Why Isha Sesay Walked Away from CNN — and Why it Mattered to Africans

Isha Sesay’s Instagram bio describes her as a “proud mother,” a “CEO” and an “award-winning journalist” in that order. But Sesay says many people still primarily identify her as “the girl from CNN.”

Sesay was a prominent anchor at the network’s international channel, spending more than 13 years there. During her time at CNN, she interviewed world leaders, celebrities and newsmakers, including former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former US first lady Michelle Obama, actor Matt Damon and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai. She left the network in 2018 without publicly explaining why, sparking years of speculation.

“People still stop me in the streets … when I’m going through airports or when I’m walking down the street in LA and say, ‘Oh my God, you’re the girl from CNN,’” she told CNN’s Larry Madowo in an interview in New York in early April for the network’s African Voices show. She added that she “felt incredibly proud” when those moments happened.

Why Sesay left CNN

Sesay has never publicly said why she walked away from CNN, that is until now. She told Madowo, “I’ll tell it for the first time on camera. People always ask me, ‘Why did you leave CNN?’ … It’s become a thing that people ask at parties… I left because my mom had the stroke. And I was in a position where effectively, business decisions were being made that just did not align with my responsibilities to care for her. So I made the decision to walk away.

“I have no hard feelings for anyone in that building. I have tremendous love and respect for the decision makers at the time. It’s just that at some point you’ve got to put yourself first … and that’s why I left … no big scandal.”

In December 2016, Sesay’s mother, Dr. Kadi Sesay, a Sierra Leonean politician and women’s rights champion, suffered a catastrophic stroke which left her in a coma. In June 2025, she died. Sesay said that the stroke left her mother in a “semi-vegetative state,” and she spent nine years taking care of her.

“I’m still navigating the loss of my mother … it’s sad on so many levels for a woman of her stature and heart and dynamism to have been laid low by a stroke that left her effectively immobile and in a bad way … she was struck down just when she was about to take her next biggest step, being on the ticket as Sierra Leone’s potential vice president, the first woman to do so. So it’s still a difficult time,” she said.

An unconventional path to motherhood

After her mother’s stroke, Sesay says she realized the “importance of bonds and of having offspring.” She had always wanted to be a mother, but said her then high-profile job made her put it on the backburner.

“I got to CNN and it just became about the work. Just became about the next assignment, the next breaking news moment, the next convention to cover, the next award show, red carpet to be on, and you just continue to put off your life in service of these brands, and it’s an incredible opportunity to have had … but it was when my mom took ill and sort of like mortality and the finality of life smacks you in the face that you think, what is it all for?” she said.

Sesay decided to become a single mother in her 40s. “I was like, give me that website,” she said, referring to a sperm donation website. “Let me find a donor, let me do this on my own,” she said.

In January 2023 after two failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) attempts, Sesay announced she was pregnant at the age of 46, and welcomed a daughter, Naimah Yasmine Kadi Sesay, the following month.

Public reaction

Some people on social media were supportive and congratulatory; others criticized her decision.

“I’m amazed by the depth of feeling people have about this decision, people who don’t know me, people who will never meet me. And it’s really polarizing for some people and really difficult for some people that I would choose to have a baby on my own. And the funny thing is, some people take it as sort of like, I did it as an affront or a rejection of men. It’s not a rejection of anyone; it is an embrace of my own autonomy,” she said.

“I stand as a champion to say to women, choose your own journey,” she added. “The notion that people would say to me, be in a bad marriage, be in a bad couple, so that you would have a child, seems ridiculous to me in this age of science and progress … it’s not for everyone and I’m not evangelizing it. I’m just saying it worked for me.”

The CEO

Now a mother to a toddler, Sesay is juggling that role with her job as CEO of Areya Media, formerly OkayMedia, the parent company of OkayAfrica and Okayplayer. The company is a digital media platform focusing on uplifting global Black culture and the African diaspora. Okayplayer was founded by musician Questlove and author Angela Nissel in 1999. Media entrepreneur Vanessa Wruble and Ginny Suss launched its sister site OkayAfrica in 2010.

Sesay is the first woman to hold a CEO position in the organization’s history and since taking over in March 2021, she rebranded the company.

“When I came here, these were just digital platforms that essentially did some live programming and did editorial and had socials,” she said. “Our socials have grown. I’ve built a newsletter division. I’ve built a studio division. We now do podcasts. We are doing large activations now.”

Live activations are interactive events designed to celebrate diaspora culture and strengthen human connection to the brand. The company has hosted a series of them in New York and Miami.

“I’d like to think that you can see the results of what I’ve done in five years and the brands feel … more joyful than ever,” she explained.

One of the company’s podcasts, “The Almanac of Rap,” won a webby in 2023 for best music podcast and again in 2025 for experimental and innovation.

“My love for news continues and endures, but sitting where I sit now, as CEO of Areya… this is a good place,” she said.

Optimism for journalism

Sesay says she still consumes news daily and is visibly disappointed by how the African continent is covered. She said, “I think there’s still these deep-seated biases where people are happy to talk about Africa rising in terms of culture and music and fashion, and we’re still happy to celebrate our artistry, but I still don’t think enough nuance is brought to telling the stories of the continent.”

She gives the examples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has seen conflict and displacement, and Sudan, where years of violence have brought about what the World Health Organization has called the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” “Would you know?” asked Sesay.

She added, “I think news networks feel that with the advent of creators now online and telling these stories, maybe they have a pass.”

While Sesay appreciates social media creators — particularly during conflicts or crises when platforms help share information — she worries that their impact may ultimately be more harmful than helpful. She adds that it’s concerning how many people now go online after simply using tools like Google or ChatGPT, without clarifying that they’re expressing personal opinions, and instead present their views as if they were objective, unbiased reporting.

According to Gallup, a global analytics firm known for its public opinion polling, in 2025 trust in media reached a new low of 28% in the US, down from 31% the year before. Despite that, Sesay says she is still optimistic about journalism.

“The need for the truth, the need for facts, the need for credible reporting will survive. It will have to continue to evolve to meet people where they are … We need the news. We need to know what’s happening. We don’t live in a bubble, we’re more integrated and globalized than ever before, so I don’t worry about journalism.”

At 50, Sesay ­— also a philanthropist and a UN Goodwill ambassador — has already made a name for herself in journalism. And at Areya Media she hopes to continue lending her voice to the industry. When talking about her legacy, Sesay says she hopes the world remembers her as someone who “supported, encouraged and gave opportunity to others … that I made a difference.”

Sesay has already left a lasting mark on a new generation of African broadcasters and reporters like Madowo, who said he became a journalist “partly because I saw her doing it.”

Source: edition.cnn.com