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Kimani Mbugua

Daniel Kimani Mbugua (born February 18, 1996) is a Kenyan media personality, producer and podcaster. He is the host of The Kimani Mbugua Podcast.

In 2015, Kimani joined Nation Media Group's Nation FM's radio talent search competition dubbed Vocal Nation as a contestant among 17 other students from various universities across Kenya. He emerged winner of the show but Nation Media closed down it's radio stations before he got the opportunity to join the station officially as a radio host.

Kimani then joined the Daily Nation as a features writer for the paper's weekly pullout magazine My Network and was later hired by NTV as a digital producer and eventually a TV presenter. In 2018 he joined Royal Media Service's Citizen TV as a News Anchor and Reporter. He then left Citizen TV to join digital media house Boxraft Limited as a presenter and producer for the news website Kenyans.co.ke.

Early Life and Education

Kimani Mbugua was born on February 18th 1996 in Thika Town, Kenya, the son of Dedan Mbugua a teacher and Peris Wanjiku a tailor. His family moved to Murang'a during his early years and he was brought up on the countryside together with his three sisters Felista Wanjiku Mbugua, Sharon Wanjiru Mbugua and Ellen Wambui Mbugua. During his primary school years Kimani loved acting and he participated in school and church drama clubs. He however experience turbulence in his pre-teen years as his parents separated which forced him to be shuffled between many schools as his parents fought for custody. In 2009 he joined Njiiri School and stayed in the school for three years after which he transferred to Karura Adventist School because for religious reasons. He was raised in the Seventh Day Adventist faith and when he could no longer be allowed to worship on Saturday he decided to leave the school for a more favorable environment at an Adventist school. In 2013 Kimani joined Moi University to study Communication and Journalism. He then dropped out in his third year after getting an opportunity to work for Nation Media Group's Nation FM as radio presenter.

Career

Radio In 2015, Nation FM launched a talent search competition dubbed Vocal Nation which recruited university students from nine universities in Kenya who would compete for the chance to get a professional opportunity to work for the radio station as presenters. Kimani was chosen by Moi University to represent the institution in the competition. He emerged winner of the competition but Nation Media Group closed down it's radio broadcasting unit and one of it's TV stations in a cost cutting exercise which denied Kimani a chance to go on with his radio career.

Print Kimani would later join the Daily Nation in 2016 as an intern writing features for the paper's weekly pullout magazine My Network whose target audience was university and college students.

Television In 2017, Kimani joined NTV as a TV presenter, hosting a mid morning TV segment on entertainment news dubbed 'The Entertainment Brief.' He then left NTV in 2018 to join Citizen TV as a News Anchor and reporter. At Citizen TV he hosted several shows including Broken News, Web Wars and The Traffic Report. He also regularly did prime time news reports on human interest stories.

Digital Media In 2020 Kimani exited Citizen TV and joined the digital media firm Boxraft Limited where he hosted a daily news commentary show dubbed 'Speed Feed'. He later quit his job at the firm to start his own venture Qwid Network. In 2022, he launched a podcast named The Kimani Mbugua podcast where he tackled various topics including talking about his personal life and his struggle with mental illness and drug addiction.

Personal Life In 2020 Kimani struggled with drug addiction and was admitted to several hospitals and rehabs which he revealed in the first episode of his podcast. His relationship with PR consultant Michelle Njeri also came to an end in May 2021.