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Zainab Boladale

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Zainab Boladale
Boladale in 2018
Born
Lagos, Nigeria
NationalityIrish
Years active2017–present
EmployerRTÉ Television

Zainab Boladale is a Nigerian-Irish television presenter, reporter, public speaker and content creator. She was the first person of African heritage to work in the RTÉ newsroom.

Career

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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

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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

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  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b 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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