For a lady who grew up wanting to be the next Mariah Carey, the ever-smiling 28 year old secretary of Jubilee Christian Center (JCC) has surely gotten round to proving her worth musically.
 
With her debut album, the stunning Nina has undoubtedly shown that the praise and worship genre is alive and well, and quickly gaining a place of prominence on Kenya’s music scene. This album is reminiscent of Pastor Pete Odera’s unique urban/praise and worship melodies - small woner she features him on three of the nine songs on the album.

Produced by Pete himself at Water brooke Studios, it also epitomizes the stylings of her mentors and pastors, Kathy and Allan Kyuna.
      
Her songs read like the life story of a Christian’s walk with God, characterising its ups and downs: Bless the Lord, the title-track of the Album is based on Psalm 103, and speaks of the wonderful things that God has done and His enduring faithfulness. I Surrender All features Pastor Pete, as do Just To Be and Clap your hands. Nina believes that a good worshipper must have an extra-close relationship with God, and this is the message in cuts like Ewe Mungu Wangu and Just To Be.
 

Nina definitely has a great deal to be thankful for, if her journey so far is anything to go by.
 
Nina Njoroge always knew she wanted to sing. Born again in Form two, she changed her focus to using her voice in worshipping God. With this in mind, she immediately signed up for a singing group in her church, and a few years later, joined the worship team. It is during this time that the pastor at her church encouraged her with an odd and stunning remark. wanting to see her excel, he told her something that would stick in her mind for many days to come. He said:
 
"Nina you sing so sweetly, i only wish that you could go through some hardship"!
 
Ouch! Later on when she moved churches, she ended up avoiding the worship team like the plague!
 
Confining herself to singing specials in church, Nina never considered going into music as a career - not until she joined the School of Music at JCC. She says that the School was instrumental in preparing her and getting her to dream again and believe that God wanted her to pursue a music career. She then joined the worship ministry as part of the backing team, a role she plays to date.  

However, Nina credits the launching of her music career to her loving husband, who challenged her, observing that she had been singing all these years and still had nothing to show for it.
      
At the same time she realised that had gotten, as she puts it, "tired of singing other people's songs and buying their CDs" - she wanted to try something of her own. Pete Odera, whom she was already doing background vocals for, provided her an opportunity to do just that.
 
Launching her music career has not been without its challenges. She contends with having to juggle her married life with both her music and work responsibilities. She took her own advice when her aptly titled song, ‘Don’t Give Up’, mysteriously vanished from her producer's computer soon after it was completed. She's never once allowed herself to give up, even when the going has been very tough. She always gets back up on her feet and keeps trying. The effort has most definitely been worth it.
 

If this is an indication of her future potential, Nina Njoroge is an artist you want to keep your eyes on.
 
Her parting shot and advice to upcoming musicians?

“Back up with the right attitude, back up as though you were leading!”
 

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