Nasra: How I became East Africa's pioneer Somali woman in Media

Nasra is one of the longest-serving Somali women in media. 

Nasra Hussein Omar is a pioneer Somali female media practitioner and one of the longest-serving Somali and pastoralist women in Media, and communications in East Africa.

Nasra is also a mentor for talented pastoralists especially women and girls to change the perception about being a media professional as a Muslim and Somali woman.

I am the eldest daughter and sister to my siblings.

How was it growing up?

I was born and grew up in Garissa County, North Eastern Kenya. I grew up in an era where no women-related stories and voices were ever or hardly heard of.

I grew up in an era where there were no FM stations and extremely poor infrastructure in the region.

However, this never limited me as I always believed those situations were not there to stay forever.

As an individual from Garissa, where being a girl child was a challenge in the past, I feel privileged enough to have beaten the stereotypes to attain the required success in the field.

Some people, especially from your community, consider you lucky, How would you respond to this?

I am not lucky per se. From the family part, I can say yes because I was raised in a disciplined, and God-fearing family by parents who supported my education and guided me to be the best in everything I do.

In my personal and professional life, I can say a combination of luck, dedication, and sacrifice. Staying focused for nearly 15 years as a media professional from a nomadic community in a career dominated by men and in a conservative community, took more than luck.

What do you think about women pursuing higher education?

Education has truly liberated women, especially our pastoralist women. Today, we have seen how educated women have helped change our societies even here in Kenya.

I can say education has also helped me grow as a person. I have attained a double degree in Marketing from KEMU University and Human resource management from Cambridge College and a Master's in communications from KEMU University.

Finally, not only education, but I am proud that I have encouraged women to be media professionals and it gives me joy whenever I see the girls I mentored dominating the media professionals. I am also a true testimony of what education can offer. And I work in a profession that is male-dominated.

How long have you been in charge of Star FM?

I cannot say in charge of. We work as a team of leaders. It has been nearly 15 years. However, I feel honored to have gained the trust of the management and to offer my leadership and management skills since the inception of the station.

How would you describe the airspace in the marginalized community? Does it still remain under-utilised as most people perceive it?

Yes, it is. We have many untold positive stories and even as a media professional, I feel that if the potential of the airspace was well fulfilled, there would be a tremendous change in the perception of the northeastern region.

Partners need to trust that there are stories in the marginalized community and that the security challenges, coupled with poor infrastructure should not be a hindrance to covering stories.

On the other hand, our community perception and attitude have also limited both women's participation as media professionals and media penetration.

Despite the coming of digital media and its dominance, resources and more media capacity building for our youth is a challenge.

How do you manage to stay on top despite the stiff competition in the media circles?

Putting community success first and contributing to the community in whichever way I can.

As for personal principles and values, I can say being disciplined with high integrity and learning new skills from everyone and every time.

Being a media owner, do you agree that running a business in this new environment is challenging?

To speak in general, I can say Yes. Everyone believes in saving money. The industry relies on advertisement and sponsorship which sometimes become difficult to secure especially when the investors feel that it is very expensive.

What would you term as your greatest achievement in your career?

Being part of the team that has made the northeastern region and its people have our first-ever media station and the first vernacular Somali radio station in Kenya is immortal.

We have truly come from far. Seeing talk shows, debates, interviews, and documentaries about our issues including those deemed taboo, has helped empower and enlighten our people.

I can say mentoring a couple of successful media personalities who work at both national and international levels which am proud of. Mentoring almost over 30 successful journalists makes me proud whenever I see their impact on their community.

Together with the Star team, we have received KUZA AWARDS—Best Radio Station in Northeastern Region, Supkem recognition for the Best Radio Station for religion awareness, Number 1 radio station in Northern Kenya, and Number 10 Nationally.

In addition, we also received UNFPA's best journalist in the FGM story category and further established the first radio for Dadaab refugees -Gargaar Radio at the height of the drought-driven refugee influx from neighboring countries to northern Kenya.

I have further helped establish Warsan FM, a Garissa-based youth radio station focused on fighting drugs, CVE, and Early marriage.

Finally, creating community integration between locals and the refugees from Somalia using the media and also creating awareness for refugees has also changed the lives of the refugees in Dadaab, especially during the outbreak of diseases, girl child education, and health.

Where do you see yourself in five years to come?

I look forward to becoming the first female pastoralist to own a fully-fledged media training institute with the state of the art equipment.

Rumors have it that you once turned down a plum state job. Do you mind working with the government?

There are many rumors apart from that one. But they are never necessarily true. I work with the government in a different capacity as a media stakeholder and as a representative of the pastoralist community.

The greatest advice you have for women, especially those from marginalized communities?

Invest in education and try to make everything you do bigger and better. Being an avenue of girl child from the marginalized and pastoralist communities, I can say always give back to the community.