Citizen TV news anchor Lulu Hassan has revealed that she had worked as an office receptionist in Mombasa County before deciding to try a career in media.
Lulu Hassan reveals how a stranger's phonecalls inspired her media career
Lulu Hassan became a news anchor at only 20 years old
Lulu Hassan
She was speaking during an interview on Hot 96 where she revealed that one day during a phone call a man on the other end of the line complimented her voice.
The compliment planted the idea that she could make a great presenter even though she had not considered it before.
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“It started in 2005, nilikuwa receptionist in Mombasa, kwa company ilikuwa inaitwa Tech Biz Limited and it dealt with computers. So whenever I picked calls, there is a guy called Anthony, I’ve never met him but nakumbuka to date, aliniambia madam, I love your voice have you ever thought of doing radio or TV?” she said.
Despite not having trained in media, Lulu applied for the first media job opportunity that came by.
"Kwa one of the newspapers niliona, they were advertising for TV presenters, news anchors and radio presenters, I applied but back then sikuwa nimesomea journalism nilisema let me try,” the news anchor added.
She sent her voice demo to the recruiters and at 20 years old, Lulu secured a job as a part-time radio news anchor.
During this time, she enrolled in media school where she juggled her work with attending classes.
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Rashid Abdalla with Lulu Hassan (Instagram)
Rashid Abdalla with Lulu Hassan (Instagram)
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Back in 2008, Lulu was a news presenter at Radio Salaam in Mombasa. Interestingly, she used to read the news in English and not Swahili.
When she was still a presenter at Radio Salaam in 2008, a KTN cameraman informed her there was a talent gap at KTN.
Two of KTN’s Swahili anchors were going on maternity leave, and they needed someone to step in.
The cameraman asked her to try her luck. Being a risk-taker, she went for a screen test and she was hired.
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She later left KTN to join Citizen TV where she co-hosts news bulletins alongside her husband Rashid Abdalla.
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