Episode 175 – A Chat With Evelyn Maina

Evelyn is a very unusual guest in that we brought her into the WordPress community! Years ago when Liam and Tara started this podcast they hired Evelyn as their transcriber. Since then, Evelyn has gotten to know more than 175 WordPressers by transcribing their interviews here on Hallway Chats. Her perspective as an "outsider" was quite heartwarming.

Introducing Evelyn Maina

Evelyn is a very unusual guest in that we brought her into the WordPress community! Years ago when Liam and Tara started this podcast they hired Evelyn as their transcriber. Since then, Evelyn has gotten to know more than 175 WordPressers by transcribing their interviews here on Hallway Chats. Her perspective as an “outsider” was quite heartwarming.

Show Notes

https://havenscribe.com/

https://glowfaceportal.co.ke/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/evalyn-maina/

Transcript:

Topher: Hey everyone, my name is Topher. 

Nyasha: And my name is Nyasha. 

Topher: And this is Hallway Chats. We’d like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Nexcess, a Liquid Web. brand. Nexcess has been a solid web host for the entire HeroPress Network. So if you need hosting, check them out. 

Our guest today is Evelyn. Welcome. 

Evelyn: Thank you.

Topher: You know, I said that the American ways. Is it right? Just the normal way? 

Evelyn: Yes. Right.

Topher: Okay.

Evelyn: Yes. 

Topher: So by way of introduction, Evelyn does the transcription for Hallway Chats and a lot of stuff at HeroPress, and has been magnificent. So I feel like she’s already a part of the WordPress community because she read so much of our stuff. But that said, I know almost nothing about you, Evelyn. I don’t know your last name. I know you live in Kenya?

Evelyn: Yes.

Topher: And that you do transcription. That’s it. So who are you? 

Evelyn: Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate. My name is Evelyn Maina. I’m an accountant by profession. 

Topher: Oh.

Nyasha: Wow. 

Evelyn: Yes. So here in Kenya we call it CPAK, and I have a degree in finance. 

Topher: Okay. 

Evelyn: So I started transcription since 2016. So that’s what I’ve been doing all along. And kind of like I no longer practice accounting. 

Topher: Okay. So you’re a full-time transcriptionist now? 

Evelyn: Yes. 

Topher: Okay. What made you get into that, and what made you fall in love it so much that you quit your current job? 

Evelyn: Well, it was actually by accident, I would say. Back in 20… actually 2015 I was working in an insurance company and I got exhausted at some point. I would get anxious and stuff like that, so I decided to take a break from accounting, and from that firm I was working for. And as I was doing that, at some point, I went back to that company to pick up a check that I had left. And a friend of mine told me… because the idea was to take a break for three months, and then get back to it. 

Meanwhile, within that three months, the idea was to find another job. And I went back to that company, my friend gave me a contact of a person and she said, “By the way, there’s a way this friend of mine who work online…” She actually said “work online.” She never mentioned transcription. “…this friend of mine who work online, I probably would give you his contact so that you can… I mean, before you find something else to do, just try it out and see how it goes for you.

So at that point, I actually didn’t know what working online was or I had never heard the word “transcription”. So I contacted the friend and it turned out they were doing transcription. I tried it out. When I started I still was looking for an accounting job, but at some point, I felt like it was like a nice thing to do. That’s why I fell in love with it. 

I never went back to accounting again because when I started I met some nice people in transcription. The idea of learning a lot of things, I’ve learned a little bit about WordPress, stuff about medical, a lot of things. You can imagine eight years that I’ve been doing this with different people. I get to learn a lot of things as I work. I usually say sort of like a free… It’s like I’m in school for free because I learn a lot of things. 

The idea of flexibility is what kept me out of… I never want to go back to eight to five again. No more anxiety. I would say the pay is better than you used to earn back then. So all those factors combined I do not see myself going back there any time soon.

Topher: That’s wonderful. 

Nyasha: Nice. You have such a lovely story. 

Evelyn: Yeah, thank you. 

Topher: My wife did transcriptions for a short while. 

Evelyn: Oh.

Evelyn: It was technical stuff and she’s not a computer person, and she quite suddenly started asking me very specific technical questions like over dinner. She’s like, “Wait a minute, where’s this coming from?” 

Nyasha: I love people who do transcription work, and I salute you, especially you, Evelyn, because I am.. my southern United States accent I know makes it difficult at times or lots of audio to pick up what I’m saying or the terms I use. So I’m so happy and thankful for you all. 

Evelyn: True. True. But I think for the period I’ve done it, because I started in… 2016 was basically kind of orienting myself, getting used to it. So I would say 2017 was when I really officially started and decided this is what I want to do. So I think within that period of time I’ve have come across thousands of… Okay, I don’t know if it’s thousands but well, a lot of accents. And some have gotten used to them.

Well, there are some that you can come across that are quite challenging, but generally, I’m comfortable with majority of the accents that I come across.

Topher: I have been consistently very impressed with how you’ve managed to transcribe not just accents, but accents over a terrible connection. Have you ever deliberately studied accents or an accent to say, you know, I’d like to get better at polish or you know, or something from Asia? 

Evelyn: No, not quite. What usually happens is when you come across a client, whether you’re introduced to or whatever means you find them, what happens is they just basically present whatever they have and you struggle with it. Sometimes the quality of the audio is… I don’t want to say horrible but it’s really not so good. And I think because of that you kind of like get… I don’t know. You just get used to it somehow. 

Now, when you present something to me, more often than not, I’ll just handle it. It now comes naturally to me to be able to decipher those accents, different accents.

Topher: Very cool. I know you live in Kenya, but that’s all. Do you live in a big city? Do you live downtown? Do you live in a country?

Evelyn: Yes. I live in Nairobi. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya. So basically what happens in Nairobi has a different… we call them estates. I don’t know what to call them back there. Normally use British English. So different parts of the town. So I’m basically about 10 kilometers… You translate them two miles and I usually have a difficult time coverting them. 

Nyasha: It’s okay. 

Evelyn: I’m 10 kilometers from the CBD of Nairobi, central business district. Okay. Yes. 

Nyasha: It’s about 6.2 miles. I’m learning. I’m learning. In Kenya or even our school system we usually use British English so it’s like for example back there you will say a trunk, we’ll say a boot, such thing. So yeah, that’s differences. In terms of distance, we use kilometers back here.

Topher: Cool. 

Nyasha: Cool. 

Topher: Do you have a family? 

Evelyn: No, not yet.

Topher: Oh, okay. 

Evelyn: And I understand in the US family means like you’re married and probably children. 

Topher: Yeah. It doesn’t have to. You could say like, is your extended family in the city with you, like your parents around, you have cousins? 

Evelyn: Okay. Well, I think in my line of work, I’ve noticed when people are saying family they most of the times reference a nuclear family, like have a wife and children. When you say family when you’re here, it’s sort of it could be your mother, your brother. But generally, I would say, I have a mother and brothers and sister, one sister and five brothers. So we are seven of us in my family. 

Topher: Oh, nice. 

Nyasha: But family of my own, not yet.

Topher: Okay. 

Nyasha: That’s interesting because you’re right. Usually, people are asking, Do you have children? Are married? Like, with me, I am married, but I don’t have any children. And when I’m referring to my family, I feel like people assume I’m talking about children. But I have a big extended family or… I’m one of four children but I have 15 nieces and nephews and my mom had 10 siblings and my grandmother had 15 siblings, and we’re all still connected. So that’s my extended family. And they could be a cousin that’s twice removed but that’s still my first cousin to me. 

So I love that you talked about that because, you know, people typically do mean like nuclear, but we want to know, like, who are the people in your life that you consider family. It could be even friends.

Evelyn: Yes. 

Nyasha: And that’s awesome it’s seven of you all. I know, it was a very interesting growing up, right, with so many siblings?

Evelyn: I love it. It’s so nice having a bunch of siblings around. Although my sister is the firstborn in the family. So kind of like back when I was in primary school, she was married. So I’ve not gotten to experience her as I would have loved but she’s there. She’s more of a mom than a sister. We are so far much apart. It feels like she’s… And then my dad passed when I was younger so sort of like my mom and my elder siblings kind of brought us up. 

Nyasha: Oh, that’s wonderful. 

Topher: So… go ahead. 

Nyasha: I was gonna say, You know what I want to talk about next over. You probably have an idea. I want to talk about food.

Evelyn: Amazing.

Nyasha: So one of my good friends he’s from Kenya and he teases me so often about the food because he knows I want him to cook for me. There is a Kenyan dish I want you to… first I want you to let me know like what Kenyan dishes would you recommend? If I was coming to visit, what would you recommend for me to eat? And then I need you to tell me about Kenyan pilau with the beef and the potatoes because it looks good and I want him to make it for me. 

Evelyn: Yes, yes, the pilau. Food-wise, generally, we have dishes that are known all over by everyone. We have the pilau which you have referenced. It kind of like when you visit a home and you don’t find a pilau… It’s considered.. If you’re coming here, it’s one of the things that you must find. More often than not, you’ll find a Pilau. It’s a mixture of rice and meat and some spices.

And then we have Ugali. Ugali is maize flower… I think you call it corn back there. So it’s just a mixture of that and water and then it served we some veggies. So how do you spell it? 

Evelyn: Sorry.

Topher: How do you spell that? 

Evelyn: Ugali? 

Topher: Yeah, ugali.

Evelyn: Yeah, Ugali. It’s U-G-A-L-I. 

Topher: All right. 

Evelyn: Ugali. But possibly, if you happen to come here and visit you probably won’t… It’s a common dish but you probably won’t find it. It’s not considered special when someone’s special is visiting or just someone visiting you for the first time, you probably you won’t find it but it’s quite common. 

Topher: Okay.

Evelyn: Then we have Githeri. Okay, maybe let me just say we have so many tribes and each and every tribe have their own delicacies that they… but then there are those common ones that are known countrywide. Personally, I come from the central part of Kenya, and by tribe I’m a Kikuyu. So our main dish is Githeri. We call it Githeri. It’s a mixture of maize, what you would call corn back there, and beans. And then you just boil and once it’s ready, you can do a lot of things with it once it’s ready. And then we have street food. It’s a lot. I cannot cover the whole of it. It’s so much.

Nyasha: I love it. First of all, I love rice, for me. Second of all, that just sounds so wonderful. And the street food… I was Googling as you were talking and it just all looks so wonderful. The Ugali looks like… it reminds me of American cornbread. And then it’s sort of to me also it looks like Fufu a little bit as well.

Evelyn: Yes.

Topher: It looks like dense grits. 

Nyasha: Yeah, like cornbread. 

Topher: Well, it doesn’t look like Northern cornbread. 

Nyasha: Oh, yeah. You have to get some southern cornbread. But yes, that’s so wonderful. I will put Nairobi down as one of my places to visit. My stomach guides my trip. So definitely on my list of places to go.

Evelyn: And also Nairobi it’s the only city in the world that has a national park, sort of like in the middle of the city or just near the city. So you get to experience that too if you happen to be in Nairobi. 

Topher: Ahh.

Nyasha: Yeah, wow. 

Topher: That’s cool.

Nyasha: What types of things can you do there? 

Evelyn: Sorry.

Nyasha: What types of things can you do at the park? 

Evelyn: Animal drives and I think we have lions and stuff like that. All the big five. No, no, we don’t have the… I’m not sure if there are all the big five now. But the big five is like the Lion, Elephant, cheetah. You get to see the animals and just a nice drive in the park. 

Topher: That’s cool. 

Nyasha: Wow, that is so cool. 

Evelyn: It’s so close. It’s so near the city. It’s considered the only national park in the world—I don’t think there’s another one by now. But it is considered the only one in the world that has the national park in the city.

Topher: That’s cool. 

Nyasha: Nice. That is amazing. 

Evelyn: Yes. 

Topher: I was gonna ask you how you got connected to Hallway Chats. 

Evelyn: Oh, interesting. Yes. If I recall well, I think we must have met with Liam and Tala… Is her name L or R? I don’t know. I can’t remember. They had posted a job on Upwork-

Topher: Got you. 

Evelyn: Back then I used to work on Upwork. So they posted a job and I applied. So that’s how we got connected with them. And then I worked for them for a long while. I can’t remember how long it was until they hand it over to you.

Topher: Yeah. And then we did a terrible job maintaining it for a while. You didn’t hear from us for a long time. 

Evelyn: Yeah.

Topher: Well, that’s cool. I am at the end of my list of questions. Ny, do you have anything? 

Nyasha: No, I don’t. I’m still thinking about the food. I think it’s just so wonderful. I do have another question. So I know you’ve been doing Hallway Chats for a very, very long time. We salute you and we thank you for your hard work again. You make the show happen, honestly. I wanted to ask you, so in all the time that you’ve been doing Hallway Chats, what has been the… I know you said you’ve gotten to learn a lot. What has been the most, I guess not fun, but I guess it could be fun. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned while doing Hallway Chats transcriptions specifically? If you can name one.

Evelyn: Okay, all right. I think what I would say the WordPress itself. Most of the people talk about WordPress and I’m kind of like, “I don’t know what to do with it. I feel like joining because everyone talks about the community in WordPress, when you speak to people. And I think it’s such a good community hearing people talk about you go to a place for the first time, you meet a stranger sort of and you connect so well and you are received so well. I think it’s the only community I’ve gotten to hear about where people behave as such, so to speak, because people speak about how well they were received, how… I mean, it doesn’t happen quite often anywhere. Even in church. When I go to church, it rarely you get a stranger talking to you. It’s one of the stories that is so interesting that it makes me sort of like want to join WordPress.

And just to mention, from that, I’ve made… even though I’m not very consistent, I actually managed to create a small WordPress site for myself. Actually-

Topher: Oh, wow. That’s great. 

Nyasha: That’s wonderful. 

Evelyn: Yes. So I usually do DIY, learn, and implement. So out of the conversations on Hallway Chats, I can’t remember any one that can I reference but it generally that’s what you really talk about. And it’s been so nice to hear people talk about their experiences with WordPress. And because most of the times, they usually pick clients from time to time. I have a small website where… it’s sort of like a profile, my profile. And then I have another one where I do a side hustle I sell skincare products.

Topher: Oh, cool.

Nyasha: Wow. 

Evelyn: Yes. And I made them out of the Hallway Chats conversation, even though I’ve not been able to go to any WordPress events, because of… sometimes my job is tight, I would say, but I’ve been able to do that. And it’s been so nice to get to do that myself.

Topher: That’s really amazing.

Nyasha: That is wonderful. And I know-

Topher: This makes me happy.  

Nyasha: Me too. Like, Evelyn’s skin looks incredible. You should definitely buy her products. If you can’t see, just trust Ny. Trust Ny. But that’s wonderful. I hope you can hop into… you’ll love the community. I already consider you a part of the community. So when we do WordCamp Kenya, I’m coming. 

Evelyn: Yes, please come.

Topher: Nairobi was just this last week, I think, wasn’t it? 

Nyasha: Yeah. I think they did do it because I saw some tweets about it. So I will be there.

Evelyn: Yes, yes, yes, please come over. I’ll make sure you get all our types of food and then visit the park and all stuff like that. All the nice stuff. 

Nyasha: I am looking at flights right now.

Topher: That’s fun.

Evelyn: I also consider myself part of the community by extension, so… 

Nyasha: You are.

Topher: You are now.

Evelyn: Yeah. 

Topher: All right, I’m gonna wrap this up. This has been an episode of Hallway Chats, a part of the HeroPress Network. Your hosts were Nyasha Green and Topher DeRosia. We’d like to thank Sophia DeRosia for the music and Nexcess for hosting our network. If you liked the episode, please subscribe and mention us on social media.