Nailantei Norari @artnorari

When you think music power couple, Wahu and Nameless immediately pop up in your mind.

It is quite an experience meeting them and learning first-hand just how humble and unpretentious they are.

Ever the stylish duo, they arrive one after the other, Wahu in her trademark haircut and Nameless in his famed sunglasses and durag look.

One can tell that they are not just spouses, but good friends too just by looking at them and seeing their interactions with each other.

The campus sweethearts tied the knot in September 2005 after having dated for eight years ­—so they have been together for 23 years. What is the secret to the couple’s longevity?

“You have to be friends first. I think that is important,” Nameless, whose real name is David Mathenge, starts us off as they trade loving looks with his wife.

He explains how friendship should be the bedrock on which marriage is built as it helps the couple weather both good and bad times.

He also credits their successful marriage to involving a marriage counsellor early on.

This helped them learn how to deal with their differences in marriage as the it is basically a union of two different people making a life together. 

Wahu reiterates the importance of being friends and doing the self-work first even while being one part of a couple.

It is only through intense self-awareness and growth that people can learn to live together peacefully.

“We take mental wellness and self-awareness seriously. We believe in the power of therapy and coaching.

There is this misconception that you should only seek counselling when your union is in trouble. But one looks for a financial coach long before they get into debt.

It is, therefore, important to walk through marriage with a therapist,” Wahu informs us.

Parenting journey

The couple also credit their two children with drawing them closer as a unit. But how is it bringing up two children while being in the limelight?

How have they shielded Tumiso and Nyakio from the good and bad of being in the limelight as children of a celebrity couple?

“The most important skill to ingrain in our children is the ability to question everything and to be critical thinkers.

This is to equip them for the world and allow them to be independent. We come from a generation where we were not allowed to question authority. We were supposed to just listen and do.

But we encourage them to even question us, so that they can decipher and know their own truth.

Our role is to affirm, discipline and allow them to be the independent, creative beings they are supposed to be.

This allows them to navigate life alone and even on social media. When someone is being mean to them, they do not take it to heart, but instead question the reason behind it.

For example, it could be the person is having a bad day,” Nameless explains.

Wahu agrees with that jokingly adding that she has to play the bad cop more often than not with Nameless playing the good cop.

It does not come as a surprise that the stylish duo will soon be launching a clothing line, The N-Zone, a brand which seeks to inspire and empower, with the tagline ‘Be less limited.’ This is the newest baby they are intent on raising as well.

Fashion and wellness

“We are big on mental awareness. We believe that you have to acknowledge that you have limits in order to work on them and self-improve. The ‘be less limited’ tagline is an ethos we ascribe to even at home.

We, therefore, decided to create a platform, which combines our passion for fashion and wellness and use that to encourage everyone to not just look good, but ensure that they are doing the work to feel good,” Nameless explains.

It is a testament to the couple’s love for fashion that Wahu decided to start a salon, the famous Afrosiri salon located at Kenrail Towers, Westlands.

She talks about how she has always loved hair such that she wanted to go to a hairdressing school immediately after secondary school.

Her father was strongly against it and that is how she ended up pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science majoring in Mathematics.

A great thing she acknowledges as it was while in university that she met her significant other. But her love for hair and fashion persisted.

She would buy tongs and dye and experiment on her hair. It was, therefore, a natural step to start Afrosiri with her business partner. 

She explains how the couple have always supported each other with their different ventures and just how interesting it is to do something like This Love album and docu-reality series together.

“My leading style is geared towards inspiring people while my husband’s is empowering.

He will detail for you the how to do it, while I will want to just tell you how I did it and encourage you to do it in your own creative way.

I think working together has drawn us closer and taught us our differences, similarities and how we can leverage on each other’s strengths to grow together as a unit,” Wahu explains.

Nameless agrees with this explaining how they have learnt from each other not just from working together in their business ventures, but from working together as a couple.

He details how he is the more pragmatic of the duo while his wife is an eternal optimist.

While this was originally a source of friction, it has morphed into something that draws them together and makes them stronger.