Vinka: 2 things my bosses told me when I decided to become a singer

Before venturing into singing, Vinka was Ntale's manager who was at the time signed under the record label owned by Benon Mugumbya and Julius Kyazze.

"They told me two things, my bosses at Swangz," said Vinka while speaking to Crystal Newman, "you might start out well, you might start out badly... So you have to be ready for everything, so I was ready for anything good or bad. I just had to go in."

She shared this after Newman asked her if she expected singing hectic when she launched her music career.

She attributed her success to "my tenacity and the tenacity of my team."

Who is Vinka?

Vinka, real name Veronica Nakiyingi Lugya, grew up in Kazo, Kawempe and Bweyogerere. She went to Hormisdallen Schools (Kamwokya), Rubaga Girls’ Secondary School and Makerere University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Administration in 2017.

In A-Level, she was an entertainment prefect and she started dancing and singing when she was in high school. 

In S.6 vacation, she participated in a dancing competition called HotSteps with friends whom she joined to form a group and they won.

She later worked for Jackie Chandiru as a dancer. It’s when Chandiru started falling sick that Vinka started thinking about quitting.

She had been performing at Buzz Events, which is owned by Swangz Avenue and also danced for their artiste the late Sera. That's how she met Julius Kyazze. Kyazze offered her a job as an artiste manager and she took it.

She got the job while she was still at university and part-timed it with Chandiru’s until she asked her to choose between her and managing Irene Ntale. She chose to work with Ntale.

In 2015, Swangz Avenue needed a dancehall artiste and they told her to participate in scouting for one.

She had been doing jingles and voice-overs at the record label. The label produces adverts for organisations. 

Then in 2016, after she was done with school, she offered herself to try and become that dancehall singer. They hit studio and she recorded Level, her first single.

It was followed by Overdose, Malaika, then Love Doctor.

She says, to her, Malaika was the song that gave her the confidence that she had finally made it as a singer. 

She stopped doing artiste management in October 2016 and focused fully on singing in February 2017.