Cartoon Comedian, also known as Vanessa, has recently opened up about her unconventional path to success.
The comedienne told Oga Obinna on his popular YouTube show that she took up hawking omena to get rid of the frustration of dropping out of high school and having so much time on her hands.
Cartoon Comedian’s journey began in Form Two when she found herself grappling with the frustration of dropping out of school due to financial constraints. Her parents’ separation during her eighth-grade year left her mother as her sole caretaker. The emotional impact of her parents’ split weighed heavily on Cartoon, who cherished her connection with her father.
Her mum took her to a good school high school in Karen. Then she left because of the lack of school fees. She then went to a school in Dagoretti where life was different.
“I used to shower with hot water in Karen and eat well, then now in Kiambu we were sharing bathrooms,” she spoke about the rough life.
She couldn’t cope and dropped out. “People were scrambling for food, we were squeezing in the bathroom and girls peeing in there,” were some of her reasons plus school fees again.
This was in Form Two. “Life started being a bit tricky for me,” she also found her new school boring.
“I felt disconnected to my education,” She then started selling omena. “My cousin Alice came to visit with Omena. Since most of the time I was home from school coz of the lack of fees, I started feeling I should use my time selling omena. So I started walking around selling with confidence. I had the determination to do this business. I realized that if I woke up really early, the mama in the soko would buy the basin of omena for Sh1000. I even used to go to hotels owned by Kikuyus to cook for them.”
Her effort paid off. “Per day, on a good day, I would make like Sh2,000. Because I would walk very far and wide to hawk. The best biz was selling to hotels very early.”
She was so proud of her hard work, she would buy her family groceries. “I would go back home in the evening feeling so happy that I have money in my bag. I would remove the money and sit back naingia na unga, and my mother respected me, hadi naeza mtuma,” she said as she laughed about her past.
“I became a boss lady. Now sadly my omena supplier stopped sending to me, coz she went to ushago. So I decided to switch.”
