Lola Ogunnaike (1975- ) was the star entertainment reporter at the New York Times, their “hot, hip young thing” and, it seems, their all-round expert on black people. In 2007 she moved to CNN, where you can see her on “American Morning” talking about Britney Spears, upcoming films and so on.
When was the last time a New York Times reporter made the jump to television?
The move to CNN started in October 2006 when she appeared on the morning television talk show, “The View”. The New York Times said they never approved the appearance. It looked like the Times was going to fire her. While they left her hanging in doubt, she started talking to CNN and others about a move to television. CNN hired her.
She came to the New York Times in 2002. She brought the old Grey Lady up to date on the world of hip hop and all things young and cool. And black.
Before the Times she worked for the New York Daily News on their Rush and Molloy page, which reports the doings of film stars and their kind. Before that she wrote for VIBE magazine. She has also worked for Essence magazine (she hated it) and the cable television networks MTV and BET.
She is good at putting entertainers at ease and getting them to say things that are interesting to read or hear.
Not only does she look good in print, she also looks good (but not great) on television. Few print reporters do: just watch C-SPAN for long enough and you will see what I mean.
Although she is now on television she still intends to continue writing for print. Maybe even a book. (Do it, Lola!)
She was born in Nigeria but grew up in America, near Washington, DC. Her last name sounds like “Oganaki”, as if she were Japanese.
She has always loved to read and write, but it did not sink into her that she could get paid to write till she worked part-time at BET. She still cannot quite believe it.
One of her teachers at New York University, Pamela Newkirk, told her she should get her writing into print. So Ogunnaike took a piece she wrote for homework about break dancing and sent it to the New York Times. They put it on the front page of the Style section!
By age 30 she already achieved two of the things she wanted to do in life: to work for the New York Times and to get in print in Rolling Stone magazine. Her article on Kanye West was the cover story of their February 2006 issue.
Her writing has also appeared in Glamour, Details, Nylon, New York and V magazines.
About Live Earth, Al Gore’s music benefit in 2007 to help save the earth, she said:
Frankly, I don’t want to hear about environmental causes from the Pussycat Dolls.
See also:
- Search for Lola Ogunnaike at CNN – to see some of her work there
- New York Times
- black women
- Nigeria
- America
- Washington, DC
- magazine
- television
I’ve seen Miss Ogunnaike on CNN American Morning several times. I have to say that I’ve not been very impressed. She comes across as insipid and she is not very attractive either. Her hair in particular is awful – like a stiff nylon helmet. She’s not really repping the Nigerians…. sorry.
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She does seem kind of plain for someone on television. I am guessing that CNN hired her because she is good at talking to Hollywood stars, not for her looks.
Because of her accent I think of her as being more American than Nigerian.
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I think lola is doing very well with what she is doing now. I am very happy for her, infact, I really wants to get to her level
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Lola is a pride for all Africans. The way she carries herself on TV reflects her African root despite her accent . Thank you Lola
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She is an attractive woman, I do not consider her ugly by any means. Also, she is a news correspondent, not a model. Why should we judge her on looks? Nobody rates Bryant Gumbel or Anderson Cooper that way?
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Did not that Abagond did post on her.
I remember reading Lola’s work in Vibe magazine back in the early ’00s (boy, did the time past so fast). Now, she’s a CNN correspondant and New York Times staffer. Amazing.
And she, too, is very attractive. She just may not be the most videogenic, person. (I rarely watch CNN so I have no clue). Many anchors look better in person, actually.
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@Kwaku/Agabond,
She actually got hired on talent, imagine that right??? I guess this is beyond you too. We should be grateful that a black person, one with an African background at that, was hired in one of the most looks obsessed industries, without looking like a model. That is PRECISELY how talented she is. Somehow this does not register with you.
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“Her last name sounds like “Oganaki”, as if she were Japanese.”
Pretty sure it’s more like ‘Oh-goo-knee-kay’.
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I am going by how it was said on CNN.
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Like white people ever knew how to pronounce African surnames! 😛
Since I know so many Nigerians and Ghanaians, I’m familiar with their languages. Lola’s last name is Igbo. Ogu means “god” or “truth”, and it’s pronounced like “Oh-goo”. “Ke” is always going to be pronounced “kay” when it’s at the end of a word; whenever you have the letter e at the end, it sound like “ay”, like in Dakore (Dah-koo-ray) Egbuson or Stephanie Okereke (Oh-kay-ray-kay).
But I’ll fact-check with some people and find out what her last name means exactly, and get back to you on this.
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just saw her on BET, but her cv looks really impressive. Another Nigerian doing great things.
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I was impressed with this sister when I saw her on CNN. I thought to myself, “That young sister is going somewhere” She is most impressive, I love her accent.
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I think she is very attractive.
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