Isha Sesay

Seasoned and award-winning journalist Isha Sesay has covered global events and major breaking news of the past decade, with a focus on stories of social injustice and their impact on women and girls. Reporting from Nigeria in 2014, Sesay led the CNN team that covered the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian school girls. CNN’s in-depth reporting was recognized with a Peabody Award. Sesay was awarded a Gracie Award for Outstanding Anchor for her coverage of this story, in addition to other accolades during her tenure at CNN.

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 John Slrleaf; and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone. Sesay is also the Founder and President of W.E. (Women Everywhere) Can Lead, a non-profit organization working in her native country of Sierra Leone, to nurture and empower teenage girls to become Africa’s next generation of dynamic female leaders.

In July 2019, Sesay’s definitive account and first book, Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram (Dey Street Books) will publish. Of Sierra Leonean descent, Sesay grew up in Britain and holds a BA honors English degree from Trinity College, Cambridge University. She lives in Los Angeles.