CIRU MURIUKI OPENS UP ON LOSING HER JOB AT BBC

BBC journalist Ciru Muriuki has for the first time opened up about being laid off.

In an update on her socials, Ciru said she had to adapt to a new lifestyle, “I got laid off. In other words, I was retrenched. I was working at this large international media house for almost five years. And last year they wanted to take a different direction and wanted to do a digital first approach. And as a result, some roles were made redundant, right now, I am an unemployed journalist.”

She added, “One of the reasons why I’ve wanted to talk about this is because people think that there’s some kind of shame in acknowledging that you’ve lost your job. And there isn’t. These are really tough economic times. I know friends that I love and respect, same thing happened to them from the same organisation. This is something that is happening across the world. One of the reasons I want us to talk about this is because, you know, there is life after losing your full time employment.”

According to the journalist, she will be venturing into content creation, “I’m now fully throwing myself into content creation and I hope to thrive there as well. So in the weeks moving forward, We’ll be talking about how to survive, having lost your job. I have had a regular paycheck for the better part of a decade now. This is kind of like a shock to my system. I’ve had to make adjustments to my lifestyle.

There are things that I could do without thinking before that I have to put some thought into now. I recently lost some weight and needed new clothes, but I can’t go shopping in the same places, I have to really  think about where my money is going because the paycheck is not there anymore. One of the things that I will say it’s kind of a blessing in disguise is that it really awakens me to the kind of opportunities that are out there and there are so many opportunities to make an income.”