Know your celeb: Meet Susan Makula

Her father is the late George William Serunjogi Kibuka and he died when she was joining university. The mother is Imelda Kisembo. They were 11 kids, but they're now eight. She's the second-last born.

Susan Makula went to the now-defunct Kyebando Primary School, then Kitante Hill School (for S.1 and S.2), St. Mary's S.S. Namaliga Bombo (S.3), Naalya S.S. (S.4). She would complete A-Level from Katikamu S.D.A. S.S.

She joined Makerere University to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce but dropped out after getting pregnant in her second year.

Her mother could still afford her fees but she dropped out because of stress from relatives who were saying unbecoming things about her.

She landed a gig as a waitress at Kampala Casino and her salary was Shs700k.

Then left to join The Pyramids Casino & Restuarant, also owned by Bob Kabonero.

She said they would host clients as rich as Sudhir Ruparelia. They would stake as much as Sh80 million and win around 200m. After such a win, a client would tip as high as Shs7m.

Makula said they never tried to date her despite giving her such huge tips.

When Club Sway was opening, she was among the waitresses that night. The owner of Sway was friends with Kabonero and he asked him to lend him some girls for the night.

At the time, Makula also used to have fun at Club Silk, Guvnor and other bars.

To quit the casino job, a man who had become friends with her and was also a client at The Pyramid asked her what he'd do for her to quit.

She asked him to pay her monthly salary of 700k for a year. After a while, they met at a bar and the man gave her Sh2.1m and she left immediately. She told him she’d return in a few but she never did, worried about his intentions. They've never met again.

She thought she'd use it to start a business but ended up spending it on her son

To survive, she got a boyfriend who was working in the finance ministry to support her.

During this time, from 2012 and 2014, she also did short courses to get different certificates.

She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Mass Communication and Journalism from Cavendish University.

The opportunity to join media landed when she called into Alpha FM to win a hamper in a promotion campaign. When she went to collect it, one of the staff liked her and told her she has a voice for a radio host.

Makula didn't have a passion for radio so she turned the offer to work there down, but the staff kept her number and later called her to voice a promotion.

She became friends with him and he'd call her for promo gigs where he'd pay her 10-20k. He eventually trained her. And one day when one of the presenters was away, he made her present.

He asked her to take a job and for the first six months, she wasn't paid because they didn't have money. They convinced her it would give her exposure.

One time Aisha Alibhai, whom she hosted at Alpha, offered her a job at KFM and she turned it down. Alibhai, who now works with Parliament, wanted Susan Makula to replace her at KFM. Makula, who had become born again, told her she didn't want to work for secular media.

She also turned down a job to work with Mbarara-based Crooze FM.

She was meant to resign from Alpha in December 2014, but then Bugingo launched Salt FM station in October.

She was tired of radio because of poor and delayed pay. They had promised her 350k and would pay her 200k.

Bugingo's offer came in October. Through a manager, she met Bugingo and they agreed on terms of work.

She was appointed music director and she asked to work with Aloysius Bugingo directly.

During her party life, she used to hang out with the likes of Bebe Cool, Peter Miles, and Menshan, so it made her work easier since she had prior exposure to the music world.

When Salt TV was launching, the manager noticed that she was good at research and he asked her to come in and do the morning show which centered around press reviews and current affairs.