Sex for work: Hidden price women pay to break into Kenya's creative industry

Image of a woman perfoming infront of a crowd. 

The room falls silent as Sumaya Musa takes the microphone. Then come the bars, one after another, delivered with the confidence of a woman who has spent years finding words for experiences often left unspoken.

Known by her stage name, Apondi Thee Poet, she moves across the stage, weaving poetry with stories of Kenya’s creative industry. Her words carry anger, pain and beauty, a reflection of the complicated reality of being a young woman trying to make a living from her art.