Faith Nkatha, her boys and God’s place in corporate meetings

Ms Faith Nkatha. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Faith Nkatha wants you to know that she believes in God. She’s edgy and intense.

Knowing her is like grabbing at smoke – she’s street smart, yet a highly sensitive woman. She’s been saying no to interviews, but I cashed in on my chip with God.

We are meeting at Java Nairobi Hospital, a chic intimate bistro that would be great for a solo treat if it was not in a hospital – which provides an ironic backdrop to her story: when fate collides with faith.

She’s been a dynamo for as long as she can remember, becoming a hustler to avoid being hustled; sitting on four boards as a way of sending the elevator of her skills and experiences down.

Leading woman in technology, digital and fintech expert, mother, wife, and mentor – those are just some of the hats she flips with the dexterity of a ball-juggling aficionado.

And why not? She came to see this as a test administered by life itself, an appraisal of her moxie.

But she knows how rock bottom can smack your ass. What it means to burn out. Today, however, she is blessed. She radiates like someone who has received a soft kiss from God.

It’s like an aura, to be touched by God. She makes sense of this relationship: What God could be for her. What she could be for God.

What’s it like being you?

Last year I travelled to Sweden for a leadership programme, where we imagined ourselves from a helicopter looking down on ourselves.

From a bird’s eye view, what I saw is energy, life, and a lot of work in progress. There are some things I am working on, trying to get to certain places in life.

I am very ambitious and outgoing and if someone is trying to follow me, they will likely get lost since I don’t use the same route twice. My friends say I am the life of the party.

I loved Math and Sciences, and I was sure I would be a doctor like my dad – I had passed but missed the cutoff by one point.

One! That’s how I ended up in business school. Now I harbour big dreams of owning a media house and giving young people a platform to express themselves. My mantra is everything you need is on the other side of fear.

What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done?

I have stopped people on the road and talked to them, sometimes just to encourage them. It also means I have been conned a lot haha!

There was a year my motto was to do one thing that scares me each day. Ergo I went to a women in tech conference but one of the panelists didn’t show up.

The MC asked someone to join and I volunteered. It was scary but spontaneous and I enjoyed myself! I also love dancing randomly in public.

Tell me about that one con you will not soon forget?

I was doing my Masters in Psychology at USIU – I am a licensed therapist – which I was pursuing to understand people since I got into leadership so young.

I was driving down Thika Road – God does that make me sound old – and at one of those turns near Muthaiga Golf Club, I saw a woman convulsing. I couldn’t pass her.

I stopped the car and went to help her. She was in the company of two guys who said she had been there the whole day. I didn’t notice that red flag.

I called my friend who recommended a nearby hospital then my brother who warned me to leave immediately. God takes care of me because out of nowhere another female driver stopped her car and told me to run.

Turned out those guys were con artists. She blocked the road as I went to my car and sped off. A week later, I was driving on State House Road and saw the same woman.

How did you strike a work-life balance, to succeed in the corporate world and at home?

It’s been extremely challenging. One of the best pieces of advice someone has ever shared with me is that there is nothing like balance, but integration.

You give your all in everything – at work and at home. Of course, I have had to make some sacrifices, such as waking up early but even then I try as much as possible to make breakfast for my family and be back in the evening for dinner.

I have that balance most weekdays and I am very selfish with my weekends. If I can’t come with my children to an invite, then I most likely won’t go.

Do you have a family breakfast ritual?

Sunday mornings I make them my special drop scones, while my husband who is a great cook will be on the pizzas and hamburgers.

Saturdays are for French toasts from, you guessed it, yours truly. We also do a lot of camping; I am very short but people hardly notice because I am always in heels with a tall personality haha! My boys make me wear sneakers just so I can keep up.

Do you have a favourite childhood memory?

I wasn’t the typical child. I was a bit of a nerd. My sister was the one who did all the other things while we grew up on a small farm in Tigoni, Kiambu.

I remember my dad taking us for drives through Mai Mahiu, Naivasha, and Nakuru, telling us stories about Mt Margaret and that tiny church on your way to Mai Mahiu (Mai Mahiu Catholic Church, also known as Travellers Chapel).

But he also embarrassed us at times, especially in restaurants when he suspected that the waiters had not served the full portion – to his credit he ended up being right most of the time.

I had very present parents – when my twin brothers were born my mother quit her job to stay home.

My parents would come to Alliance Girls High School every Saturday and ask me to share the food they brought with anyone who had not been visited. Simple beautiful lessons that I keep to date.

Were you a daddy’s girl?

More than you’ll ever know! We are close. My dad can sense when I am not okay. Lately, however after getting married and having children I become closer to my mom.

I am the typical middle child – we are four – one elder sister and the twins.

What do you think your father learned from you?

My mom says I am daring and a risk taker, that if she could go back in time, she’d be more of a risk-taker. But I think my dad has learned Jesus from me.

He says it’s like I was born with it. Yes, we have always been Christians, but not the staunch ones who eat unleavened bread and wear sack clothes.

When I was a child, my dad used to say that when I slept, I radiated peace. Fun fact: I learned how to speak late in life.

One day I woke up, opened my mouth and I never stopped talking – which is what my children now try to make me do haha!

I see God’s goodness because my dreams were so small. I read Gifted Hands by Ben Carson and I wanted to be a surgeon but how my life and career have gone is way beyond what I expected.

You are a high achiever. What do you fail at?

Politics haha! I am not good at corporate politics. Also, I can be a workaholic.

I am grateful I have people around me – like one of my mentors who told me my light had dimmed after seeing a picture of me in the dailies. ‘Chic, slow down,’ That would be what I tell my younger self.

Do you have a special treat just for yourself?

I am one of those people who hardly rest. This is something I am learning with time. When I am not with my family, I am most likely at a speaking engagement or serving at the youth ministry in the church.

I have had to practice being intentional about spending time with friends. I am learning to make time for spas – even my hairdresser complains about my time ultimatums.

But I have grown because my husband is good at it, making time.

So you two complement each other?

Completely! He zigs my zag. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage this year.

What’s your weekend soundtrack?

A combination of Green Eggs and Ham – one of the animations that colour my weekend. My children watch a lot of kids doing gymnastics with lots of rock soundtracks.

I also love Kambua’s song, Ametenda Zaidi. And I am very big on hymns. My dad made me love hymns.

What’s the most absurd thing you’ve spent money on?

I am not a big spender. I think a lot before I swipe that card. But in the past, a lot of money went into my hair. Sometimes I see the bill and I am like what? Haha! Thank God Dave Ramsey brought sanity back into my life haha!

What’s your superpower?

My faith in Jesus. Are you going to put that in the paper?

I will.

I got saved in high school and never looked back since.

What’s the last thing you do before you switch off the lights?

I am those moms who check on their babies 100 times. But I also pray…and sometimes put down my thoughts. I like to have the window open so I can see the moonlight before my husband steals my thunder by drawing the curtains.

You are a hopeless romantic?

I am! But look, not everything’s been rosy. There are sad seasons when I have worked myself to sleep, my laptop still purring, and I am never doing that again, so help me God.

I love fashion – and if I wasn’t in corporate, I would be in personal branding. I believe in dressing up and showing up. Look the part.

Who do you know that I should know?

If you don’t know Jesus…

I figured you’d say something like that. Who is God to you?

Wow. God changed my life. I was in a very dark place before I found him. Human beings are deceptively wicked but God is the only good thing in me. He is my friend.

So many times you think God is only needed in mission fields but I have walked in corporate meetings and prayed and God showed up for me.

He is the God of the corporate world, the one I run to, the one who has been with me all through.

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Editor’s note: The story has been updated to reflect that Faith Nkatha no longer works at Cellulant.