British journalist Isha Sesay felt ready to try a different medium after years as a TV news anchor. She wanted to explore the level of intimacy that is possible between a listener and a presenter through podcasts, and analyze the different connotations behind “activism,” a term that’s taken on a much more charged meaning in recent years, depending on who you’re listening to asks.
The former CNN host launched The Accidental Activist March 25 on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music with the aim of locating the moments that prompted cultural icons to get involved in activism when their day-to-day jobs didn’t required.
Sesay joins forces with comedian and actress Amanda Seales, actor Forest Whitaker, actress Alyssa Milano, comedian Margaret Cho, writer Baratunde Thurston and others for the 10-episode series. In roughly 45-minute episodes, she covers topics ranging from racial justice and gun control to mental health, peace and development, and her own reflections on her guests’ responses in the interviews.
“I thought podcasts would be a great way to bring a listener into a topic that can be quite intense in a way that basically feels the opposite of insistent and could be engaging and they could dive in and out.” ‘ she said, Citizen of the World.
In the show’s opening episode, Sesay and Seales joke like old friends and regret having been teased for their language use as young girls.
Sesay asks every guest on the show when they accidentally fell into activism. Seales’ moment came when a clip of her defiant Caitlyn Jenner went viral, and to Sesay’s surprise, she’s quick to refuse to identify as an activist as the term has become saturated in the social media age.
If you need a little spice this Saturday I’ve got just the thing for you 😄 Listen to my conversation with @amandaseales about her upbringing, her activism and that infamous dinner on my new podcast THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST. Nobody closes this woman! pic.twitter.com/QxLPmRTiSA
— Isha Sesay (@IshaSesay) March 26, 2022
“After speaking to all of these people, I’m becoming more committed to embracing the term, but also embracing this understanding that activism is really about commitment to a problem and commitment to doing the work, to help not yourself but others, a sense of trying to help a community, wherever that community may be, near or far,” Sesay said.
The show offers audiences a chance to see each guest through a different lens, highlighting their childhood, turning points, and how they ended up in their current positions.
Sesay said she invited several celebrities to the podcast because they have a level of visibility. It was important for Sesay to select guests who have shown that an issue has touched them enough to adjust course and use their platform for change, which she believes can happen to anyone, regardless of status.
“You don’t have to be born into the world of activism,” Sesay said. “You don’t have to be part of the Martin Luther King family. You don’t have to be part of the Kennedy family. You could be just an ordinary person going about their life and something could spark you. And no matter where you are, you have an impact.”
As for her guests, activism unexpectedly became a focus for Sesay in 2014 – her coverage of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, sparked by the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by Boko Haram, set her on a different path. Being from Sierra Leone, the situation resonated with her, and her Peabody Award-winning reporting led the journalist to leave CNN to found non-profit organization WE Can Lead, which focuses on empowering African girls.
“It’s not for everyone, and it doesn’t have to be the way you can make an impact,” Sesay said of the organization, which has had to suspend its operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I don’t see that as the holy grail.”
Sesay is also now a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund and CEO of digital media company OkayMedia.
Sesay and Seales discussed the challenge of finding a single cause to commit to fighting when endless problems need to be addressed.
“She [Seales] says find out what you are so passionate about. Then, even when you’re at your most tired, even when you’re fed up, it would move you to action,” Sesay said. “It would get you off the sofa. Even if you think you have nothing left in the tank. It is on this topic that you would dig deep to put your energy into moving forward. That’s something I’m trying to learn now by saying that it’s okay not to be the focus of every fight that involves women and girls because you just can’t be.
In the second episode of the show, Milano encourages people to speak out and mobilize on the issues they can support. She opened up about her “accidental activist” moment as a teenager when she kissed a boy with AIDS on The Phil Donahue Show to dispel misconceptions that the disease could be transmitted through casual contact.
In recent years, the actress has helped expand the #MeToo movement into the mainstream and rally support for gun control. She said she’s never been able to separate activism from her acting career.
Milano told Sesay that it’s important to remain curious and not get too attached to trying to achieve a specific outcome through activism, as the fruits of one’s labor may not be felt immediately.
“You also have to trust your own voice. If everyone does a little bit, the collective dynamic can move mountains,” Sesay said. “So the first thing is, find your passion, find out what it is, do the homework to understand what the problem is, and then get involved at the level where you can get involved. And there is nothing too big or too small because honestly the collective result is what will shift the problem.”
Sesay is still figuring out how to balance her commitment to activism and finding time for herself. She too feels the pressure of not doing enough.
“We can be our own worst critics,” Sesay said. “I think you should do more, you should be louder, you should post more, you should comment more, you should do more TV appearances. Maybe you take a hit today and then come back to it tomorrow, and that’s okay. You won’t fail at that.”
Sesay encourages others to find their own entry points into activism, whether that be sharing information, raising funds, or demonstrating. She hopes the non-committal, light, engaging and “fun” episodes of The Accidental Activist will get others to think more about their social impact.
“They’re just meant to inspire you to think about where I can make a difference?” She said. “I think people will be surprised at what they learn about the guests and also surprised at how it opens up a whole realm of thought around activism for them.”
Listen to The Accidental Activist wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
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