Isha Sesay

Isha Isatu Sesay ( ; born 6 January 1976) is a British journalist of Sierra Leonean descent. From 2005 to 2018, she worked as an anchor and correspondent for CNN International. She was originally based at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. and now based in Los Angeles, California, where she hosted the news programs CNN Newsroom Live from Los Angeles. She was the presenter of the "360 Bulletin" on Anderson Cooper 360°. In 2012, Sesay joined HLN as a co-anchor for Evening Express. She left CNN in 2018 to support an Africa girls' education project called W.E. Can Lead, write a book and pursue various other personal projects. 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.

Career Postcollege 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. She went on to present a variety of programmes for the BBC, CNN and TWI, before joining Sky in March 2002.

Sky At Sky, Sesay spent over three years as an anchor on Good Morning Sports Fans for Sky Sports News. She considers the high points of this period to be meeting former boxer Michael Watson, interviewing Ellen MacArthur, and travelling with members of the Arsenal football team following an exhibition match at Reebok Stadium in Manchester in support of Nwankwo Kanu's heart foundation. She is currently based in Los Angeles, United States.

Leaving CNN On 2 August 2018, 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. Sesay announced that she would be writing a book about the abduction of Chibok girls in Nigeria, and that she planned to continue her engagement with African issues. leader_name = leader_title2 = leader_name2 = parent_organization = affiliations = footnotes = name = W.E. Can Lead established = website =

In 2014, Sesay launched W.E. Can Lead (Women Everywhere Can Lead), an educational, humanitarian 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. 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.

It is a two-tiered program comprising a base and a specialization 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 speaker series. The attendees receive financial support to cover tuition, uniforms and other supplies. They cooperated again in 2019, when they started a tombola in which donors could win a McLaren 720S Coupé.

Independent activities since 2018 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Also in September 2019, she was a speaker at the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative "Place for Peace" event.

Books

Personal life Sesay was married to Leif Coorlim, a CNN staffer. The couple are divorced. She gave birth to her daughter on February 17, 2023, through IVF, after two unsuccessful IVFs.