Meet Luv FM's Anita Kuma

For someone who studied Building Technology at Ghana's premier science and technology university, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, the expectation was that she would end up 'baking' her daily bread at project sites clad in an over-coat, sporting a' crash helmet and standing in a pair of safety boots.

But the unpredictable wind of life blew pretty Anita Akua Kyerewaa Kuma from her dream project sites and dropped her in a studio at the Multimedia Group's Kumasi-based radio station Luv 99.5 FM, where she now hosts the Metropolitan Mix and the Lunch Time Rhythms shows week-days, with a lot of positive vibes that have endeared her to listeners of the station.

According to Anita, she always thought she would end up being a quantity surveyor while she read Building Technology at KNUST. But playing music regularly on the campus radio station, Focus FM, made her fall in love with radio and thus picked up most of the techniques she now utilises to make her output solid in the eyes of her employers and listeners.

"At first it was just a hobby, but it turned pretty serious when Multimedia came calling. Now it is my life and I have learnt to be a professional on the job," she said.

She's indeed, one of the strong forces in the radio industry in the Ashanti Region and Kumasi in particular. "Radio means so much to me that I wish presenters would take their jobs a bit more seriously and be more professional on air because lots of lives are shaped with things that listeners hear on radio".

The beautiful lady behind the console at Luv FM was born in Kumasi in the early 1980s 'and was brought up on the KNUST campus, where her dad, Mr D.O.K. Kuma was a geologist with the Building and Road Research Institute and her mother, Victoria prepared sumptuous dishes for students at the Kumasi High School where she worked as a cook.

She comes from a really large family. Her dad fathered 13 children and she's the ninth. Anita, who described herself as a family person said she loves her mother, dearly and is also really 'crazy' about her "Godmother," Mrs Love Osei Asamoah, who has been a really big inspiration in her life.

"I now live in a small apartment in Kumasi, where I have grown up a lot," she said with a smile, and added "I love to come home and just kick back, watch some movies, listen to some music and throw fancy parties for my family". That statement was buried in a loud laughter that indicated that she loved life very much.

As a woman, Anita believes that education is very important and has thus taken it very seriously. She is presently pursuing a master's degree in business administration at KNUST and hopefully would be done by June this year.

She's a proud old girl of Wesley Girls' High school and described the experiences there as one that had shaped her up to become a perfectionist in her career. "Everything I do is done well," she blew her big trumpet with a giggle.

Her love for parties has drawn her closer to food and she describes herself as a big 'foodie', whose interest goes as far as cooking and eating it. She also tries at all times to improve on her kitchen skills so that her family can always enjoy good food.

Outside normal everyday activities, Anita loves travelling and says she has moved around Ghana except the three northern regions but she is looking forward to having that 'rectified' soon.

Touching her love life got the radio queen jittery but she was forced to say something about it. She described her love life as the most exciting part of her life.

"I never knew what was coming my way until, bam! It hit me on the face. Like most young ladies, I had some experiences before prince charming popped up," she said:

"And now I am very happily in love with a really wonderful young man, Akwasi Nkansah Dwamena, whom I call Honourable and it's pretty serious .... probably because of all the food that I have been cooking plus the fancy parties hahahahaha!," she quipped.