Isha Sesay | |
|---|---|
 Isha Sesay (right) andNima Elbagir (left) at the 2015 Peabody Awards | |
| Born | Isha Isatu Sesay (1976-01-06)6 January 1976 (age 50) London, England |
| Education | English |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | News presenterjournalist |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Notable credit | HLNCNNCNN InternationalSky Sports NewsITNBBCW.E. Can Lead |
| Relatives | Kadi Sesay (mother) |
| Website | Isha Sesay onTwitter |
Isha Isatu Sesay (/ˈaɪʃəsəˈseɪ/ ⓘEYE-shə sə-SAY; born 6 January 1976) is a British journalist ofSierra Leonean descent. From 2005 to 2018, she worked as an anchor and correspondent forCNN International. Originally based at CNN's world headquarters inAtlanta,Georgia, U.S. and now based inLos Angeles,California, where she hosted the news programsCNN Newsroom Live from Los Angeles. In addition, she was the presenter of the360 Bulletin onAnderson Cooper 360°. In 2012, Sesay also joinedHLN as a co-anchor forEvening Express. She left CNN in 2018 to support a girl's education project calledW.E. Can Lead for African girls, write a book and follow various other personal projects.[1]
Born inLondon, England in 1976 toTemne parents from Sierra Leone, Sesay returned with them at the age of seven to their homeland. Raised in their Muslim faith, she lived in Sierra Leone for most of her childhood. She is one of three children, with an older sister and a younger brother. Isha's mother is Dr.Kadi Sesay, a former lecturer atFourah Bay College. Dr. Sesay, in 1992, was appointed as an advisor to the government ofValentine Strasser. Isha's father worked as a legal advisor to the SLPMB (Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board), a national regulatory institution; he died in 1988.
Sesay studied at the private Fourah Bay College School inFreetown. She also attended St. Joseph's Secondary School in Freetown. At the age of 16, in 1992 she moved to the UK for further study and college. After completing herA-levels, she was accepted intoTrinity College, Cambridge, where she readEnglish. She worked as a waitress in a bar while studying.[2] She decided to become a television journalist, having previously aspired to become an actress. During her final year, she began writing to media groups seeking work.
After graduating, Sesay began her television career as a researcher for theBBC talk showKilroy, initially as an unpaid intern. She later was hired as a full-time paid employee. In 1998, she moved toGlasgow to work forBBC Scotland, and, after a period behind the camera, got her first job as a TV announcer onBBC Choice.[3] She went on to present a variety of programmes for the BBC,CNN and TWI, before joiningSky in March 2002.[4]
At Sky, Sesay spent over three years as an anchor onGood Morning Sports Fans forSky Sports News.[5] She considers the high points of this period to be meeting former boxerMichael Watson,[6] interviewingEllen MacArthur, and travelling with members of theArsenal football team following anexhibition match atReebok Stadium in Manchester in support ofNwankwo Kanu's heart foundation.[4] She later moved toITN, where she anchored theITV Morning News programme, and was also a newsreader on breakfast programmeGMTV.[5]
In November 2005, Sesay became a news anchor and correspondent atCNN International, based at the network's global headquarters inAtlanta, Georgia, in the United States. She travelled toNigeria in April 2007 to cover thepresidential election, where she conducted one-on-one interviews with both outgoing presidentOlusegun Obasanjo, and the newly-elected presidentUmaru Yar'Adua. Later that year, she was in South Africa to cover the launch of theGlobal Elders.[5]
In 2009, Sesay became the host of the first edition of the weekday news programInternational Desk.
In 2011, she swapped roles with Michael Holmes, and was assigned as the presenter ofBackStory.
On 16 April 2012,BackStory was changed to a weekend-only show. Sesay was assigned as the anchor of a new show,CNN NewsCenter.
In addition to her duties as an anchor on CNN International, Sesay contributed toAnderson Cooper 360° onCNN as presenter of the360 Bulletin, a position she held from 17 January 2011. The following year, she also took up the role of presenter onEvening Express onHLN.[7] She is currently based in Los Angeles, United States.[8]
On 2 August 2018, Sesay announced that she was leaving CNN after 13 years. She cited the media's focus onUnited States PresidentDonald Trump as a reason for her decision.[9][10] Sesay announced that she will be writing a book about theabduction of Chibok girls in Nigeria, and that she plans to continue her engagement with African issues.[9][1]
| Established | 2014; 12 years ago (2014) |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Atlanta,Georgia, USA |
| Staff | Sharon Debary, Natalie Au, Robin Cutshaw, Stacey Brice Washington, William Asiko, Judithe Registre, Iris Kargbo, Rosaline Kargbo, Haja Koroma[11] |
| Website | we-canlead |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Isha Sesay (14 May 2016)."Isha Sesay on the vision behind W.E. Can Lead".Isha Sesay. Retrieved20 September 2018. |
In 2014, Sesay launched W.E. Can Lead (Women Everywhere Can Lead), aneducational,humanitarian501(c)(3),non-profit organization.[1][12] It was created to support African girls in receiving educational support to become future leaders. In August 2018, the program was mostly working withNigerian girls, but it is open for girls from everywhere in Africa.[13][14]
It is a two-tiered program comprising a base and a specialization phase. After one year in which the girls learn basic skills likefinancial literacy,critical thinking and good health practices as well how to buildself-esteem andself-awareness, they can apply to take part in the Young Leader development program. Those who do not gain a place may attend annual empowerment camps and an inspirational speaker series.[15] The attendees receive financial support to cover tuition, uniforms and other supplies.[11] In August 2018 there were more than 600 girls from ages 12 to 18 participating in the program.[1]
In January 2017, actorIdris Elba auctioned a date with him to raise money for W.E. Can Lead.[16] They cooperated again in 2019, when they started atombola in which donors could win aMcLaren 720S Coupé.[17]
Sesay works as a freelance presenter and speaker (whereby this list is not intended to be complete).
Sesay partnered with Bellanaija and AWB for a five-day series, “#ENDSARS: The Struggle to Save Nigeria” which investigated the core of the youth-led movement and stories of heroism, patriotism, and defiance associated to the fight for Nigeria’s future.[18]
Sesay, alongside the Senegalese journalist Aboubacry Ba, was the emcee of the AiteoCAF Awards2018, celebrated at the Centre international de conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) on Tuesday, 8 January 2019 in Dakar, Senegal.[19][20]
In June 2018, she led a Q&A round with the director of the documentaryYouth unstoppable Slater Jewell-Kemker and her executive producer Adrian Grenierdes. The documentary is about the green youth movement.[21][22]
On the occasion of the 2018World Refugee Day, Sesay spoke withSamantha Nutt, founder ofWar Child the USA, an organization to help and protect children from warzones.[23]
In April 2019, she hosted a public discussion withMichelle Obama under the nameBecoming: an intimate conversation with Michelle Obama in front of 20.000 guests at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris and in Amsterdam.[24][25]
Her bookBeneath the Tamarind Tree about theabduction of Chibok girls in 2014 was published in July 2019 byHarperCollins and as anaudiobook on different platforms.[26]
In June 2019, Sesay was a speaker at theWomen Deliver Conference inVancouver,Canada. TheWomen deliver conference is an international conference around topics likegender equality, health and wellbeing of girls in the 21st century.[27][28]
She was a speaker at the 2019Brilliant minds event inStockholm,Sweden. The event was initiated in 2015 bySpotify founder and CEODaniel Ek and serial entrepreneurArash Pournouri. The event claims to support open thinking in the music and technology industry.[29][30]
In September 2019, Sesay was invited as a guest speaker in theBBC programAfrica today for two days, where she talked on women's representation in the media.[31]
In September 2019, she was one of the hosts of theGlobal Citizen Festival together withBozoma Saint John. This event connects live music with speeches and discussions on actual global problems of society, environment, and politics and is closely related to theGlobal Poverty Project.[32]
Also in September 2019, she was a speaker at theWhitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI)Place for Peace event.[33]
Sesay was married to Leif Coorlim, a CNN staffer.[34] The couple are divorced.[1] She gave birth to her daughter on February 17, 2023, through IVF after 2 unsuccessful IVFs.[35]
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