I love my life!

Tall, elegant and beautiful, 48-year-old public relations guru GINA DIN KARIUKI cuts a dashing style. She is popular in corporate and social circles, her enviable strength being in her ability to create powerful brands, beginning with her own. She spoke to SHIRLEY GENGA

I wasn’t supposed to end up like this — at the top of my game. I was never a straight ‘A’ student or one of those children who did anything extraordinary. I was an ordinary child, a tomboy who found comfort in my own company.

However, the fact that we speak daily has helped and I am very fortunate that I am able to see her often and go to Oxford regularly. It’s such a beautiful place and every time I visit, I am amazed anyone can actually study there. I would find it terribly hard.

It’s the sort of city where you just want to sit and take in the history — the chapels, libraries and the architecture. It’s a fairy tale experience.

Enormous privilege

Luckily, my daughter is much smarter than I am and has buckled down well to do serious hard work in her very intense course. She’s aware of the enormous privilege to be at Oxford and to learn in the same hallowed halls where many have been educated for several centuries before her.

My son is a student at Hillcrest. We are very close. Learning and education don’t necessarily mean the same thing to him and he has his own rather different ways of revising. I think he would make a great president. He is extremely fair and caring — but it would be nice if one could become president without being a politician!

Naythan is also a keen sportsman who enjoys playing football and rugby for his school. He also has a very quick sense of humour. I am lucky my children are both so different. Natalya is more an arts person and Naythan leans towards science, so I learn different things from both of them.

I believe we can all change our country. The best brains in the country are not in Government. If they were, the private sector would have head-hunted them! There is a general fear that those in power have a sense of entitlement, where the ruling class feel as if it’s their right to get all the top jobs based not on ability but ethnicity. If we did not fear other communities and all felt like Kenyans, everything would run better.

A nation develops when it has a leadership that does not let it down. When the men and women leaders want what’s best for Kenya and not what’s best for them. It’s about us being secure that the leaders we elected are fit for the job. It’s about a Government that is inclusive, well balanced and is committed to improving the lives of its people. It’s about leaders that respect the people that got them there in the first place.

Work much harder

On the subject of gender, I do feel guys tend to get away with being mediocre and women have to work that much harder to make up. I am supportive of women and find it really exciting when I see women in senior positions in the country. But they aren’t enough. We need more. Very often at high level meetings, I may be the only woman. At Gina Din Corporate Communications, I have several women in senior positions.

I believe in always keeping a positive outlook to life. I totally love what I do and I find it meaningful. I’m also a believer in living healthy. Life is about being balanced emotionally, spiritually and physically. I begin each day with my personal trainer. A personal trainer is a necessary evil for me because without one, I don’t think I would ever visit the gym. Spending an hour in my home gym sets the tone for the rest of the day. If I don’t work out, I feel really tired the whole day. So in as much as I would like a few extra minutes of sleep each day, I force myself to get up and start running.

When I don’t train, I practise yoga. I have recently stumbled across the Africa Yoga Project, which trains yoga teachers from the slums. I am enjoying it a lot and I’m impressed at the work they do with the those communities. The teachers are inspirational.

I’m also a goodwill ambassador for the Kenya Red Cross.