Isha Sesay is no stranger to telling stories that matter. Over the course of two decades, she has occupied spaces that have shaped the global news narrative, most notably as a CNN anchor and correspondent. But these days, she’s far more focused on amplifying stories from the African continent, and through the lens of those living it.
As the CEO of Areya Media, the parent company of both OkayAfrica and OkayPlayer, Sesay is steering a media house committed to Black empowerment. One of the driving forces behind OkayAfrica’s recent podcast boom, she’s pushing forward a media philosophy rooted in intentionality, impact, and authenticity.
“As an African myself, investing in Africa and seeing these stories amplified and told in the manner in which we’re telling them is important,” she says. “We are fulfilling an important mission to empower Africans and build a community of global Africans”.
Recent podcast projects like Afrobeats Intelligence and Bird’s Eye View, the latter co-hosted by Nigerian musician Seun Kuti and American activist Diallo Kenyatta. These candid conversations reflect the kind of storytelling the company is championing.
“There’s a richness and expansiveness to their conversations,” she says of the co-hosts. “We wanted it to be engaging and fun while tackling some really intense, thought-provoking stuff.” That adaptability, combined with an unwavering commitment to African-centered storytelling, underpins much of Sesay’s recent work.
With a foot in legacy media and a heart deeply invested in the future of African storytelling, the CEO of Areya Media is using her platform to chart a new course. I caught up with the award-winning journalist to discuss what fuels her mission, the urgency of this moment for global Black voices, and how purpose-driven media can serve as a bridge for lasting change.
Hey Isha, how are you doing?
I’m well. It’s Friday. I am grateful (laughs). How are you doing?
First of all, I want to say it’s amazing what you’re doing with OkayAfrica and Areya Media. I’ve been a fan since before I became a writer, so this feels like a full-circle moment for me. Areya Media is investing in African media, while others are somewhat apprehensive. What drives you to amplify African voices?
Yeah, and thank you for having me and taking the time to speak. To begin with, it just depends on people having different motivations for why they engage with Africa to begin with. I’m assuming they pull out on purely financial and economic decisions with the ultimate goal of increasing revenue generation for those various entities. Which, of course, is part of what we are also interested in doing, but it’s more than that for us.
As an African myself, investing in Africa and seeing these stories amplified and told in the manner in which we’re telling them, it’s important to me on a personal level. But also, there is a social need for this kind of storytelling. We are fulfilling an important mission to empower Africans and to build a community of global Africans. For us, that is not about the money; it’s about the social good that we can do by telling these stories in the way that we uniquely tell them. That’s why we keep doing it.
I do it with both of those things held in my hands. I believe we can make money. We can do well by doing good. We’re committed to that. Very often, people say you can do well and do good. We can actually do well by doing good. And so that’s our commitment.
I know it’s not easy with investment. What sort of challenges do you face on this mission?
These challenges aren’t necessarily inherently challenges that are unique to investing in Africa. Maybe more of a logistics thing because we’re working with split teams. We have a team in the U.S., and one in Nigeria. And so managing that kind of workflow is something we have had to refine, and it’s iterative.
It’s not a challenge, but something that we had to work through in terms of how long we have for reviews, getting changes made, and just ironing out some of those kinks in the production flow. But in terms of actual investment and working in Nigeria, then no. There are challenges to doing anything. Just being creative and producing something has its own challenges, but there’s nothing unique that is prohibitive or has turned us off. My commitment to storytelling, particularly Nigerian-centered storytelling, is clear. I suddenly realized I have a number of other projects for the production house that are Nigerian-centered. I’m developing Life in the Bush of Ghosts for television. I’m also developing a cooking competition show that is Nigeria-based. So, I’m not afraid of investing in Nigeria and telling Nigerian stories.
We have seen so much. After the success of Afrobeats Intelligence, OkayAfrica has launched a second major podcast with Bird’s Eye View. Why are podcasts important to you?
The media landscape is changing so quickly. And it’s not just about it being a “trend”. God knows everyone and their mother has a podcast these days. But I do think it is a really immersive, compelling, and engaging way to tell a story.
There’s a part of me that misses the original concept of the podcast when it was just purely an audio experience for everyone, very intimate and private. Now they’ve become these video offerings, which are a different way of engaging and taking in the content. But it’s where we’re at. You’ve got to meet people where they’re at. And right now, people are in the podcast space. They’re enjoying it, and they’re consuming it in meaningful numbers.
Some stories are better told with a visual element. Like watching Seun and Bro Diallo engage visually, that’s also part of the experience. Whether it’s his cowrie shells or his aṣẹ, there’s a showmanship and a performance element because Seun is a performer. That’s something you get with the video podcast.
We are a multimedia house. We believe in bringing content in all the different forms: video, articles, audio, short form, and long form. We want to do it all.
Seun Kuti and Diallo Kenyatta are very different yet connected in their vision. How did you see their perspectives complementing each other on the podcast?
Well, Seun and Bro Diallo have been friends for a long time. I think almost two decades. They have a deep friendship. And we felt that the kind of subject matter Seun was interested in discussing would be best done conversationally. Bro Diallo is incredibly learned, with a more academic take on some of these concepts and conversations. Seun is also thoughtful, but maybe hasn’t had the same academic focus. They come from slightly different walks of life. I think there’s a richness and expansiveness to their conversations. And together, they have such great chemistry. There’s a lot of humor, too.
That was important. We didn’t want it to feel like you were in a political science class or a lecture hall. We wanted it to be engaging and fun while tackling some really intense, thought-provoking stuff.
And what made you think this was the right moment to bring these conversations to the table? The first episode took me off guard. It really made me reflect, especially on the whole “first Black this, first African that” narrative.
Well, it’s interesting because someone else asked me that in another conversation. Why are these conversations necessary now? I’ll say what I said then: We’re in a time of great shift. The world is becoming increasingly unstable politically, with upheaval in many parts of the world. Talking about the global order right now, just before the UN General Assembly here in New York, there are conversations about the U.S. retreating from multilateralism. Everything is becoming transactional, and international law is being debated. It’s important that Africa is thinking clearly. Not just our leaders, but us as citizens.
We need to think about where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Some of this may seem like just history, but take the DRC, for example. Look at what’s happening there now in the East; unrest is fueled by foreign interference. Step back to Lumumba’s assassination, there was foreign interference then, too. The thread is clear from the past to the present.
We have to understand our history because, as the world shifts, we must be informed to know where we stand. Seun and Diallo talk a lot about imperialism and independence. For instance, look at the Sahel and France’s relationships. These conversations matter right now. We need the full context to fully interpret and understand positions, whether you agree or disagree.
If institutions like the UN can’t act the way we once expected, then we as citizens need to understand our situation, hold our leaders accountable, and articulate what we want. If ever there was a moment for Africans to think deeply, this is the moment.
Yes, I agree. I love how Seun brings African knowledge from Nigeria, while Bro Diallo adds that diasporic lens. Do you see Bird’s Eye View reshaping how people understand Africa and the diaspora?
Yeah, I think so. And that’s a really important point. It’s also part of the mission. As an African living in the U.S., I’ve seen firsthand the disconnect between African Americans and Africans, and sometimes even between Africans on the continent and those in the diaspora. A show like this is an opportunity to bridge that. To see that our experiences are far from separate, but intertwined. When you look at Marcus Garvey’s persecution in the U.S., and then look at the infiltration on the continent, they’re connected. Same same, but different.
A show like this gives us a chance to see our commonality. It’s also a chance to build community. And that’s what we need. We need a global African community, a global Black consciousness. A show like this is a step in that direction.
Through someone like yourself who has had an illustrious career in this space, is there something you perceive to be special about the evolution of African media?
I’m super grateful for the lowering of the barriers to entry for storytelling. We now have creators across the continent who can shoot, edit, upload, and tell their own stories. There’s a vibrancy and a flourishing of storytelling. I’m grateful to see more and more outlets entering the game and telling our stories. It’s an exciting time. That said, monetization is hard. Discoverability is hard. There’s so much content that no single person can consume it all.
But it’s amazing that Africans are now the authors of our own stories. We no longer have to wait for stories to be told through the West. One thing I say a lot in our offices: I don’t want to tell Africa’s story via Brooklyn. For the love of God, don’t tell Africa’s story via Brooklyn. Let it come from the continent. Let it be shaped and led by the continent. There’s a diaspora audience, but my fundamental audience is on the continent. They’re underserved in too many instances, and they are my first priority. I am grateful to be a part of it.
How do you see African media influencing global culture in the coming years?
First of all, by telling our stories authentically and deciding what’s important to us. That can change how the world sees us. I’m still amazed by how often Western outlets show the same stereotypes: corrugated shacks, poverty, famine. Not to say that it isn’t part of the fabric of life, but it’s not the only story. Have you seen the vibrancy, the lushness, the opulence in so many places across the continent? We are more than one story.
When we tell different stories, it should expand the world’s view of us, of our capabilities, and our place in the world. With Afrobeats, we’ve already seen our creativity reshape global music. The issue of who profits is another matter; only some are making money from it. But it proves our talent and our cultural power. I want to see more studios on the continent, more things made here from start to finish. A greater ecosystem. This is an exciting time, and the future looks even more promising.
As someone who has been in different institutions. Has your view of storytelling changed in your transitions from institutions like CNN to leading Areya media?
At CNN, doing hard news, there’s pressure to maintain a certain “neutrality” and a constrained sense. That was never really my style. I’ve always led with passion in storytelling. But at CNN, African stories got maybe five or six minutes out of an hour-long rundown, just bite-sized.
At Areya, I have the freedom to lean into passion, to make people feel something, care, and understand more deeply. It’s more fertile ground. We can tell expansive, complex, and nuanced stories. And it doesn’t have to follow the “if it bleeds, it leads” formula that so often defined Africa coverage in mainstream media like famine, war, and death.
Thank you for that. Talking about your nonprofit organization, W.E. Can Lead, which empowers teenage girls in Sierra Leone to become leaders. Is there any intersection between your work in media and nonprofit advocacy?
Yeah, and I have to say that I’ve had to put We Can Lead on hold since the pandemic, because everything just turned upside down. I’m working on bringing it back. It’s been on hiatus.
I was back home a couple of months ago because my mum passed away, which I haven’t really shared widely. At the funeral, many of the We Can Lead girls came to the ceremonies. It was incredibly touching to see how they’ve grown and flourished. We only played a small part in that growth, but even that little bit of consistent attention made a difference.
My work as a journalist gave me insight into the universality of what girls across Africa face. It made me more focused on the importance of that work. The need for girls to have champions. The stories I encountered as a journalist fueled my advocacy. And I’m excited to bring We Can Lead back, because I’ve seen firsthand the impact.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Is there a reason it shut down primarily?
Yes, it was just the pandemic. We shut down, donors pulled back. And then, as soon as the pandemic wrapped up, I took on this job in 2021. Another reason for the hiatus was what I learned in the first iteration of W.E. Can Lead, it’s very hard to get donors invested in African girls. Donors like quick stories: “I fed 1,000 children,” “I handed out mosquito nets,” “I saved X number of lives.” Empowerment is a long-term cycle of change. It’s a harder sell.
So, since the pandemic, I’ve been thinking: how do you tell the story to donors in a way they understand the urgency and importance? I felt I needed to step back and figure that out. And I think I’ve cracked it. We’ll see.
What advice would you offer to young journalists, particularly those from African backgrounds, aiming to make an impact in the media industry?
Develop your own style. Develop your own beat and lane of reporting. Figure out what stories you want to tell and build an expertise in that. That’s incredibly beneficial in a world with many generalists. Take for example, Joey with afrobeats, how he has made it his own.
Refine your craft, hone it, perfect it, and be consistent. Take advantage of the lack of barriers to entry. Upload. Start a Substack. Launch a YouTube channel. Do all the things. Build a body of work that shows what you can do. That will set you up for success whether you want to join a big media house or go independent. You increase the odds of success when you do these things.
Finally, what does success look like for you today, and how has that definition evolved over the years?
Oh my goodness. For me personally, success today is very simple. The freedom to choose my own adventure. I’m the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old. Success is being able to wake up in the morning and center my child. If she needs me to sit and read with her or play unexpectedly, I have the freedom to move things around, adjust, and be flexible.
Of course, I still get the work done. But on my terms. That’s what success is for me now. Being present for my daughter and shaping my life around that.
