Background

Isha Sesay was born on January 6, 1976, in London, England, to Temne parents from Sierra Leon. At the age of seven, she returned to their homeland and was brought up in the Muslim faith. She had three siblings and her mother was a teacher, while her father worked for the Sierra Leone government.

Education

Sesay studied at the Fourah Bay College School (now it is a constituent school of the University of Sierra Leone), and after matriculating went to the UK for further studies in 1992. She completed her A-levels, and then went to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. Eventually, she decided to pursue a career as a journalist, having toyed with the idea of becoming an actress, but instead started to contact various media groups for employment.

Career

After graduating, Isha Sesay found work as a researcher for the talk show Kilroy, which was a program aired on the BBC. She was initially an unpaid intern, but eventually got full-time work, and in 1998, she moved to Glasgow to work for BBC Scotland, and would then get her first job as a television announcer in the show BBC Choice. She went on to become a presenter of various programs for BBC, TWI, and CNN before joining Sky in 2002.

While a part of Sky, Sesay served for three years as the anchor for Good Morning Sports Fans which was a part of Sky Sports News. She was engaged in a lot of high profile work, including interviewing Ellen MacArthur, meeting Michael Watson and traveling with the Arsenal football (soccer) team. She then decided to move to ITN, to become the anchor of the program ITV Morning News and was also a newsreader for the program GMTV.

In 2005, Sesay joined CNN International, being hired as a news anchor and correspondent. She was initially based at the global headquarters located in Atlanta, Georgia, and during her time with CNN, she covered the 2007 presidential election in Nigeria, and also the launch of the Global Elders in South Africa. In 2009, she became the host of the first edition of the news program entitled International Desk, a position she held for two years, before swapping with Michael Holmes, and became the presenter of Back Story.

In 2012, BackStory became a weekend-only show, and Isha Sesay became an anchor of a new show entitled CNN News Center. She also contributed as a presenter of the 360 Bulletin, which is a segment of Anderson Cooper 360. During the next year, she took up a presenter role as a part of the program Evening Express on HLN, and worked as a part of the new headquarters of CNN International, based in Los Angeles, California.

After working with CNN for 13 years, Sesay in August resigned citing Trump-centered coverage as the reason for her resignation. She also stated that she would love to champion a girl child education project in Africa and do other personal stuff.

She already began writing a book on the abduction of the Chibok girls and launched an NGO called W.E. Can Lead (Women Everywhere Can Lead), aimed at giving educational support to the girl child. Although the program is open for girls all over Africa, she says she would want to kick it off, focusing mainly on Nigerian girls to give them specific educational support to become future leaders in Africa. As at August 2018, more than 600 girls have registered with the N60 and are already participating in the program.

In April 2019 Sesay 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.

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.

On July 9, 2019, Isha Sesay released Beneath the Tamarind Tree about the abduction of Chibok girls in 2014.

Achievements

• Isha Isatu Sesay is a journalist, who is best known as a former news anchor and CNN International correspondent. She also has hosted various news programs, including CNN Newsroom Live from Los Angeles, and has also been a presenter and co-anchor of the shows Anderson Cooper 360 and Evening Express.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram

    (The first definitive account of the lost girls of the mil...)

    2019
  • Women, Men and Country

    (Women, Men, and Country, An anthology of African Poems is...)

    2013

Religion

Isha Sesay was raised in the Muslim faith.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Isha Sesay has a stature of 5 feet 3 inches. Starting at now, her weight isn't known. Her hair is dark, and her eyes are also of dark color.

Connections

On January 5, 2013, Isha Sesay was engaged to Leif Coorlim, after dating for several years. After the seven months of their engagement, Leif and Isha shared the wedding vows on August 17, 2013, in Atlanta, Georgia.

In August 2018 Isha Sesay however, revealed in an article published in an online magazine What We See, that she and Leif are no longer together. The couple had no kids of their own.

Father:

Mamud Sesay

Mother:

Kadi Sesay

Kadi Sesay is a Sierra Leonean politician, feminist, pro-democracy advocate and the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). She served as Sierra Leone Minister of Trade and Industry from 2002 to 2007. She is the founder and Managing Director of Leone Consulting & Advisory Services – for Trade, Investment, and Development.

Ex-husband:

Leif Coorlim

Leif Coorlim is an American journalist and executive editor of the CNN Freedom Project. Coorlim has overseen the broadcast of hundreds of stories on modern-day slavery from the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta and produces feature programs and documentaries.

Brother:

Mamud Sesay, Jr.

Sister:

Jane Sesay