In April 2020, Kenya was in lockdown. Everyone was stuck at home, on their phones, scrolling. A girl from Mumias posted a TikTok video of herself dancing to Femi One and Mejja’s “Utawezana” and within days, the whole country knew her name.
Azziad Nasenya Wafula was 19 years old. She had been on TikTok for less than a year. She had no management deal, no TV show, no radio slot. She just had the video, the dance, and a phone.
What happened next is what makes her story worth telling.
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Quick Facts
| Full Name | Azziad Nasenya Wafula |
| Date of Birth | June 16, 2000 |
| Age | 25 (as of 2026) |
| Born | Mumias, Kakamega County |
| Tribe | Luhya |
| Education | St. Cecilia Misikhu Girls High School; Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (Broadcast Journalism) |
| Profession | Content creator, actress, radio host |
| Radio | Sound City Kenya — WhatsUp254 breakfast show |
| Status | Single (as of 2026) |
Azziad Nasenya’s Tribe — The Direct Answer
Azziad Nasenya is Luhya. She was born in Mumias, Kakamega County, the heart of Luhya country. Some sources have incorrectly listed her as Luo, likely because her eloquence in English and Swahili makes it difficult for people to place her origin by ear alone. Her family later moved between Kakamega and Nairobi, but her roots are firmly Western Kenya.
Early Life
Azziad Nasenya grew up in Kakamega County and Nairobi. She studied at Central Primary School in Mumias, Cathsam School in Nairobi, and eventually completed her primary education at Lugulu Girls Boarding Primary School. She had wanted to attend Buru Buru Girls High School in Nairobi, but her aunt preferred she go to a rural school. She ended up at St. Cecilia Misikhu Girls High School in Misikhu, Western Kenya.
That decision turned out to be consequential. Azziad performed solo verses while in high school, competing at the National Level of the Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festival. Drama was always the thing. Acting found her early, and she fed it wherever she could.
After completing secondary education in 2017, she moved to Nairobi and joined the Hearts of Art Theatre Group in Nairobi, Kenya. Her first role in the Group was as a part of the supporting cast in the play Repair My Heart in March 2018. Between 2018 and 2019, Azziad was cast in seven stage plays by Hearts of Art. It was through the group that she met her current manager, Peter Kawa.
She is the firstborn of four siblings. Her father lives and works in Mumias. Her mother lives in Germany, and in 2025 Azziad travelled there to spend time with her and rest after a period of intense work commitments.
Career and Breakthrough
She created a YouTube channel in November 2018, posting short skits and dance videos. Then in August 2019 she joined TikTok and started posting every day.
The breakthrough came in April 2020. A video of Azziad dancing to Femi One and Mejja’s Utawezana song went viral. It spread from TikTok to Instagram to WhatsApp groups and eventually to Twitter and Facebook, where it trended for days. The Utawezana Challenge was born, and Azziad was suddenly everywhere.
What followed moved fast. She was cast in Maisha Magic East’s Selina telenovela as Chichi. In April 2021, she landed a breakfast radio hosting job at Sound City Kenya, hosting the WhatsUp254 show, running weekdays from 6am to 10am. She launched “The Shoe Game with Azziad” on her YouTube channel, interviewing celebrities about the stories behind their shoes. She was nominated for an international E! award in 2021 and appointed as an Official Global Ambassador for the Save Our Future campaign in September 2020.
In February 2023, she was named a member of the Creatives Technical Committee under the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and Arts before it was revoked by then-minister Ababu Namwamba after the appointment was challenged in court.
She joined Eric Omondi’s Sisi Kwa Sisi Busia walk in March 2026, one of the celebrity supporters who joined a portion of the route.
Azziad Nasenya’s Net Worth (KES Estimate)
As of 2025, Azziad Nasenya’s net worth is estimated at approximately KES 56 million. Her income streams include acting, radio hosting, brand endorsements, and content creation. Notably, she charges around $5,000 per sponsored post on social media, ranking her among the top influencers in Africa.
Other estimates place it higher, between $500,000 and $750,000 (roughly KES 65-97 million). The range reflects how difficult it is to independently verify influencer income. A conservative midpoint of KES 56-70 million is the most defensible figure.
Her income comes from:
- Sound City Kenya: salaried radio hosting role, WhatsUp254 breakfast show
- Brand endorsements: $5,000 per sponsored post, multiple active partnerships
- Acting: Selina (Maisha Magic East), Hearts of Art stage productions
- YouTube: The Shoe Game, vlogs, over 100,000 subscribers (Silver Creator Award)
- Appearances: event hosting and brand activations
- Mercedes-Benz V-Class: she drives one, a visible marker of her earnings level
Azziad Nasenya’s Relationships
Morgan Adrian (2024) Azziad Nasenya was in a long-term relationship with Morgan Adrian, also known as MorgyAdrian. Their relationship, which began before Azziad’s rise to fame, was kept private until 2024, when they started appearing together in social media posts and videos. However, recent developments indicate that the couple has parted ways. Morgan Adrian confirmed their breakup, using a metaphor to describe the end of their relationship: “When a car starts giving you too many problems, you let it go… there’s no need to keep running to the mechanic.” He also mentioned the breakup had left him financially strained.
As of 2026, Azziad Nasenya is single and has not publicly introduced any new partner.
Drama and Controversies
The Cyberbullying and Suicide Ideation The viral fame came with a brutal downside. After Utawezana went viral, Azziad faced sustained online harassment. Her personal phone number was leaked, leading to over 13,000 WhatsApp messages from strangers. She has spoken openly about reaching a point where she considered ending her life because of the hate. She chose to pray, cry, and push through. She developed, as she put it, a tough skin. That chapter is now part of how she speaks about mental health in public, honestly and without minimising what it cost her.
The Brian Chira Defamation Case Azziad Nasenya sued TikTok creator Brian Chira on July 2023 after Chira went on TikTok live on July 15, 2023 and allegedly defamed her. Brian was arrested by DCI officers and spent the night in police custody. He was later released on a cash bail of KES 50,000. The case was one of the first high-profile defamation actions brought by a Kenyan influencer against another TikTok creator, and it set a precedent that online harassment has legal consequences.
The Viral Video False Attribution (2023) A private intimate video circulated online in January 2023 with claims that the woman in it was Azziad. She addressed it directly, showing that her tattoos did not match those of the person in the video. Kenya’s influencer community largely backed her up. It was a sharp reminder of how female celebrities in Kenya are targeted with false content.
The Debt Allegations and Auction (2025) In early 2025, Azziad faced public scrutiny after reports emerged that auctioneers had been sent to her Nairobi residence over unpaid debts. The reports claimed creditors had moved to attach her household items after bills went unsettled. She did not publicly confirm or deny the specific figures involved. The incident generated significant search interest. The combination of a high-profile public image and reported financial difficulty is the kind of contrast Kenya finds difficult to look away from. As of 2026, she has not addressed the matter in detail and continues to work across all her platforms.
The Government Appointment Revocation Her February 2023 appointment to the Creatives Technical Committee under the Talanta Hela initiative was the start of one of the most complicated chapters of her public life. The appointment itself sparked immediate controversy. Mumias East MP Peter Salasya claimed on Twitter that CS Ababu Namwamba had given Azziad the role out of personal attraction, calling it favoritism and demanding he stop “using government platforms to impress her.”
A photo of Azziad and Namwamba at the Talanta Hela launch, the two spotted in matching shoes, sent social media into overdrive. Rumours of a romantic relationship between the influencer and the married Cabinet Secretary spread rapidly. Namwamba addressed them directly in an exclusive interview: “Azziad is not my girlfriend. We do not have any relationship whatsoever,” he said, adding that she had been “maliciously and unjustly singled out” from a larger team that was appointed at the same time.
Akothee, characteristically, weighed in publicly. She shared a conversation she had with Azziad about the rumours: “Mummy, and what is wrong with dating the CS if he is single and ready to mingle?” to which Azziad responded: “No mommy, we have nothing. Currently I am working on my career.”
The appointment was eventually revoked after it was challenged in court. She was not alone in the revocation. The entire committee was affected. But the rumours had already done their work, and the episode became the most-discussed controversy of Azziad’s professional career that year.
Social Media Following
| Platform | Following |
|---|---|
| Instagram (@azz_iad) | 1.5M+ |
| TikTok (@azz_iad) | 3M+ |
| YouTube | 100,000+ subscribers (Silver Creator Award) |
| X (Twitter) (@AzziadNasenya) | Active |
Azziad Nasenya Latest News (Mid-2026)
At 25, Azziad Nasenya is still building. The Sound City breakfast show continues. The Shoe Game on YouTube continues. She joined Eric Omondi’s Sisi Kwa Sisi walk in March 2026 in a moment that placed her alongside Kenya’s most active celebrity philanthropists.
The Morgan Adrian breakup is behind her. The Brian Chira case ran its course. The false video attribution was addressed and moved past. What remains is the brand, built entirely on her own terms, from a TikTok video posted during a pandemic lockdown.
Not bad for a girl from Mumias.

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