Kenyan digital creator and wife of celebrated filmmaker Abel Mutua, popularly known as Mkurugenzi, has spoken about the internal battle she fought with a name the public casually assigned to her.

For a long time, every time someone called her “Bi Mkurugenzi,” Judy Nyawira would quietly but firmly correct them, my name is Judy Nyawira.

Judy recalled the discomfort that came with being reduced to a title built entirely around her husband’s identity.

Abel Mutua had spent years crafting a powerful personal brand as ‘Mkurugenzi, and the public, naturally, extended that brand to his wife.

But for Judy, the name raised an uncomfortable question. “I was like, what does that exactly mean? Does it mean that the only thing I am or I have to offer is being the wife of this fantastic man?” Judy posed during an interview on the Beyond The Brand Podcast.

It was a quiet struggle she carried for some time. Each time the name came up, she would counter it with her own, a gentle but deliberate act of reclaiming her individuality.

“I remember the first days I used to struggle with people calling me that. Every time somebody would say Bi Mkurugenzi, I would counter with Judy,” she recalled.

Four years later, the conversation has changed entirely. Judy says she has now fully embraced the name, but on her own terms.

“I chose to embrace it because I realized that I am the person I choose to define myself as. The only person who has that power is me,” she explained.

Bi Mkurugenzi, she now says, is simply one facet of who she is, not the sum total of her identity. “Bi Mkurugenzi is just another way of defining who I am. But it’s not the only way,” she concluded.