Alex Chamwada

Alex Chamwada is a Kenyan international journalist. He was born on the 16th of August 1971, in Ellongo village, Sabatia Constituency in Vihiga County located in Western Kenya to the late Pastor Herman Ayiego of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) in Ellongo. His parents also practiced subsistence farming.

Marriage
Alex Chamwada is the second born in a family of 12. He has been married since 7 July 2001 to Caroline Irako Chamwada who is a Human Resource Officer in a Telecommunication firm in Kenya, together they have three children Chelsea, Kessie and Leon.

Education
Alex Chamwada did his early learning in Kenya, he studied in Ellongo Primary school in Vihiga county, St Peters Mumias High school in Kakamega County. He went for University studies in Moi University in Kenya where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Sciences in 1996, he later did a Post-Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from The University of Nairobi. In 2005 he graduated with a master's degree in Politics and Mass Media from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

Broadcasting Journey
Alex Chamwada begun his journey to broadcast journalism in the year 1994 where he began doing voluntary radio presentation at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) while still in Moi University. During this time, they would use Cassette recorders to submit shows. He used to present an evening Swahili program known as Mwangaza (Swahili meaning light) on KBC radio. By the time he graduated in 1996 he continued working as a volunteer for KBC but would still do part time jobs in the book publishing industry.

Upon completion of his Mass Communication Post Graduate Diploma from The University of Nairobi in the year 1998, Alex Chamwada joined KBC as an intern reporter. In March 1999 Alex Chamwada joined the Royal Media services, then a locally owned radio station. In October 1999 when Royal Media begun a TV station he became both a radio and TV reporter.

In the year 2000 he joined the Voice of America from October to December for an internship program. When he came back to Kenya from the United States of America, he joined the Kenya Television Network (KTN) as a reporter, he took a study leave from KTN in the year 2004 where he worked as a Senior Reporter and went to pursue his master's degree in Politics and Mass Media in the University of Liverpool. Alex Chamwada came back to Kenya in the year 2005 and continued with his reporting job at KTN till the year 2008 when he left KTN to join The Royal Media Services’ Citizen TV. Alex Chamwada grew through the ranks to become an Associate Editor in charge of Politics, he worked till February 2014 when he decided to quit and start his own media production company, which he had founded by December 2013.

Awards and Honors

 * Konrad Adenar Foundation Scholarship to study a diploma in mass Communication at The University of Nairobi in the year 1997-1998
 * Chevening Scholarship to study a Masters in Politics and Mass Media at the University of Liverpool in Manchester in the year 2004-2005
 * Kenyan Presidential Award The Order of the Grand Warrior for his accomplishments in the field of Journalism in the year 2010
 * Environmental Journalist of the year by the Media Council of Kenya TV category in the year 2016

Unique experiences
Reporting politics was difficult for Alex Chamwada and yet he spent most of his journalistic career as a political reporter. This experience made him not like what he was practicing and therefore led to his deep desire to practice something that would be more fulfilling. This is the experience that led him to start Chams Media where he could tell Happy Stories and therefore become a more fulfilled journalist who would now leave a legacy in the practice of journalism in Kenya.

The networks he made while studying and working abroad have been beneficial to propelling the DARING ABROAD show and also widened his experience in how he handles matters arising. A career without networks is a failed career, since human beings are interdependent.