CNN

Isha Sesay

Isha Sesay is an anchor for CNN International based at the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta.

She anchors ‘CNN NewsCenter’, CNNI’s new half-hour news program that takes viewers through the day’s big stories of global importance. Broadcast live from CNN’s newsroom, ‘CNN NewsCenter’ airs weekdays at 1530ET.

During the week Sesay also provides news updates for the 2000ET edition of 'Anderson Cooper 360°', which is simulcast on CNNI.

In addition to her daily shows, she files reports for ‘African Voices’ and ‘Inside Africa’, CNN International’s award-winning, weekly program dedicated to providing viewers with an inside look at political, economic, social and cultural affairs and trends in Africa. She also hosts ‘BackStory’, the weekly program that goes behind the scenes of CNN’s global newsgathering operation.

In 2010, Sesay covered the World Cup from Johannesburg, South Africa, capturing the global impact of the month-long event. Later in the year Sesay headed to Nigeria for CNN’s iList series. She reported from the country’s capital, Abuja, for a special week of coverage and landed an exclusive interview with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

Complementing her role as anchor and correspondent, Sesay reprised her role as co-host of the 2010 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards - the premier accolade for excellent journalism across the continent - from Kampala, Uganda. She first co-hosted the annual event in 2009 from Durban, South Africa, a year that attracted entries from 836 journalists from 38 African countries.

A seasoned journalist, Sesay has covered numerous breaking news and world news events including the ongoing conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa; the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan; Zimbabwe’s disputed 2008 election; the Russia-Georgia conflict; the assassination of Benazir Bhutto; the kidnapping of British toddler Margaret Hill in the Niger Delta; the death of Slobodan Milosevic; Liberia’s historic election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; the hospitalization of Ariel Sharon; the foiled transatlantic plane bomb plot; the Israeli-Hezbollah war; the arrest of John Mark Karr in connection with the death of Jon Benet Ramsey, and the Live Earth concert in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As part of her anchoring and reporting duties, Sesay has interviewed a number of world leaders including Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga; President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal; President Lech Kaczynski of Poland; Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone.

During the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sesay reported from both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and spent election night reporting from John McCain’s headquarters in Arizona. Following Barack Obama’s election, she covered the president’s first ever address to the UN General Assembly.

She has also interviewed a host of newsmakers including actors Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman and Djimon Hounsou; musicians Angelique Kidjo, Emmanuel Jal and K’Naan; former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker; Arab League Secretary general Amre Moussa; 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson; former Iraqi hostage Giuliana Sgrena; five-time Grammy winner Gloria Estefan; and acclaimed author Khaled Hosseini.

While on assignment in South Africa in 2007, she covered the launch of ‘The Elders’- an initiative founded by Nelson Mandela to tackle the world’s intractable problems. Sesay also travelled to Nigeria to cover the country’s historic presidential elections in April 2007. While there, she conducted one-on-one interviews with both the outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo, and incoming president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Sesay joined CNN in November 2005 from the UK broadcaster ITN, where she anchored ITV’s Early Morning News program, as well news bulletins for the UK’s most watched breakfast program ‘GMTV.’

Prior to this, she spent more than three years presenting ‘Good Morning Sports Fans’ for Sky Sports. From 1998-2001, Sesay presented a wide range of programs across the BBC networks.

A Briton of Sierra Leonean parentage, she holds a BA honours English degree from Trinity College, Cambridge University.

Follow Isha on Twitter: @IshaSesayCNN.