Zainab Boladale

Zainab Boladale is a Nigerian-Irish television presenter, Irish language activist, and poet. She was the first person of African heritage to work in the RTÉ newsroom.

Zainab Boladale
Born
Lagos, Nigeria
NationalityIrish
Years active2017–present
EmployerRTÉ Television

Career

Zainab Boladale's first job was at Irish Independent in 2017.[1] She then went on to become one of the presenters of RTÉ Television's children's programme, news2day, the first person of African heritage to become a news anchor on RTÉ.[2][3][4] She remained on that show from 2017 to 2019. From 2019, she moved to Nationwide.[5][6][7]

Boladale has spoken about her experiences, receiving racist abuse after taking up her position in RTÉ. The majority of the abusive content came through a YouTube channel targeting her, and led to RTÉ calling on social media to take more action in tackling abusive channels.[8] The channel was deactivated after the news coverage of Boladale's experiences.[5]

Boladale was one of the featured speakers at the Beyond Representation in September 2019.[9]

Personal life

Boladale was born in Lagos, Nigeria, moving to Ennis, County Clare, Ireland with her mother and siblings at age 4.[8] She has a younger brother and sister.[3] She attended Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleigh and Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, Ennis. She is a fluent Irish speaker.[10] She graduated with the BA in Journalism from Dublin City University in 2017.[11] She won the 2017 DCU Hybrid Awards Journalist of the Year,[12] and was nominated for U magazine’s 30 Under 30 Awards the same year.[13]

References
  1. Armstrong, Kathy (18 November 2019). "'I've been called a n****r and a monkey' - RTE presenter Zainab Boladale tells of abuse by racist trolls". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  2. "Ireland: First Afro-Irish woman appointed as News TV presenter". European Web Site on Integration. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  3. Dunne, Seán (8 September 2017). "'I don't see myself as a Nigerian woman who landed a job in RTÉ'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. "Inside Track". Business Post. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. "RTÉ journalist subjected to stream of online abuse". 18 November 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  6. Demolder, Kate (26 February 2020). "The Children's Television Reporter Whose Career Has Been Marred By Racism". Irish Tatler. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  7. "International Women's Day 2018 - Zainab Boladale". www.immigrantcouncil.ie. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  8. Dwyer, Orla (18 November 2019). "RTÉ journalist experienced racist abuse online for over two years". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  9. Roantree, Megan. "An Event Celebrating Women Of Colour In Ireland Is Taking Place This Weekend". Stellar. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  10. "Ennis woman joins RTÉ children's news team". The Clare Champion. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  11. "Zainab Boladale". www.dcu.ie. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  12. "EBCF: Rosita Boland & Zainab Boladale discuss Careers and Media". Glor. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  13. Darmody, Jenny (7 March 2019). "RTÉ's Zainab Boladale: 'There's an assumption that a TV job is easy'". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
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