Zinhle Essamuah

Zinhle Essamuah is an Emmy-nominated journalist, filmmaker, and co-anchor of NBC News Daily, the top afternoon news program in the United States, reaching more than 1.2 million viewers each day. She also serves as a correspondent for NBC News, reporting across NBC News NOW, Nightly News, and TODAY. Essamuah is a first-generation American of Ghanaian and Ugandan descent and holds a dual master's degree in media, strategic communication, and documentary filmmaking from The George Washington University, where she co-founded the university's first National Association of Black Journalists chapter.

Essamuah began her career in broadcast journalism behind the camera. While in college, she directed the documentary "Hands Up," which follows stories related to the Black Lives Matter movement. The film advanced to the semifinals of the Student Academy Awards and received a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, recognizing excellence in programming by, for, or about women. Following this, Essamuah was selected to open NowThis's inaugural Washington, D.C., bureau as the lead politics producer. She anchored NowThis's flagship broadcast "KnowThis" for three years in New York and across the country, and also hosted "KnowThis Live," a weekly political interview magazine program.

Essamuah's reporting focuses on health, culture, and poverty, often examining inequity at the intersection of policy and lived experience. Her investigative journalism has led to tangible changes, including prompting the governor of Louisiana to sign a bill limiting solitary confinement in juvenile facilities after her investigation into the Acadiana Center for Youth, and inspiring a viewer to pay off a tenant's home following her reporting on fake landlord scams in Detroit. She led NBC's broadcast coverage of the Jackson water crisis in Mississippi, which developed into the NBC documentary "Boiling Point." Her ongoing coverage of Black maternal and women's health has contributed to proposed legislation aimed at improving outcomes for Black women during and after childbirth, as well as an update from the FDA to the warning label for Depo-Provera after her exclusive reporting on the drug's potential harms.

Essamuah received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Emerging Journalist and became co-anchor of NBC News Daily alongside Kate Snow. Her reports have earned NBC an ONA Award and third place for the Collier Prize. In an exclusive interview, Essamuah spoke with Venus Williams, who discussed her experience with uterine fibroids and the challenges of undiagnosed pain. Beyond her on-air work, Essamuah has moderated events at the Aspen Institute and the United Nations, and serves as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. Her interviews include figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Reese Witherspoon, Serena Williams, Anthony Fauci, Stacey Abrams, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Gore.