Ellana Lee was in London for meetings in early 2020 when Covid-19 hit. Walking down Oxford Street, she was startled to find the crowds parting before her. “It was like the Red Sea; people wouldn’t even come near me,” says Lee. “That was my first experience in understanding that this [the pandemic] was going to be bigger than a virus story; this was going to trickle down to racism and how people are perceived.”
It was a pivotal moment for the Korean American that reinforced her conviction that a diverse newsroom was important—employing people who can bring their varied life experiences to bear, contextualise news and identify underreported angles.
As a founding member of CNN’s International Diversity Council, Lee has
