Who is Isha Sesay? What We Know About Ex-CNN Presenter & Her Pregnancy

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Key Facts About Isha Sesay

Isha Sesay was born in the United Kingdom.
She worked at CNN International for 13 years.
She was born on January 6, 1976.
Her parents’ names are Kadi and Isatu Sesay.
She grew up in Sierra Leone for most of her childhood.
She comes from the Temne ethnic group of Sierra Leone.
She was married to CNN colleague Leif Coorlim, but they are no longer together.
She’s currently a freelance presenter and speaker.
She has no children but is expecting her first as a single mom.
Her net worth is $2 million.

Who is Isha Sesay?

Isha Sesay was born in the United Kingdom, but she is originally from Sierra Leone. A CNN International anchor and correspondent from 2005 till 2018, she left her post in 2018. She was based out of CNN’s Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. headquarters at one point but has since relocated to Los Angeles, California, where she hosts the news programs CNN Newsroom Live from Los Angeles.

Isha Sesay entered the world on January 6, 1976, in London. In complete, her name is Isha Isatu Sesay. Furthermore, she hosted Anderson Cooper 360°’s 360 Bulletin. Isha Sesay began working for HLN in 2012 as a co-anchor for the news program Evening Express. She quit CNN in 2018 to focus on writing a book, pursuing other creative endeavors, and volunteering for a program called W.E. Can Lead, which promotes girls’ education in Africa.

Isha Sesay Early Life

Isha Sesay moved back to Sierra Leone with her Temne parents when she was seven years old, despite having been born in London, England. She spent much of her formative years in Sierra Leone, where she was raised by Muslim parents. She has an older sister and a younger brother, making her a middle kid. Kadi Sesay, Isha’s mother, used to teach at Fourah Bay College. Her mother got a position as a government advisor in Valentine Strasser in the year 1992 after she was assigned to the position. Prior to his death in 1988, Isha’s father served as a legal advisor for the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLPMB).

Isha Sesay Education

Isha Sesay attended the exclusive Fourah Bay College in Freetown. She also went to St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Freetown. She emigrated to the United Kingdom at age 16 in 1992 to pursue higher education. Isha Sesay studied English at Trinity College, Cambridge, after finishing her A-levels. She put herself through college by working as a bartender. After considering a career in acting, Isha Sesay settled on reporting for television. Isha Sesay started applying for jobs in the media during her senior year.

Isha Sesay Career

After finishing college, Isha Sesay worked as an unpaid intern on the BBC chat show Kilroy. Soon after, she was offered a position with the company and accepted. Her first on-air position was as a TV presenter for BBC Choice, after she had worked behind the scenes for BBC Scotland for a while. This was in 1998 when she relocated to Glasgow. She then presented shows for the BBC, CNN, and TWI before landing at Sky in March of 2002. Over the course of more than three years, Isha Sesay hosted the morning show “Good Morning Sports Fans” on Sky Sports News. Meeting retired boxer Michael Watson, conducting an interview with Ellen MacArthur, and taking a trip with the Arsenal football club after they played an exhibition game at Reebok Stadium to benefit Nwankwo Kanu’s heart charity are among the highlights of this time period for her. Thereafter, she joined ITN, where she served as host of ITV Morning News and newsreader for GMTV’s morning show.

Isha Sesay joined CNN International in November 2005 as a news anchor and journalist located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The April 2007 trip to Nigeria was to cover the country’s presidential election, which she did by sitting down for exclusive interviews with both Olusegun Obasanjo, the departing president, and Umaru Yar’Adua, the incoming president. In the fall of the same year, she covered the Global Elders debut in South Africa. International Desk is a news program that debuted in 2009 with Isha Sesay as its host. She took over hosting duties for BackStory from Michael Holmes in 2011. BackStory went weekend-only on April 16, 2012. Isha Sesay was tapped to serve in the role of anchor for the brand-new show CNN NewsCenter. Besides her work as a CNN International anchor, Isha Sesay was also a regular on Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN since January 17, 2011, where she presented the 360 Bulletin. Additionally, the next year she became the host of HLN’s Evening Express. Currently, she lives in Los Angeles, California, USA. Isha Sesay announced her departure from CNN on August 2, 2018, following 13 years with the network. She explained her action by saying it was due to the media’s fixation on U.S. President Donald Trump. Isha Sesay said that she will publish a book on the topic of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls, and she also stated that she intends to maintain her involvement in African-related topics.

Isha Sesay founded the philanthropic, educational W.E. Can Lead (Women Everywhere Can Lead) in 2014. It was established to help young African women get the knowledge they need to take charge in the future. While the program’s focus in August 2018 was on girls from Nigeria, it welcomes participants from around the continent. The curriculum comprises two parts: a foundational one and a more advanced one for those who wish to specialize. The Young Leader development program is open to girls after they have participated in the program for one year and learned fundamentals such as financial literacy, critical thinking, good health practices, and how to improve self-esteem and self-awareness. Annual empowerment camps and inspiring speaker series are available to those who do not receive a spot. Students’ costs for attendance, including as books, clothes, and supplies, are covered by the program. Over 600 young women, ages 12-18, were enrolled in the program in August of 2018. To benefit W.E. Can Lead, actor Idris Elba auctioned off a date with him in January 2017. They worked together once more in 2019 to launch a tombola offering donors the chance to take home a McLaren 720S Coupe.

Isha Sesay is a public speaker and presenter who works independently. The Aiteo CAF Awards 2018 were held on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019 at the Centre international de conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar, Senegal, with Isha Sesay and the Senegalese journalist Aboubacry Ba serving as emcees. She moderated a Q&A with Slater Jewell-Kemker, the film’s director, and Adrian Grenierdes, the film’s executive producer, in June 2018. The film explores the environmental youth movement. For the 2018 World Refugee Day, Isha Sesay interviewed Samantha Nutt, the founder of War Child the USA, an organization that works to rescue and safeguard children in conflict zones. Becoming: an intimate chat with Michelle Obama was the title of a public discussion she moderated with Obama in April 2019 at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris and Amsterdam, attended by 20,000 people.

Harper Collins released her book, Beneath the Tamarind Tree, in July 2019 and made it available as an audiobook on many platforms. The book is about the kidnapping of Chibok girls in 2014. Isha Sesay spoke at the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in June of 2019. In the twenty-first century, issues of gender equality and the health and happiness of girls have been central themes of the Women deliver conference. The 2019 Brilliant minds conference was held in Stockholm, and she was a featured speaker. Formed in 2015 by Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek and serial entrepreneur Arash Pournouri. Promote free thought in the music and technology industries is one of the stated goals of this event. Isha Sesay was a featured guest on the BBC show Africa tTday for two days in September 2019, when she discussed the portrayal of women in the media. She co-hosted the 2019 Global Citizen Festival alongside Bozoma Saint John in September. Linked to the Global Poverty Project, this gathering combines live music with talks and panel discussions on pressing social, environmental, and political issues around the world. In the same month of September 2019, she also gave a talk at the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) Place for Peace event.

Isha Sesay Pregnancy

In an article that was posted on TODAY.com on October 27, 2022, Isha Sesay disclosed both the fact that she is pregnant and that she had been divorced. The famous British-Sierra Leonean broadcaster had never revealed such personal information before. Isha Sesay, who got pregnant at age 46 and divorced her husband, wrote about her experiences in a lengthy pregnancy blog that was featured on NBC’s Today show. In 2013, the anchor tied the knot with Leif Coorlim, a journalist who had won multiple awards and was the executive editor of the CNN Freedom Project. They started out as friends in 2008 after meeting on the set of a CNN series shot in Atlanta, but by 2011 they had started dating. Nonetheless, because their split was never announced, it is unknown when exactly they separated.

Isha Sesay began her account by saying she had never considered becoming a single parent or getting a divorce. She reflected on her career path, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to have spent decades as a journalist, including 13 years on air for CNN International, covering international events and conducting interviews with heads of state, celebrities, and other notable figures from around the world. Isha Sesay stated that despite all of her achievements, she was never fully able to reach her most heartfelt goals. She claimed that her divorce prompted a quest for personal growth.

Isha Sesay emphasized her struggles with her own mind throughout her narrative. She claimed she had to plan for everything, from the inevitable questions from strangers about her decision to have a child on her own, to the seemingly endless rounds of medical appointments, bloodwork, pelvic exams, injections that left bruises, medications that made her sick, and an unexpected operation to remove a fibroid. Isha Sesay shared that her very first effort at in vitro fertilization (IVF) was unsuccessful, and that she wept for several days following the procedure before gathering the courage to try IVF once more a few months later. She described how her physical self-resistance grew stronger with each attempt, and how her optimism and patience dwindled after the third failure. The ability to finally identify herself as pregnant was something she said brought her great happiness.

Isha Sesay Ethnicity

Isha Sesay is a Sierra Leonean of Temne descent.

Isha Sesay Parents

Isha Sesay’s parents are Kadi and Isatu Sesay.

Isha Sesay Siblings

Isha Sesay is one of three children; her older sister and her younger brother are her other siblings. Mamud Sesay and Jane Sesay are her brother and sister, respectively.

Isha Sesay Religion

Isha Sesay came from a family of Muslim faith when she was born. We have reason to think that she continues to follow the tenets of her faith.

Isha Sesay Husband

Isha Sesay was previously married to Leif Coorlim, who also worked for CNN, but the couple is no longer together at this time.

Isha Sesay Children

Isha Sesay does not currently have any of her own children, but she is expecting her first child as a single parent right now.

Isha Sesay Social Media

Isha Sesay’s Instagram handle is @iamishasesay, and her Twitter handle is @ishasesay. Because she does not have a username on Facebook, people can search for her using the name “Isha Sesay.”