At 30, Wambui Nyutu has achieved what many women can only dream of. And she is not about to slow down.
The young lawyer is a commissioner at the National Integration and Cohesion Commission, a well-paying position she got through a competitive recruitment process.
Nyutu confesses to having seen an advertisement by the commission at a time when she did not know much about the profiles of the previous commissioners.
Most were lawyers - others arbitrators and mediators - all with qualities of tough legal practitioners.
None were as young as her, but that fact did not stop her from going for the job. She passed the interview and got nominated for vetting in Parliament, after which she was sworn in by the Chief Justice.
Tough and brainy, Nyutu is a fast-rising leader who has stood out since her days at the University of Nairobi, where she was a student leader. She was the first female president.
She has been brushing shoulders with those in power, including President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom she has met a number of times.
“A person without hope and ambition is more or less dead. You cannot be living and not have ambitions for a better tomorrow. There are several young women I mentor and support; we talk about life to make sure we are growing together,” said Nyutu during an interview with Her Standards, the KTN Home women achievers show with Queenter Mbori.
She added, “I believe that a job must not be white-collar. There is dignity in being a mason, a carpenter, a farmer; as a crane driver, you can earn Sh3,000 to Sh5,000 a day. I urge the youth to take the path least travelled. There is dignity in technical-vocational institutions.”
Indeed, Nyutu is a risk-taker. She enjoys bungee jumping. “You do not always have to over-plan things. You over-plan things and they go haywire, offside... sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment… jumping down 111 metres free fall. It shows you there are no limitations to this life,” she said.