Meet Joe: Making the most of my Gifts

“I am a baker, gospel singer and flight attendant. I got inspired to start baking by mum’s cooking. She used to bake us cake using the sand jiko and two sufurias method. After that, I started experimenting with the same method and ruined many of my mum’s sufurias in the process. I also went against the Meru culture, where young men were forbidden from entering the kitchen.” says Eric Joe Munene.

Joe’s childhood dream was to be a doctor. However, his affinity for arts and other hands-on subjects in high school plus his grades in Sciences put an end to that dream. He opted to study Banking and Languages instead, as he waited to be admitted to public university. “Before I could complete these studies, my brother informed me that an airline he was auditing the accounts for was hiring cabin crew. I applied and was rejected there several times. Finally, the airline offered me a job in the customer service department at the airport where I worked for six and a half years,” During this period, he kept applying for a flight attendant position even with foreign airlines but kept being rejected during interviews.

“All this time I would bake cookies and cake for my colleagues at work and soon some of them were willing to pay for them, so that their children would carry them to school as snacks. I bought cookbooks and cut out recipes from magazines and tried out different recipes during my off days.” When his colleagues were buying big TVs and sound systems, he saved up and bought an oven and basic baking equipment. He had an oven before he had any other electronics in his house.

“Eventually the airline I worked for allowed many of us in customer service to apply for cabin crew positions so I did and transitioned to my dream job. I started flying and the rest as they say is history.”

When the Great Kenyan Bake Off franchise started in 2019 a couple friends of his sent him the poster and encouraged him to apply but could not due to his work commitments.

Last year, as the Kenyan airspace was shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his friends sent him the TGKBO poster again and encouraged him to apply. As he was home for the better part of the year, he did and sent in his application a few minutes before the deadline. He ended up participating in the second season of the Great Kenyan Bake Off, emerging 1st Runners up.

“Despite not winning, being on the show opened many doors for me, my biggest take-home being that I interacted with the judges off camera. Asking them questions concerning baking and seeking knowledge from them and their collective experiences on how I can improve my skills in the kitchen was very inspiring. It was a masterclass for me. Nothing beats the exposure to great knowledge and skills for me. As a result, my baking has improved and the results speak for themselves.” Joe has since launched a baking business, Joeyz Cakes And Bakes aka Murume Bakes.

On the singing front he has served in the worship team and ministered in song since he was a teen in his local church in Meru where he grew up. His first album “Alive To Praise” was launched in 2008.  “I drew many lessons from the experience mostly on collaboration and the importance of working with a team as opposed to going solo. I learnt a lot, from performing, to booking and planning studio time to pushing the album for sales and looking for ministry opportunities.”

Behind every great gospel artist is a dedicated team. As a result he has since been working slowly, deliberately, on a follow-up sophomore album/EP one single, at a time.

Final words: “To whom much is given much is required,’ has been my steepest learning curve these past two years. I have learned to rely totally on God’s grace as per Lamentations 3:22, to thrive and operate in excellence in the variety of giftings God has put inside of me.”

Follow @ericjoemunene_murume on Instagram