IDEA MAGAZINE September-November 2015 | Page 16

MY JOURNEY TO HEALTH LIVING My name is Jane Mukami. I moved to the United States in 1999 to pursue higher education. I attended Kennesaw State University in Atlanta GA and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems. My first few months in the foreign land were the most difficult. In college I had to figure out, by myself, everything including how to get a job, how to pay fees, and how to pay bills. Traversing American culture was no joke and required a lot of proactive thinking and acting. The winter season was always harsh granted that Kenya, my motherland, experiences tropical climate. Needless to mention, accent barrier did not help much and I was required to adopt the American way of speaking in order to make communication easy. I began my fitness journey in 2008 and it wasn't until 2010 when I really got into it and realized that I enjoyed researching, discussing and living a healthy lifestyle. Even while still working as an IT consultant, I pursued this passion by blogging about health and fitness (www.janemukami.com). Realizing the people were keen on their health, I decided to grow this into business in 2013. However, in August 2013 after the IT contract I was working on expired, I decided not to pursue another contract until I had a better plan. Although my career had grown over the years I had this itch for something new, something exciting. For 2 IDEA DIAPORA 15