Ayesha Rascoe
Ayesha Rascoe is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday and the weekend host of Up First. As host of the morning news magazine show, she interviews newsmakers, entertainers, politicians and more about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about.
Rascoe is also the editor of HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience, a book of essays about the impact of historically Black colleges and universities. Rascoe is an alumnae of Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, D.C.
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.
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A cruise ship suspended operations suddenly, citing soaring fuel costs. Passengers, including Randy Cassingham, had to disembark in Cambodia. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Cassingham about the ordeal.
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In a small town in Ohio, farm animals and people start turning into monsters. But somehow they seem happier that way, in John Scalzi's novel "Monsters of Ohio." He talks to NPR's Ayesha Rascoe.
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A stop-motion adaptation of the popular children's book "Wildwood" explores how to let go of someone you love. NPR's Ayesha Rasoce talks to director Travis Knight.
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High prices are straining budgets for both a small business owner and a single mom in a rural part of Va.'s 1st Congressional district. They explain how they're handling the economic stress of these times. -
Weekend Edition Sunday's Ayesha Rascoe joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk about horror's big moment and why people just love to be scared.
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Horror writer Stephen Graham Jones says horror's current moment is powered by more than just fear. -
Grand Theft Auto is one of the most popular video game franchises in history. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to superfan Bud Burruss who plans to take PTO to play the latest release.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Middle East Institute senior fellow Natan Sachs about striking Iran, developments in the West Bank, and elections in Israel and the U.S.
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Widespread protests are gripping several European nations. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks British historian Timothy Garton Ash what's roiling the continent.
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In the new film, "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York," John Turturro plays an aging thief unable to adapt to a changing world. He talks to NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the film and the role.
