Interview With A Gen Z Podcaster – Phyllis Mackenzie

Phyllis Mackenzie is a 19 year old college student majoring in Journalism and Mass communication. She is the host and the brains behind KR Live Podcast, which is a new rising podcast and Publicist.

TELL US YOUR STORY
My full name is Phyllis Njoki Muriithi born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. I am the oldest in my family with a younger brother aged 12.
Growing up, I was always an active child and student. I’ve been doing stage-plays since I was 6 through high school, began community service when I was 11, went under leadership training when I was 13 and when I joined high school at 14, I wrote and directed the stage plays for my school but currently I write scripts for short films. Apart from all these, I was also the club president of the Journalism, Drama and Music clubs. My favourite sport throughout the four years of high school was tennis.I joined Mount Kenya University, one of the best private universities when I was 17 in 2019.

WHAT DROVE YOU INTO THE WORLD OF PODCASTS?
When the pandemic struck in my country early March 2020, I decided on starting the podcast as a way to keep herself busy while practising my journalistic skills.My pilot episode was actually meant to be submitted for a job opening at a radio station. (I am glad I came across podcasting instead!) Production was only done for 2 months and later started again in late August. Currently, I have a consistent production and I am proud of how far I have come.

WHAT IS THE PODCAST ALL ABOUT?
KR Live Podcast is all about Arts where I focus on theory, human application and physical expression of creativity in visual arts (including architecture, ceramics, drawing, film making, painting, photography, and sculpting), literary arts (including fiction, drama, poetry, and prose), performing arts (including dance, music, and theatre), and culinary arts (including cooking, chocolate making, and wine-making).

WHAT IS THE VISION FOR BOTH YOU AND YOUR PODCAST?
I have big dreams for the podcast, like making a difference and touching people’s lives through it. I have interviewed 11 guests so far, and the impact they have is unbelievable. For me, I want to graduate and be one of the greatest Journalists this world has to offer. I believe that I can be the voice to the voiceless and eyes to the blind because my core values are Transparency, Trust and most importantly Truth and all these reflects through my podcast.

To know more about Phyllis Mackenzie don’t forget to follow her on Instagram @podcastbykenzie and Facebook @kenzrocque100