Big Man Stevo, also known as Comrades Flavor, is a renowned YouTuber in Kenya. He is well renowned for his ‘loyalty test’ films, in which he exposes unfaithful couples in real time.
However, little facts about Stevo are known because he rarely discusses his origins and family.
According to Jambo Daily, this is his narrative.
Age and Birthplace
Stephen Kawa is Stevo’s true name. He spent the majority of his life in Nyanza until transferring to Nanyuki in grade 5. He went to Mary Immaculate Primary School, where he took his KCPE in 2010.
His outstanding achievement earned him a spot in Lenana School. He was, however, admitted to Kanga Boys in 2011 for undisclosed reasons.
Despite his intelligence, he moved his attention from study to entrepreneurship when in form two.
With the principal’s approval, he founded Junior Achievers, a club dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship to other students.
The principal also gave him permission to own a shaving machine, which he used to offer other pupils haircuts for ksh 20 per head. During this period, he established a lifelong interest in photography.
Despite combining his education and entrepreneurship, Stevo took his KCSE in 2014 and passed with honors.
He was offered a partial scholarship to Strathmore University to earn a diploma, but he withdrew since the associated expenditures were prohibitively expensive.
Campus life
Life at home got too monotonous, leading Stevo to relocate to Kahawa Wendani to live with his elder brother, a JKUAT student.
Life in Kahawa was similarly difficult. He attempted to get teaching positions in nearby schools but was unsuccessful. He opted to transfer to the University of Nairobi, where another of his brothers was a student leader, after three months.
He mixed and engaged with university students there, and even collaborated with his brother to sell potatoes. He became a student celebrity as a result of his business.
Around that time, he was fortunate to be recruited to the University of Newcastle to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Geoscience, which comprises the study of rocks. He enlisted in 2015 and lived in Chiromo hostels.
Campus Politics
Stevo hawked mandazi and chapatis as a first-year student to make ends meet. He would get up early, hawk the mandazis, and be in class by 7 a.m.
He subsequently went on to become a mitumba seller before beginning to model. In March 2016, he was crowned Mr. UoN Chiromo campus.
Stevo became involved in university politics after being inspired by his brother, who was a student leader, and ran for the position of non-resident representative, which he easily won. The university gave a monthly stipend to student representatives at the time.
University suspension
During the same year, a fight broke out between University student leader Babu Owino and his competitor Mike Jacobs. Windows in lecture halls were destroyed, dorms were set on fire, and school property was damaged.
While the investigation was underway, university operations were halted and students were sent home.
Unfortunately, Stevo was one of the kids proven to be responsible for the disruption. He was expelled from university for two years.
This was a startling awakening in his normally tranquil life. He became depressed and began drinking alcohol.
Photography Journey
He tried internet writing but failed since he was desperate for a method to get money. Fortunately, his brother, who owned a store, invited him to operate it and split the earnings.
He worked at the shop for six months, earning Ksh 500 each day. This employment and other odd jobs allowed him to save sh 80,000, which he used to buy his first camera.
For three months, he worked as a photographer, earning between Sh 500 and 1000 per day. Unfortunately, he misplaced the camera while photographing a wild political gathering in Mathare that he had been engaged to cover for a politician.
Despite his repeated requests, the politician refused to compensate him for the camera. His second employment was in sales and marketing, where he was compensated on a commission basis to promote new items.
This position taught him important business skills, such as how to make a strong first impression on a customer within the first ten seconds of meeting them. These abilities will come in helpful later in his future career as a YouTuber.
Steve’s House
His second employment was as a pool chalk worker, where he might earn between Sh 50 and Sh 100 per day. Despite his suspension, life got so difficult that he could only afford to eat at the UON school meal.
Fortunately, a buddy purchased a Canon 6D camera and engaged him as a photographer. Stevo, ever the entrepreneur, created a brand for himself under the moniker Stevo.Is.Bae.
Comrades Flavor regards himself as the forefather of Nairobi CBD photoshoots.
Within a few months, he had saved enough money to purchase his own second-hand camera, indicating that he was now his own boss.
However, due to increased competition, he decided to form a modeling agency named House of Steve and sell the firm using his photographic skills.
YouTube Career
Stevo’s ban was lifted when he re-enrolled at the University of Nairobi in 2019. He did, however, change his major from Geoscience to Bachelor of Arts.
He regained his footing and went on to win Mr. UoN 2020-2021. He worked as a model for a while before launching his YouTube channel.
He experimented with several ideas until he began conducting advanced loyalty tests under the alias Comrades Flavor.
In terms of dating, his most public relationship involved dating triplets. They did, however, split up for undisclosed reasons.
Comrades Flavor has over 300,000 subscribers and over 50 million views on his YouTube channel.
