Isha Sesay

After graduating, Sesay began her television career as a researcher for the BBC talk show Kilroy, initially as an unpaid intern. She later was hired as a full-time paid employee. In 1998 she moved to Glasgow to work for BBC Scotland, and, after a period behind the camera, got her first job as a TV announcer on BBC Choice.[3] She went on to present a variety of programmes for the BBC, CNN and TWI, before joining Sky in March 2002.[4]

At Sky, Sesay spent over three years as an anchor on Good Morning Sports Fans for Sky Sports News.[5] She considers the high points of this period to be meeting former boxer Michael Watson,[6] interviewing Ellen MacArthur, and travelling with members of the Arsenal football team following an exhibition match at Reebok Stadium in support of Nwankwo Kanu's heart foundation.[4] She later moved to ITN, where she anchored the ITV Morning News programme, and was also a newsreader on breakfast programme GMTV.[5]

In November 2005, Sesay became a news anchor and correspondent at CNN International, based at the network's global headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. She travelled to Nigeria in April 2007 to cover that country's presidential election, where she conducted one-on-one interviews with both outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo, and the newly elected president Umaru Yar'Adua. Later that year, she was in South Africa to cover the launch of the Global Elders.[5]

In 2009, Sesay became the host of the first edition of the weekday news program International Desk.

In 2011, she swapped roles with Michael Holmes, and was assigned as the presenter of BackStory.

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 anchor on CNN International, Sesay contributes to Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN as presenter of the 360 Bulletin, a position she has held since 17 January 2011. The following year, she also took up the role of presenter on Evening Express on HLN.[7] She is currently based in Los Angeles, United States.[8]

On 2 August 2018 Isha Sesay announced that she was leaving CNN after 13 years. She cited the media's focus on United States President Donald Trump as a reason for her decision.[9][10] Sesay announced that she will be writing a book about the abduction of Chibok girls, and that she plans to continue her engagement with African issues.[9][1]

External video

Isha Sesay (14 May 2016). "Isha Sesay on the vision behind W.E. Can Lead". Isha Sesay. Retrieved 20 September 2018.

In 2014 Sesay launched W.E. Can Lead (Women Everywhere Can Lead), an educational, humanitarian 501(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 with Nigerian girls, but it is open for girls from everywhere in Africa.[13][14]

It is a two-tiered program comprising a base and a specialisation phase. After one year in which the girls learn basic skills like financial literacy, critical thinking and good health practices as well how to build self-esteem and self-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 speakers 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 actor Idris Elba auctioned a date with him to raise money for W.E. Can Lead.[16] They cooperated again in 2019, when they started a tombola in which donors could win a McLaren 720S Coupe.[17]

Sesay works as a freelance presenter and speaker (whereby this list is not intended to be complete).

Sesay, alongside the Senegalese journalist Aboubacry Ba, was the emcee of the Aiteo CAF Awards 2018, celebrated at the Centre international de conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) on Tuesday, 8 January 2019 in Dakar, Senegal.[18][19]

In June 2018 she led a Q&A round with the director of the documentary Youth unstoppable Slater Jewell-Kemker and her executive producer Adrian Grenierdes. The documentary is about the green youth movement.[20][21]

On the occasion of the 2018 World Refugee Day Sesay spoke with Samantha Nutt, founder of War Child USA, an organization to help and protect children from warzones.[22]

In April 2019 she hosted a public discussion with Michelle Obama under the name Becoming: an intimate conversation with Michelle Obama in front of 20.000 guests at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris and in Amsterdam.[23][24]

Her book Beneath the Tamarind Tree about the abduction of Chibok girls in 2014 was published in July 2019 by Harper Collins and as an audiobook on different platforms.[25]

In June 2019 Sesay was a speaker at the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver, Canada. The Women deliver conference is an international conference around topics like gender equality, health and wellbeing of girls in the 21st century.[26][27]

She was a speaker at the 2019 Brilliant minds event in Stockholm, Sweden. The event was initiated in 2015 by Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek and serial entrepreneur Arash Pournouri. The event claims to support open thinking in the music and technology industry.[28][29]

In September 2019 Sesay was invited as guest speaker in the BBC program Africa today for two days, where she talked on women's representation in the media.[30]

In September 2019 she was one of the hosts of the Global Citizen Festival together with Bozoma 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 the Global Poverty Project.[31]

Also in September 2019 she was a speaker at the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) Place for Peace event.[32]