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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NPRs Ayesha Rascoe talks to The Roanoke Raven, a local Virginia "superhero" who highlights the work of nonprofits at events and in social media videos.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks University of Southampton's Thomas Dekeyser about worries AI is becoming fatally out of control.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with New York Magazine critic Alison Willmore about what's playing at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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South Florida immigration courts descend into upheaval; Haitians there meet the end of TPS with fear and resilience; and we check in on the long-delayed promise to outfit ICE agents with body cameras.
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Following the midterm convention in Dallas, President Trump's $5,000 campaign promise has generated attention, but not belief. And, Vice President JD Vance characterizes Democrats as extremists.
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President Trump and Congress are weighing in on potential federal tax incentives for film production. It's hoped the tax credit would keep production of films and TV in the U.S. rather than overseas.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with environmentalist, Bill McKibben, and public relations specialist, Frank Maisano, about opposition to industrial development projects like fracking and data centers.
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Black mothers in the U.S. are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Actress Tatyana Ali became an advocate after her own awful experience giving birth.
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President Trump's latest executive orders allows ranchers to sell meat directly to consumers. Ranchers have been upset over Trump's plan to boost beef imports in a bid to lower prices.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks New York Law School's Heather Cucolo about the insanity defense and how often such defenses are successful.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with singer Ravyn Lenae about her latest album "Blue Island" and about handling the pressure that comes with viral fame.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Ali Breland, who covers the far-right for The Atlantic, about the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, now one year after Charlie Kirk's assassination.