebrating a specific culture of Nairobi and in fact in future we'll celebrate the film culture in Nairobi we'll celebrate the food culture in Nairobi um the photography and all that just the creative arts around it I think we are not um previous governments have been very passive about the creative economy and you know just sit back and let you just do its own thing but we are intentional and proactive about making sure that this creative economy actually is is grown cultivated and allowed to thrive and prosper so so that that's the point of this the the festival and really just the brand at Nairobi festival itself will carry all that creative economy um interventions that we are pumping into that so so that's why that's why this is happening yeah I mean I really love the intention because art has not been appreciated for a very long time so you guys doing these other counties are going to pick up and you know it's going to get better you know the governor keeps talking about you know our city is not just its brick and mortar it's not about the it's not just about the road it's important the road is important collecting garbage is important the drainage is important the water is important but that's not all the city is about our city has people and those people have a culture and that needs to be celebrated so so it's where we're celebrating us and like we are our greatest asset is the people and that's what we're trying to celebrate yeah because I mean who would have thought we have so many choirs in Nairobi that are well organized like this you know have you seen how they're dressed up they look great you know they're singing their hearts out I mean come on they showed up yeah they showed up I mean you know you work looks a bit serious but I'm just wondering what artists do enjoy which artists do you enjoy his or her music favorite artist is Nyashinsky that's why you had to be here for the inauguration of the governor yeah that's that's my favorite yeah thank you so much Susan for talking to us you've done a great job and congratulations thank you and I appreciate thank you for coming and even covering us um and I hope whoever you are is watching like when you when we have another festival look out for that we'll be we'll be here talking about it as well yeah thank you so much thank you