MC and presenter Claudia Naisabwa has given flowers to her former boss, comedian Eddi Butita, for protecting her from male celebrities and industry players who preyed on her when she first ventured into the Kenyan entertainment scene.
Ms Naisabwa says she was just 19 years old and still in school when she landed her first job as a presenter at SPM Buzz, an entertainment hub owned by the comedian.
The bubbly Claudia says she was naive at the time and didn’t know how the industry worked, but Butita was there to guide her, including advising her on her social interactions with industry players.
This, she says, helped her a lot, especially in preventing her from falling prey to male celebrities and other industry players.
“There are a lot of challenges (in the entertainment industry for young girls like me). There is the good and the bad and I promise you there are wicked people everywhere. I know people in the industry who are monitoring spirits, wicked people who have done things to try and limit my success, my growth,” says the 22-year-old.
Ms Naisabwa adds;
“But there are good people too. People who will protect you from anything, and Butita is one of those people. Butita has protected me from so much. He became a very good mentor and friend as my first boss. For Butita, every time someone made a pass at me, I would tell him and he would give me his advice about that particular person. He would tell you what those people are because sometimes people don’t seem to be who they are.”
To this day, Claudia says she has always valued Butita’s advice.
“I was 19 at the time. I was naive and didn’t know any better. I didn’t know these people, I had only seen them, liked their content, and interacted with them on social media. And you don’t know people beyond what they let you see. He would know people at different levels because he has been in the industry for quite some time and as a mainstream artiste”.
What chauffed Ms Naisabwa even more about her former boss was that he was never assertive with his counsel.
“He protected me from so much. He would tell me what was right and wrong, and direct me on a path, but he will not decide for you. To this day, if I’m seeing someone or if someone hits on me, Butita knows. Butita is someone who keeps secrets, he has all my secrets.”