When she was young, Ruby Vivien watched the likes of Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards in awe.

Her curiosity, as to what it takes to conceptualise and put gears in motion for such a prestigious red carpet awards ceremony year after year, was piqued.

The showbiz entrepreneur felt there was under appreciation of hip hop locally and yet, as an international genre, it continues to create employment for a lot of young people.

“Look at the jobs one artist can create; there’s a stage manager, road manager, personal assistant, sound engineer, publicist, stylist and more.

There are so many jobs that come from one artist. It’s one genre not adequately highlighted, but has the muscle to represent Kenya on an international platform,” she says.

The radio presenter was eager to create the missing link. With many aspects residing within hip-hop culture, she sought to establish an awards event that acknowledges this dynamism beyond the music.

Fashion, street art, dance and more made it to the awards categories because as she put it, there’s so much more to hip hop than just one artist or two being celebrated as we see in awards.

For the love of hip-hop, she created Unkut Hennessy Hip hop Awards (UHHA) an awards event of its kind in the country with the first edition rolling out in 2019. She wanted to see the thriving talent elevated.

The debut edition was a self-sponsored project and she says it turned out better than expected.

The moments culminating to the first edition of the awards were intimidating, but everything pulled through. 

Building a brand

With support from Intronix Media for the subsequent seasons, she managed to host the awards annually and last year, alcohol brand, Hennessy, came on board as a sponsor for the entire show.

“Things came together beautifully at the last show. It was my first major production with corporate endorsements and it was of profound magnitude.

There was immense pressure given that I had just experienced a huge loss in my life.

I was trying to keep everything under balance, but I lost it a little bit,” she says.

At the time, she was overwhelmed by inescapable grief of losing a close friend she had known since she was 11 years.

She says there were things that could have been done better and, therefore, was keen on making sure this season would be better

She banked on more collaborations to meet the standards she has set. “Lessons from pulling the show ground up is that you cannot do it alone.

I have this problem, which I wouldn’t call micromanaging, but it’s like this; because the baby is mine, I feel like I’m the only one who knows how to handle it,” she says adding that she is still trying to learn how to delegate and work with a team.

For the showbiz entrepreneur, the dream is to build a strong brand that will outlive her.

Whose legacy will stand and flourish whether she will be alive or transitioned to the next realm.

“Building a legacy that lives on is the grand vision. You see how the Grammy Awards have been here for long?

This is how I want it to be. To be a global brand and authority in the field of African hip-hop and entertainment. Hopefully, it will get to a point where we are like BET networks,” she asserts.

Understanding the pressures that come with the showbiz industry, Ruby is vocal about mental health and how creatives get affected in this space.

To create more awareness on the subject, she takes part in forums, panel discussions and started a basketball tournament called Ball For Health.

The latter, which first took place in 2018, was compromised by the pandemic, which made it difficult to orchestrate.

Working in radio might have propelled her to pursue her vision sooner. Her friends have a recollection of her wanting to be on radio when she was young.

But she speaks of how her desire to be on radio was prime in college.  Her first step towards this and events management was interning with a local radio show host, Mwalimu Rachel.

She later got two hours on radio as a hip hop show host, but that wasn’t sufficient.

And that’s where Unkut the Cypher was born.  Working in a media company and attending high profile meetings on events strategy armoured her with the knowledge she could apply to grow her own brand.

Unhealthy competition

To be in showbiz as UHHA CEO has put her in the same room with various players in the industry. And some of them, especially men, have been disrespectful and patronising.

“Men are not generally sexualised when presenting an idea, but I have been in business meetings where I have been asked my relationship status.

Women are highly underestimated and when it looks like you are breaking the mold, people will try to put you down,” she says, adding that with every project, it can feel like trying to prove that she has what it takes and having people question your capabilities is exhausting. Nonetheless, she stays loyal to the cause.

To create space further for important conversations, Ruby has a podcast called the Qingship Podcast where she invites diverse minds to give voice to various topics including sexual education, human rights, mental wellness, financial literacy and the creative economy in the country. She puts youth at the forefront of this conversations.

“Podcasting in Kenya right now is slow. The Kenyan audience became heavy on online activities during Covid-19 pandemic lockdown so eventually, listenership will go up,” she says.

Ruby believes in the thriving hip hop talent, but finds the unhealthy competitive nature of musicians who antagonize each other, counterproductive.

“It should not be about artist A or B, but about A and B.  It’s unhealthy competition. People should be more supportive.

If you go to an interview and they ask you who you are listening to, it won’t hurt or take away from your fans to send them to other artists,” she says in conclusion.