Celebrating two decades in the Kenyan entertainment space, acclaimed actress, events host, and DJ Pierra Makena has reflected on her arduous journey to the top of the Kenyan showbiz chain.
DJ Pierra made a name for herself as the first female Kenyan DJ to conquer the male-dominated field when she started as a radio DJ, at a time when the craft was still a new phenomenon.

By the time she decided to become a DJ, Pierra Makena was already a TV and radio presenter, having started her career at KBC.
The 43-year-old says she had to endure a lot, including verbal abuse and sexual advances as she gave the male DJs a run for their money.
“I went through hell. I was called a whore, a stripper, because I was always playing in clubs. There was too much drama from all sides, which reached my parents. It was so much that my parents asked me to stop being a DJ. Not to mention the church,” says DJ Pierra.
The mother of one also claims that male DJs were also intimidated by her entry into the DJ business, and the brave ones approached her and advised her to quit.
“As the only female DJ, whenever there was a gender consideration, I would get the job because I was the only one at the time, the more gigs I got, the more money I made, and that made the male DJs start a narrative that I was sleeping around, that’s why I was getting the jobs, yet I wasn’t even a better DJ in their eyes. I still have messages from the DJs who were spreading that kind of hate just to get me out of the business and out of the scene,” she says.

DJ Pierra goes on to add;
“Some would come and verbally tell me, you know, as a woman, I don’t think this is your thing. Look, there are no female DJs. It’s not your space.”
But DJ Pierra stuck to her guns, developed a thick skin, and was ready for whatever was thrown at her.
” I had already made up my mind, I was going to stay. The more club gigs I got, the more confident I became. The next thing I knew I was getting concert gigs. When I went commercial in 2013, meaning I only relied on DJing to make money, I wanted to set an example for other women who wanted to enter the space. Secondly, I wanted to prove that women can make it in this industry without necessarily giving in to sexual advances in return for a gig. There is not one person out there who can come out and say I slept with them to get a DJ job. I have never compromised myself. DJ Pierra asserts.
Before going commercial, DJ Pierra was an employee of the Scanad Group, a marketing services agency, a job she had to quit to concentrate fully on being a DJ.