Ayesha Rascoe
Ayesha Rascoe is the host of "Weekend Edition Sunday" and the Saturday episodes of "Up First." As host of the morning news magazine, she interviews news makers, entertainers, politicians and more about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about.
Known for her southern roots and signature wit, Rascoe has been a mainstay on NPR's programs since joining the outlet in 2018.
Prior to her role as host, Rascoe was a White House Correspondent. She covered three presidential administrations, gaining a reputation for her sharp questioning in the White House briefing room. Rascoe's reporting included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she was also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
She's also guest hosted NPR's "It's Been a Minute" podcast and radio show and been a frequent guest on "Pop Culture Happy Hour."
Before joining NPR, Rascoe spent the first decade of her career at Reuters, rising from a news assistant to an energy reporter to eventually covering the White House. While at Reuters, Rascoe covered some of the biggest energy and environmental stories of the past decade, including the 2010 BP oil spill and the U.S. response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. She also spent a year covering energy legal issues and court cases.
She graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a B.A. in journalism.
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Tonight's Grammy Awards may be big for Beyoncé and her album "Renaissance." The new artist category is also one to watch with bluegrass, jazz and hip-hop - even a rock band from Italy.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with actress Lily Tomlin. Tomlin stars in the new film "80 for Brady" which follows four friends as they travel to see Tom Brady play in the 2017 Super Bowl.
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Iowa is moving to create a new, statewide school voucher program as other jurisdictions around the country look into allowing the use of public funds for students to attend private schools.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Forbes technology reporter Emily Baker-White about calls to pull TikTok from Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks economist Betsey Stevenson about the state of the economy and if Democrats should compromise with Republicans on cuts to entitlements.
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The lives of two Black women in the 1950s intersect over pregnancy and adoption. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Sadeqa Johnson about her novel, "The House of Eve."
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President Biden's upcoming State of the Union address may be the unofficial kick-off of his reelection campaign.
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China expressed anger after the U.S. shot down a huge balloon China claims was a civilian airship. The incident has further strained relations.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Dave Shullman, senior director of the China Global Hub at the Atlantic Council, about the state of U.S.-China relations.
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The European Union is cutting off imports of Russian oil products. It's meant as a blow to Vladimir Putin's economy but it will require new sources of vital diesel fuel for Europe.