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Most wear an image of a voluptuous sexually attractive demeanour. Sometimes, their social media picture posts have this salacious and seductive edge and when you meet them, you’d easily think they are sex objects of desire.
They are a man magnet, their DMs bombarded with requests of men lusting for them, offers - from the high and mighty as well as the influential in society - that come with enviable financial packages. It is either politician ‘A’ wants her to play the escort girl to Seychelles, or an artiste ‘Z’ wants her to appear in her video being shot in South Africa some, dubious deals that are just a decoy of the crafty schemes.
Walking down the corridors of power soon becomes a norm for those who accept the dangling carrot. They start engaging in big deals with these high profiled individuals and celebrities and even get ‘diplomatic’ passports that can get them anywhere where the trappings of power reside. Being a socialite can attract overnight gains and sudden ruins at the same time. That is what the world thinks, but what is the real life of a Kenyan socialite?
Corazon Kwamboka who is now 26 hit the limelight a few years ago after a photographer asked her to pose for a photo that went viral. Back then, nobody knew her. She was taking her Law degree and on this day, she had just accompanied comedian Eric Omondi for a project. Since, life has never been the same again.
“My friend called me to tell me my pictures had gone viral. I don’t regret it really, I’m actually glad it happened the way it did,” says the lady who is now an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
READ ALSO: Socialite Corazon Kwamboka reveals face of racist man sending her threats
Corazon has found it hard to practice Law because of the perception people have on her thanks to the socialite tag.
“It made me not practice law. I feel that at some point, I was being misjudged in a way so I kind of pulled back from Law. I didn’t even want to go look for a job because I was scared ‘how will they even give me the job’. It also affected a lot of my relationships since I became Corazon Kwamboka the socialite,” she said told our sister brand SDE during an interview the other day.
“I’ve dated, but usually the guys get insecure because of the comments on social media and the perception they get. They feel like, yeah, I know you in person but few months down the line the insecurity kicks in. They start asking why this guy is sending you a message, why are you going to the club…”
This is not a scenario only facing the popular Nairobi-based beauty who has been touring the world in what seems a dream luxury life. From former Nairobi Diaries actress Bridget Achieng to Huddah Monroe and Vera Sidika, the script seems to be the same when it comes to how people view them since they adopted the socialite tag.
Bridget Achieng
In an interview with Pulse, Bridget Achieng, remains quite calm bold and collected. She sounds expressive when it comes to explaining her story. “I am simply a go getter, an open-minded business woman who is not scared to try anything,” boldly, she expresses.
“Now I am an events promoter having been one the pioneers of NaiFest, an event that is usually set to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of Nairobi culture. Am bringing Reekado Banks to NaiFest this April after I brought Joe Boy last year,” she thumbs.
“I am also a philanthropist who takes care of widows and the less privileged as I considers it a way of leaving a legacy through my Bridget World Foundation. Other than that, I run a skin care business called Bridget Body shop where I sell skin care products such as cremes. I also run a boutique where I sell luxury outfits called Bree_Luxury,” she says.
Besides all these, many people still view her as a socialite, a limelight seeker who is simply using her body to attract men. On countless times, she has had men hitting on her and extending offers in the assumption that she would buy that for sexual favours.
“I was a church girl and I can tell you, working out your life as a socialite is not a bed of roses,” she confesses revealing that she lost her virginity after she joined the socialite business.
READ ALSO: Pray for me: Bridget Achien’g after being admitted to hospital
“The socialite business looks good on the outside but you will strip naked for the whole world because men will look for you and do anything to get what they want from you,” she admits.
“Sometimes you want to portray an image of a rich girl who has everything going for her simply to keep things going even when you know deep inside that things are not working.
“I don’t think any man wants to marry a socialite as they view you in not such a good way. The truth is you will simply go out there and get clubbing to make the cash. You don’t have to give in sleeping with these men because all they might want is just pleasure and company. As for you, this is not something to regret as it is just business. I wouldn’t be making any money right now if I did not follow this path,” she affirms.
Bridget says there are so many lies there on how socialites make their own money adding that everything that gets posted on social media about her financial gains is not true.
“For example people said I bleached myself which is not the case. It was skin-tan, which cost me about Sh3 million. My skin-tan was actually inspired by various celebrities that I have been watching on TV such as the American rapper Nicki Minaj. Besides, what is wrong making money even from rich men then you invest it. Isn’t that business? I don’t regret this,” Bridget says.
Early this year, Bridget unleashed a photo of her Nigerian baby daddy confirming speculations that she had been dating the wealthy businessman.
Huddah Monroe
Kenyan socialite and fashion entrepreneur was just the house girl next door when she was growing up in Maasai land. As she states, it is true that she had a rusty beginning before she begun eating life with a big fork.
Even though many would argue that her gains have come from unclear associations with foreign rich men – some of which she posted videos with in posh cash sampling dollars, the truth is that Huddah’s current fame started when she went to represent Kenya on the Big brother Africa show in 2013.
It was after this when fame and fortune came calling as she positioned herself as Madam Boss in Africa. She created a huge online following, social fortunes that she used to build a formidable cosmetics business company. And as this was happening, just as many socialites have done, she decided to do body transformation, traveling to Beverly Hill, California for the surgery at the Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery Group.
READ ALSO: Huddah Monroe’s rape claim angers Elizabeth Irungu, responds
“I could’ve died but I’m well now,” she said during an interview noting that the surgery cost upto Sh3.5 million.
Many people have their own ideas on how Huddah makes her money including thinking she dates wealthy men – something that can’t be confirmed. The fact is that she has turned her trade into a million-dollar enterprise and turning back to the humble Java Coffee House (Mama Ngina street) evening girl she once was is not something she would do.
And it is the same men who question her source of wealth who keep on downloading her seminude photos and making a wish wishing they can just have her for a night. That is how you know that her DM is full too.
Tanasha Donna
Like her or hate her, this is the new socialite in town who everyone has been talking about. Again, who was Tanasha Donna before news broke that a Kenyan girl was dating Tanzania’s Diamond?
A common fixture in social events, the 24-year-old gorgeous girl created a name for herself as a socialite and fashionista just around the same time she was spotted with actor Nick Mutuma.
Before long, she joined NRG radio as an influencer presenter and before we all knew it, she had replaced Uganda’s Zari Hassan as Diamond’s flame. The relationship went public early last year with a wedding on the cards, a ceremony that was postponed. She then transformed herself into a singer, got a baby with Diamond and quit radio to focus on the Wasafi boss affairs.
The way things are going, these two could settle down as Diamond has been putting a lot of investment on her. They don’t come better, whether you say she is in it for fame or for love, Tanasha is one person who has perfected the transformation art of a socialites’ business – use one web to get to the other!
Vera Sidika
Having started her business as a video vixen and model over ten years ago, Vera Sidika reigns as the master of then all when it comes to video vixens in Kenya. It has all been said. And, she has been through all that. From bleaching her skin to plastic surgery, the transformation that Vera has gone can feature an entire research item.
She has a way of doing things. Her source of wealth is a tale, an open one for that matter. When we called her to get a word on this article, she was in New York on vacation!
READ ALSO: Eight Kenyan celebrities who have invested in the beauty business
