ISHA SESAY, AFRICAN CNN GIRL, HAS JUST ONE BOYFRIEND TO KEEP HER WEEKEND BUSY

Isha Sesay
You can't mistake her simple and cute attire, her foreign accent and her conspicuous face on Tuesday mornings on CNN.

She anchors the CNN's Inside Africa programme, and for that reason she would be the most familiar CNN face to African viewers. Isha Sesay is Sierra Leonean. CNN is a citizen of the US with head base in Atlanta and the programme that made Isha famous among African is sponsored by a Nigerian citizen called Zenith Bank Plc.

Again, Isha was born in the UK, lived and grew up in her native Sierra Leone where the entire family members still live. But at about mid teen, she found her road back to her place of birth where she worked in London on TV and radio first as freelance researcher, and later as sports anchor. During the time, the dark skinned African UK citizen travelled round with Arsenal during the charity matches to raise fund for the Kanu Nwankwo Heart Foundation.

From her adroit handling of the shows in London - sports and news, she later hit it big, vast and international with a job in the early first half of 2000 as presenter with the CNN international. She is resident in US from where she traverses the world to pick pieces of stories she strings together into news for the CNN.

Some memories of her career keep her upbeat, yet, she does not in any way see herself as accomplished in the job.

In the recesses of her memory she has fond recalls of the top assignments she has handled, and one of them is coverage of a crisis in Iraq last year. While in a room for the story, there was a bang outside, and the door shook badly. The entire people in the house had to cram to a corner of the room. While this close shave (a bomb) lasted, Isha still reported the encounter live on CNN.

If that tested her guts, she never betrayed any trepidation, as she never backed out of the job. Because Isha decided to forge head, sometime later she got on her hands a memorable assignment she still remains proud of - that was the coverage of President Barack Obama's maiden address at the UN General Assembly as US leader. She still stokes the residue of the pride elicited by that report and encounter. It was at the same venue on the sidelines that she encountered Kenyan PM, Ralia Odinga for an interview.

Isha once interviewed a man whose brilliance outshone her guts. That was the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the memory sticks on how tasking it was getting her acts right and tight to avoid a slip while she flung her salvo at the international money manager.

Just last weekend, she had her hands full at Kampala where she anchored the CNN Africa Journalist Award 15th outing. Just passing by Kenya to access Uganda was enough exposure of Isha. She is like the gold fish. Just a stroll at the hotel lobby, she fell into the dragnet of the Sunday Nation that grilled her for an interview.

Again at Kampala, Isha could not lurk in the murk. As she reported the function that brought her there, a Ugandan newspaper, Sunday Monitor was busy at her trail reporting her.

She matter-of-factly told them her story. And in that story is embedded her view about life and success. The revelation and lesson is that while you might mistakenly think Isha just happened on a big job in CNN, she had done a no-pay job in London earlier. But that never weighed down her resolve to push ahead and clinch the trophy of her dreams. She recalled that she worked hard at her preparation - study and work experience, never folded her arms to wait for manna to drop from the sky but rather went for what she wanted. And when the golden time did come, she was not caught unawares or unready.

On her private life, she quipped that her lecturer mum and two siblings, brother and sister live in Sierra Leone, and at the place she lives, it is not all just work and no play because there is the likelihood that would make Isha a dull CNN girl. She works Monday to Friday and has her weekend open to jump around and cuddle in the arms of a loved one. And she says one boyfriend is just enough to keep her rolling. So, for Isha it's just one lucky guy to spend her private time with.

Yet, with her journey so far, she feels she is just commencing the task. And for your information, if you meet Isha any day or anywhere, never annoy her by calling her a celeb. She says she is not one.