Sharon Mundia: This Is Ess, Kenyan Fashion Media and This Is Essential
Career sources and photograph checked: 26 October 2026.
Sharon Mundia is the Kenyan creator associated with This Is Ess, a fashion and lifestyle platform that developed into a wider public career in content and enterprise. Her documented path connects personal blogging, professional image-making and the clothing and lifestyle business This Is Essential. For a reader exploring Kenyan fashion voices, the useful story is how those activities relate: an individual editorial perspective can become a platform, and a platform can later support a named product business.
A personal blog becomes professional work
In her early She Leads Africa interview, Mundia discussed graduating from Monash University in South Africa with a marketing and management degree and developing This Is Ess as a place to share parts of her life. The account describes a gradual change in how she understood that activity. As commercial interest grew, the platform needed a sustainable professional structure rather than remaining a hobby supported only by free products.
The interview records practical changes including a rate card, proposals, budgets, invoices and organised shoots. Those details explain the labour behind the polished public result. A fashion image is not only a garment and a camera; it also involves an idea, a setting, coordination and a decision about how the finished work will be presented to an audience.
Photography and creative direction
The same account identifies collaboration with photographer Victor Peace and, for some projects, hair and makeup professionals. Mundia described choosing locations, developing themes and directing the details she wanted captured. This gives a useful view of her role as an editor of the overall image rather than simply the person appearing within it.
That distinction matters when looking at a personal-style platform. The creator's taste operates at several levels: selecting the clothes, deciding how they relate to the setting and choosing which photographs communicate the idea most clearly. The finished post can be consumed quickly, but its coherence depends on the decisions made before publication. Mundia's interview makes that process visible through specific professional tasks.
A Kenyan blogging context
BAKE's official history names Mundia among past Kenyan Blog Awards winners. That organiser record places This Is Ess within the wider development of Kenyan digital publishing, alongside other creators working in different categories. The recognition is useful context without requiring a claim that one creator represents the entire fashion scene or that an old award establishes a permanent ranking.
Her early interview also records an ambition to expand the platform into a broader lifestyle and media business and eventually develop fashion and beauty products. Those were plans stated at that stage of her career. Looking at later documented ventures allows the reader to trace a development over time rather than collapsing every project into one undated description of what she currently does.
This Is Essential and the 2023 bodysuit launch
Capital FM's December 2023 report describes This Is Essential's bodysuit collection in collaboration with Vivo Woman. The launch centred on foundational wardrobe pieces and a restrained range of colours. That provides a concrete point where an established fashion-media identity connected with a product offer. The collection's name also carried a recognisable relationship with the Ess identity already known to her audience.
The report identified several styles and colourways and noted the early customer response at the time. Those are historical launch facts rather than a current stock promise. The ongoing business should be understood through its present official shop and selected product pages, where the categories and individual offers can be checked directly. The founder's media history supplies context, while the product record supplies the buying details.
The official shop today
At the research check, thisisess.com redirected to the active This Is Essential shop. Its current navigation includes bodysuits, tees, knitwear, tops, dresses and sets, alongside accessories and desk or stationery products. This broader range makes the business more than an isolated bodysuit launch. It presents a lifestyle-oriented assortment organised around named categories.
The current bodysuit collection lists the One Shoulder and Boat Neck designs at KSh 2,250 each, with other styles carrying their own prices. These figures were also visible in the freshly retrieved official collection data. A shopper should choose the exact size, colour and model through the current order process rather than treating a founder profile as a guarantee that every variant is available.
Why basics create a useful style discussion
A foundational garment can support different accessories and silhouettes without changing its central role. A simple bodysuit, for example, can sit beneath a jacket or be worn with trousers or a skirt, depending on the selected cut and fit. This is an editorial way to understand the category, not a claim that every product in the shop has the same fabric or construction.
For a reader building a wardrobe, the useful question is how a piece works with clothes already owned. Neckline, sleeve shape and comfortable fit can matter more than the novelty of one photograph. A bag, earrings or a belt can then change the emphasis of the outfit. This connects fashion-media inspiration with a practical process of selecting individual products.
Reading the archival portrait
The photograph reproduced here accompanies the named She Leads Africa interview. Mundia wears a white outer layer with blue floral areas over jeans, with violet shoes introducing another related accent. The outfit connects a strong patterned upper piece with a quieter denim base. The colours are coordinated without requiring every element to be exactly the same shade.
That is a useful principle to study rather than an exact shopping list to reproduce. A patterned garment can supply the main visual idea, while one smaller accessory picks up a related colour. The archival image belongs to its original interview context; it is not presented as a new campaign for the current shop or proof of a garment presently in stock.
Where the official brand lists Nairobi stores
This Is Essential's current Store Locations page lists Vivo x This Is Essential at Sarit Center, Ikwetta x This Is Essential at Village Market and African Lifestyle Hub at Sarit Center. The page advises contacting the shop when looking for a specific piece. These are the brand's published retail leads, useful for someone who wants to see an item in person rather than ordering only from a photograph.
For Mombasa, Kisumu or Nakuru, use the official shop's current delivery and product information to establish the selected item, destination and final cost. Mundia's career offers an example of fashion communication developing into a retail proposition. The most useful way to engage with it is equally concrete: understand the creator's history, study the visual choices and then evaluate the exact garment or accessory through its own fit, specification and current price.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sharon Mundia associated with?
She is associated with This Is Ess and the fashion and lifestyle business This Is Essential, alongside her documented media and content career.
Is This Is Essential an active shop at the check?
Yes. The reviewed thisisess.com address redirected to the active official store, with current clothing, accessory and stationery categories.
Where does the brand list Nairobi retail locations?
Its official page lists Vivo x This Is Essential and African Lifestyle Hub at Sarit Center, and Ikwetta x This Is Essential at Village Market. Confirm the desired product with the chosen shop.
Continue reading: Akinyi Odongo’s Kenyan fashion practice and David Avido and creative production in Kibera. Explore Moyo Lane’s current fashion and accessories catalogue.
Sources: https://sheleadsafrica.org/sharon-mundia-i-want-a-fantastic-mindblowing-life/ | https://sheleadsafrica.org/sharon-mundia-i-want-a-fantastic-mindblowing-life/3/ | https://capitalfm.africa/sharon-mundia-unveils-new-edgy-line-of-bodysuits/ | https://shopthisisessential.com/ | https://shopthisisessential.com/collections/bodysuits | https://shopthisisessential.com/pages/store-locations | https://bakeawards.co.ke/about/