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| media personality Azeezah Wanjiru Hashim |
She has a voice that captures attention, but growing up, media personality Azeezah Wanjiru Hashim didn’t like her voice.
Speaking to Mc Jessy on his show, Azeezah shared that her unique voice surprises many who meet her.
In school, she used her voice to command respect.
“I’ve always had this voice, but it’s something I avoided for a long time. I’ve always been a natural leader, and I think God knew the kind of personality He gave me, so He added this voice to enhance that leadership.”
At times, she tried to make her voice sound more feminine, but it didn’t work.
“My aunt would tell me, ‘Just speak with that deep voice you have.’ I felt so bad about it. I never felt like the other girls, especially since I was also a tomboy.”
Her mannerisms didn’t help either.
“My walking style was boyish. This makeup you see now is recent. Nilikuwa boyz mbaya. I wasn’t loud, but I was authoritative. I even used my voice to bully people sometimes.”
Despite her early discomfort, Azeezah’s voice has become a gift, landing her multiple opportunities in media, as an MC, and in other gigs.
“I never imagined I would end up loving it. I used to hate it. In a group of girls, I wanted to be like everyone else. But I was the odd one out because I was a tomboy and not soft. It messed with my confidence. But looking back, I realize my teachers might have seen something in me when I used to read aloud in class.”
Her voice initially gave her low self-esteem, especially when she auditioned for radio and realized she didn’t sound like the “girly” voice she aspired to have.
“All the girls in media had nice, cute voices, and then there was me, matching voices with Jeff Koinange,” she joked.
Even compliments about her voice used to upset her.
“I didn’t like it at all, so when people complimented me, I would think, ‘What are they seeing?’”
BY MAUREEN WARUINGE