Tina Tessie with her fan Ace Aella. PHOTO by isaac ssejjombwe
About the grind: She is the presenter of About Town, a positive social programme that brings you close to all you need to know about your town from entertainment to showbiz and artistes among others. She meets her fan Ace Aella.
Who is Tina Tessie?
She is a very lively, God fearing, show girl, very friendly, hardworking and outgoing.
When you say religious, what religion do you believe in?
I was born into a protestant family to very Anglican God fearing parents. I love God and that’s my life.
When did your TV journey start?
I have been on TV for three years. I started way back in 2013 when I was called on NTV to audition for Login when Robin Kisti was going on leave to have her first child. I screen tasted passed and somehow somewhere things didn’t work out but then an opportunity showed up and ‘Loud n City showed up and I took it on.
You have appeared in the ‘Whistle song’ and ‘Sunda’ would you say that helped you get the NTV slot?
Not really because like I told you, I am a very fun loving person. I like to go out and have fun so straight from the time I left high school, I had a lot of time in my vacation and opportunities kept coming so I decided to give it a try with videos, my family was supportive and my sister was my manager then and through this, I met a lot of people so by the time I went to university, I was already in the industry because I knew almost every person in the industry, artistes, managers and so on. The networking was good.
Besides TV, do you have anything else that you are doing?
Before TV came into my life, I was in marketing. I have marketed for a telecom company, bank, radio station, TV. So TV already found me on my grind. However, I didn’t go to school for that particular field. I did social sciences majoring in public administration but Life took me a different way.
What schools did you go to?
I attended several schools but went to at Lakeside Colllege Luzira and later on Makerere University and graduated in 2014.
What do you love about your TV job?
It has very many things I love about it. First of all it has made me grow. I network a lot, socialise, I love to dress up good, There is also room for improvement all the time, you can grow into a producer or an executive at some point.
What is the best interview you have ever done in you career?
I have met a lot of amazing people but everyone who knows me knows that I am a very huge fan of Konshens. I have interviewed him all the three times he has been here but every time I am star-struck. I lose words when I am interviewing him but the last time he called me my name and I was like whaatt. You know my name. It was the best moment.
Most embarrassing moment?
Every time I get embarrassed but thank God, my show is edited but there is a time I ran out of words when Burna Boy came to Uganda. I was the first person at the airport and I was given the first opportunity to ask him questions. He was just smiling at me and I just froze, lost words for like a minute which is a very long time on TV but eventually, I regained my composure and took it from there.
Challenges you face on TV?
I can’t say there are so many challenges but I work a lot during the night, so my working schedule has changed over the time. I sleep during the day and work during the night but there are times when I work both during day and night. Some event organisers are rude on most events.
Is Tina Tessie you real name?
My real name is Kyomujuni Christine but Tina Tessie comes from Christine which I cut short to Tina and Tessie is from my late father’s name, Mweitessie so I removed the ‘Mwei’ and remained with ‘Tessie’.
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