CNN Press Release: Isha Sesay Joins Anderson Cooper 360° Beginning Monday, January 17th

Isha Sesay is an anchor for CNN International based at the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta. Sesay joins the Anderson Cooper 360° team and will provide news updates throughout the hour. She is expected to appear on the program on a nightly basis while still continuing her duties at CNN International.

In addition to her role on AC360, Sesay anchors 10am ET edition of International Desk Monday through Thursday from Atlanta. She also hosts and reports for 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.

A seasoned journalist, Sesay has covered numerous breaking news and world news events such as the kidnapping of British toddler, Margaret Hill, in the Niger Delta; 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; and the Live Earth concert in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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 traveled to Nigeria to cover the country’s historic presidential elections in April 2007, which saw the transfer of power from one civilian government to another for the first time in the nation’s history. While there, she conducted one-on-one interviews with both the outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo, and the new leader, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Sesay joined CNN in November 2005 from the UK broadcaster ITN, where she anchored ITV’s Early Morning News programme, as well news bulletins for the UK’s most watched breakfast programme ‘GMTV.’Prior to this, Sesay spent over three years presenting ‘Good Morning Sports Fans’ for Sky Sports. From 1998-2001, Sesay presented a wide range of programmes across the BBC networks.

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