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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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Caro Claire Burke about her debut novel "Yesteryear," about a tradwife influencer who's transported back to the 1800s.
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The American Heart Association is releasing dietary guidelines on the heels of confusing guidelines announced by the federal government.
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Practicing OB-GYN Mary Fariba Afsari bought an RV and started a mobile clinic in 2022. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Afsari about her book, Labor: One Woman's Work.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to children's book critic Melissa LaSalle about audiobook recommendations for kids.
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Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have uncovered the oldest known recording of whale song. And it reveals a noisier soundscape of today's oceans.
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The driest place in North America is covered with an explosion of wildflowers right now. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with ecologist Tiffany Pereira about Death Valley's superbloom.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Lauren Kahn of Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology about the role of artificial intelligence in war.
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Armadillos are making North Carolina their home. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with wildlife biologist Colleen Olfenbuttel about how Texas' state mammal has gotten a foothold in the Tar Heel State.
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Three women survived marriages to serial killers and use their experience to catch one. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Elizabeth Arnott about her new novel, "The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives."
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to researcher Elissia Franklin about a new study which found dangerous chemicals in some commonly used hair extensions.