Le voyage ici simply means ‘The Journey Here’. This is a story about my blog, right from inception to birth and naming.
We have all gone through interviews at one point or another. But this was no ordinary one. It wasn’t a panel, just two interviewers. One lady, and one Gent, both equally intelligent and well poised. The position at hand was Treasury Analyst Intern in one of the leading companies in the country. Heck, I have zero interest in finance. But my Curriculum Vitae did not fail me. I wrote it to impress, and it did nothing less than impressing by ultimately getting me through to be interviewed. So one night to the interview, I read about treasury bills and any current affairs on the same. I brought myself up to date with the world of finance and could only imagine how the panel would raise their eyebrows with informed answers from a little genius, and nod in agreement to virtually everything I said. Fast forward to the morning of the interview. I dressed patently to turn just a few heads, those that appreciate good grooming in the professional world. I rehearsed in front of the mirror on the powerful entry I would make, perfected on the smile that I would flash and retain! By retaining, I mean it was to look like a smile as opposed to discomfited showing of your teeth with betraying trembling lips and clammy nose. I polished my choice of words to respond to the well anticipated ‘Tell us about yourself’ question. The finest of my perfumes, the neatest I could have my hair, the best of my heels. Good to go. ‘Kim, you have no second chance to make a first impression, grab your charming alter ego and make it unimpeachable!’… So yes, in my little bantam brain, I was well prepared. Not until I left the interview room with my pretty fat fingers and matching toes sweating profusely. Needless to say, I was not even smiling. I forgot to end my so well rehearsed few minutes of greatness in style.
It lasted less than ten minutes, and in that time frame, I answered three questions.
1.Tell us about yourself
2.Comment on our website and,
3.What are you passionate about

Question 1 was one of those questions you over deliver in an exam room. Three marks, yet you write volumes from Toronto to Utopia and sum up with a few relevant dotted points. You get the score, yes, but was all that necessary? Lesson, you never go wrong with being brief and concise.
Question 2 was an okay question. Certainly I had read their website, crammed extraneous products, latest updates and even their management team. So I tell them it is informative, good choice of colours… and all those other things you say to excite the interviewers and massage their ego at every opportunity. I almost ask when the innovation I had read on the papers will show on their site, or when the change in the marketing executive would be effected on the management team on the ‘About us’ section of their website. Anywho, I chose to keep calm and hold my cockiness.
Question three was THE question of the day. Did I even have a passion? Why didn’t I see it coming? I manage to mummer something.. “Erm, you mean..ok, sorry! what exactly do you mean by passion?” In my own world, I am wondering where on earth I can get a passion related to treasury and finance to tailor for this specific interview. I am blank! Totally blank, and simultaneously blinking unwisely fast. And to my aid, he restructures the question. “ If you were not working for money what would you do, If you had all the money such that it was no longer a motivating factor, what would you spend a lifetime doing?” At the mention of motivation, my sharp mind already jumped to Hertzberg’s two factor theory. In their research, they asked sampled Accountants and Engineers to describe periods in their lives when they were exceedingly happy and unhappy. I reckon the question at hand seeks to probe what it is that drives and satisfies me money being an invariable factor. It’s my utopian state that they want to know. Subconsciously, I say blogging.
“Oh, you have a blog?”
“No!”
Obviously they look at each other, with those raised eyebrows I had fathomed ( only that I feel this is the wrong time for all the reasons)… and they both turn back to me.
“Soooo, how is blogging your passion?” he asks in a tone that does not particularly make the mood any better.
I look at them briefly and let my eyes stray away in awe; ignoring their raised eyebrows and feeling thankful that rather than brushing me off, they are giving me a chance to redeem myself. I drop the misguided need to impress or sound like I was born for this world of finance. And for the first time, I speak freely.

“I love writing, I write all the time. If I think it’s worth sharing, my friends get a copy. If it is too personal, I encrypt and save in my secret folder. Writing gives you an opportunity to impact positively to people, it gives you a platform to inspire generations. It’s a stress reliever too, if I am annoyed, I write. If I am touched by what is happening around me, I write..and when I am idle, I write; still. I could spend a lifetime effortlessly writing and finding the words to make a difference in someone’s life, to make them feel that someone knows and understands what they are going through, to motivate them to stretch beyond their comfort zone in the smallest of duties…”
He looked at me with a smile made in heaven. “You should start a blog.”

***End***

That was the conception of the idea. I made it a goal, with no time limit. One year later, I actualized it.
The birth of the blog has come after a lot of procrastination and second guessing. I owe a lot of tribute to my two mentors. Gilda Odera for walking with me in my moments of doubt, for being more confident in me than I actually am, for being the extra set of eyes I can borrow wherever and whenever. Her mantra: Luck is not a factor, fear is not a factor and hope is not a strategy. Just do it! And to James Chomba for being the driving force you need to make conscious efforts towards realizing your goals. His emphasis on the need to have a purpose in life, and equip yourself to pursue that purpose with preset timelines cannot pass unmentioned.
Why the name Kimuya_n? Simple. For the posts to come, you will momentarily see life through my eyes, feel the love I have for life and taste by extension my fair share of bitter and sweet moments. Well, that’s the long answer. The short anwer is that Kimuya has become my middle name of sorts over the years, and Ndangwa is my real middle name…so Kimuya_N was born.

Voila! There you have it!

Three cents