Woman Crush Wednesday
Satisfashion UG’s WCW Today Is Sports Journalist Usher Komugisha
Usher Komugisha is a 34-year-old sports journalist, foodie, and travel enthusiast. Her wide-ranging interest in sports has become the fuel for a career in sports journalism, reporting, and commentating on sports at an International level.
Komugisha was always athletic and heavily supported to play in every aspect, whether with friends in the neighborhood or at school. This helped her to express herself from a very young age. ‘I was very aware that I had options. We didn’t have a lot of sports facilities but we always worked with what we had.’ she tells EA Scene.
Komugisha attended Kibuli high school, which she believes was the best at the time in balancing sports and education. Although she was only one of two children from schools upcountry, she fit in quickly. ‘Nancy Kacungira was our head girl when I’d just joined S.1, and we were on the same women’s football team’. Komugisha recalls.
She started her journalism journey by working for a well-known radio station in the country back in 2008 where she met Joseph Kabuleta who spoke to her about writing. Being heavily influenced by Nigerian literature such as the work of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe even before she was 8 years old, Usher was excited by this advice. She started working in New Vision where they were about 20 sportswriters, all men, and she joined the team as the only woman.
As luck would have it, Komugisha soon got her breakthrough when she was chosen by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), which had partnered with the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), to go to the world university games in China in 2011. It was her first time flying and she met a lot of big names. She was introduced to color commentary, which she described as human interest stories.
She was thought to be one of the best at the end of the program, leading her to be chosen to cover the London 2012 world Olympics (at 24) where she interviewed major sports stars like Serena Williams, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer, and Usain Bolt.
Thereafter, she worked for SuperSport and kept expanding her horizons. “I got a lot of offers in Rwanda because they invest a lot in sports. I was hired to do communications for the African nations cup. That is when I decided to enter African football as a journalist. I worked to be an expert at African football with or without the Uganda cranes. When Uganda qualified for AFCON later that year, it opened up more doors for me. My boss prepared a budget for me to go to Gabon which was unheard of at Super sport. Not to brag but right now, I am an expert on women’s football in Africa.” Says Komugisha.
One of Komugisha’s achievements and proudest moments is when she created the hashtag ‘no name’ last year to highlight women in the Olympics. The hashtag garnered a lot of traction and gave her a whole new experience of how to tell stories.
Komugisha’s advice to all future sports journalists and anyone reading her story is to always be yourself and trust the process. “There are absolutely no shortcuts to success. Be consistent and truthful to yourself. Also, forgive yourself when you make mistakes and allow yourself to grow. Be open-minded and do not block opportunities because you are conservative. Believe in yourself and work hard.”
Source: Leo Africa Review
Source: EA Scene
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