Okanga Ooko

Artist, Author, Editor, Writer & Designer with 20+ Years Publishing Experience
I am an artist, designer, author, editor and a creative freelance writer with over twenty
years’ experience in the industry working in print and online media. I am a novelist and
short story author with work appearing in various print venues. As a journalist, I mostly
write feature articles on the subject of music for Kenyan publications. I also create
content for technical manuals, company profiles and websites, and I write copy for
advertisement. I am a trained graphic designer with 20+ years’ experience and I also
develop websites. As an artist, I am a realist and work mostly in charcoal, oil, pastels
and water colours, my subjects being wildlife, nature and portraits. SUMMARY:
I am a novelist who is currently publishing books with a major Nairobi City publishing
house. I am a talented writer and an occasional journalist, mostly writing features. I am
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an eenthusiastic and creative reader-focused writer, adept at details, and produce
first-rate work. I am gifted with zeal, energy, ttremendous integrity and common sense. A reviewer once said "Ooko is exceptional. From the quality of his work to the
adherence to deadlines, he is amazing. He communicates very effectively and I am
confident whatever task is thrown at him, he can handle with flying colors!" As an author, I have written, formatted, and published many books (Amazon Kindle and
print) in the last few years. I edit books for independent self-published authors and
writers looking to get their work traditionally published. I've worked as a freelancer and
development editor for hundreds of clients in a wide variety of writing genres, categories and styles, including fiction, non-fiction and technical, essay, poetry, drama, memoir, inspirational, Christian, academic, autobiography, critique, law, business
(promotional writing, proposals, presentations, press releases etc), scientific, software
documentation, and more. I have worked for newspapers and magazines as a writer, editor and copyeditor. I have aauthored first-rate essays and articles for publication in
print and online venues and I have mentored high school and college students as well
as writers of all ages wishing to advance their skills. My strengths are simplifying
sentences, finding plot holes, and proofreading for technical error. I am also an artist professionally trained as graphic designer for print and electronic
publishing. With enough experience in corporate business management, I have
extensive eexperience in the art of visual communications and I have worked as a
creative director in the dynamic and restless Nairobi corporate branding and advertising
reality. My real experience in graphic design for print started when I realised, after
working for many years as a product designer, that graphic design and computers is
what I naturally loved and where I achieved more excellence. I have wide recognition as
an expert in creative graphic arts leading me to taking positions at creative agencies as
Senior Graphic Designer (Marketpower International), Art Director (Mashariki Brand
Communication), Creative Director (Oba Kunta Octopus) and Communications Director
(Newlife SDA Church). I have sskillfully created and produced graphics and layout for
print materials such as books, newsletters, brochures, flyers and reports. I have created
corporate identity for businesses and smart graphics for websites, advertising, marketing and promotion, and brand development. My agency, Oba Kunta Octopus, is
committed to advancing design as a professional craft, strategic tool, essential
business implement and vital cultural force. During my seventeen years’ experience as a designer and a professional, I have worked
in many and varied roles bordering on product design for development. I have worked in
Kenya with Undugu Society, and with Housing and Building Research Institute, University of Nairobi in Association with Wagenigen University, Holland. Later I worked
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with ILO, FIT Resources, FIT Uganda Ltd. and Technoserve. In 2000, I co-founded FIT
Resources Ltd. as a development consultancy firm through which I effectively
implemented product design and technology consultancies. For years I have been known and seen, and best regarded as a good designer. I have
worked professionally as a writer, designer and consultant in development projects in
roles like project designer, design project manager and design consultant. I see myself
simply as a designer with broad experiences and a penchant for doing hard tasks that
directly use my expertise to increase value and benefits to businesses in Kenyan. This
is to say the least. I use every opportunity to expand my knowledge. Besides being very
creative, I am a compulsive learner. I am a hard working person and I can do long and
solitary projects that requires commitment and high levels of creativity. I am also a good
manager and an effective organizer and team player. I think I have enough experience
to do more than just creative projects.